Fisheries modelling software
Between 1989 and 1993, I worked as a consultant with marine and population scientists at the South Australian Department of Fisheries (now the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA)) developing software to visualise the dynamics of different Australian fisheries. These projects were led by Dr Philip Sluczanowski who was a mathematician and population scientist and were focused around developing sustainable fisheries practices.
We developed an interactive graphical tool titled AbaSim that modelled an Abalone population centered around a reef. The purpose of the tool was to teach Abalone fishers how catch per unit effort (CPUE) is not a good indicator of colony health.
We also developed another interactive tool titled SharkSim that modelled the southern shark fishery. This fishery was suffering from overexploitation. SharkSim was used as a tool to help facilitate discussion between the fishers, marine scientists and the fisheries managers.