Tom Trnski - Project leader
Head of Natural Sciences
Auckland Museum

Tom heads Auckland Museum's Natural Sciences team, whose main activities are collection management, collection development, research, and exhibitions and public programmes relating to our collecting areas of botany, entomology, geology, land vertebrates, marine biology and palaeontology.

Since moving to New Zealand in 2007, he's focused on the documentation and biogeographic affinities of the regional fish fauna. He's led recent expeditions to document the biodiversity of remote islands in New Zealand (Three Kings and the Kermadec islands) and the regional Pacific region (southern French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Niue and Tonga).

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?
I am leading the expedition and have assembled the team of scientists, photographers and videographers. The principle goal of the expedition is to document the coastal marine biodiversity of the Southwest Pacific region. The science team provide a broad range of expertise and skills and will also be working to measure community structure and human impacts on the reefs, looking at the connectivity of populations among the islands, and developing an understanding of how the species that occur in the region are linked to Australia and New Zealand.
 
How would you summarise what you are hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?
It is exciting to visit some of these remote islands knowing that there has been limited opportunities to undertake similar work. This means that many of our discoveries will be new – either finding new species or recording species from some islands that have never been recorded there before. This basic information helps island nations and communities manage their marine estate.
 
But the addition of a great team of scientists means that we will generate new scientific knowledge on the structure of the reef communities. Most of these islands are uninhabited so it will be interesting to compare the impact of humans on these reefs compared with inhabited reefs. Which raises another exciting aspect of the expedition – meeting the communities on the remote Lau Islands and listening to what their priorities are for their marine environment, which they depend on every day.
 
This expedition is one in a series of major expeditions that Auckland Museum has played an important role in. What is the bigger research picture for these expeditions that began in the Kermadec Islands in 2011?

I have been very fortunate to have had the support and opportunities to continue this large programme of research over the last six years. It has enhanced the Auckland Museum’s reputation as a repository of collections and knowledge of the South Pacific region. It all started at Rangitahua, the Kermadec Islands, in 2011. We made so many new discoveries on that first trip that I have been back there most years to keep building our knowledge. Now the broader questions are around how the species and populations that we find at Rangitahua are connected to the islands in the regional Pacific Ocean, which has taken me to Niue, Tonga, southern French Polynesia and the western Cook Islands. In all cases we have increased the known number of species at every island group that we visit. And as we build up this new knowledge, it helps support understanding of connections between these islands, and also can be used to predict changes that may occur as the seas warm due to climate change.

Dr Adam Smith
Lecturer in Statistics
Massey University

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?

My research group will be using baited underwater video gear to quantify the abundance and population structure of fishes inhabiting the coral reefs of remote, tropical islands. Our work, in collaboration with the Global Fin Print project <globalfinprint.org>, has a particular focus on sharks.

How would you summarise what you are hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

We hope to collect data that will help us better understand the patterns and drivers of reef fish distributions. We will study fish communities across a broad range of spatial scales, so we can describe why and to what extent different groups of species are found among neighbouring reefs at the same island, and also among reefs at islands separated by up to thousands of kilometres. As this expedition will visit some of the most remote reefs in the Pacific, we have a unique opportunity to study reef ecosystems in near-pristine condition with healthy populations of sharks.

Anna Murray
Senior Fellow - Marine Invertebrates
Australian Museum Research Institute (Sydney)

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?

I will be sampling shallow-water invertebrates (particularly crustaceans, polychaetes and molluscs) to enhance collections of the Australian Museum, and increase knowledge of invertebrate biodiversity of this area of the Pacific.  

How would you summarise what you are hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

My area of expertise is  polychaete worms, particularly fanworms of the family Sabellidae. I'm hoping to collect, identify and genetically sample fanworms for further study to compare them with the same or similar species that have been recorded from other parts of the world. While I haven't participated in any of the previous Auckland Museum expeditions, I have examined and identified some of the polychaete fauna collected on their previous trips to the Kermadec Islands (2011) and  French Polynesia (2015). 

Carl Struthers
Research & Technical Officer: Fishes
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa)

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?

I am hoping to explore several research questions on this expedition, with each of them based around the general theme fish biodiversity.  1) Compile an inventory of the fishes from these islands in order to help understand the biodiversity and species distributions in the southwest Pacific. 2) Investigate the deepwater fish fauna (50-700m) in tropical waters. Most of the work in these waters are based around coral reef fauna, but there are interesting patterns of diversity beyond diving depth that are generally too hard to collect and are poorly represented in museum collections 3) To collect members of the Scorpionfish family, a large and diverse group of fishes. Further genetic and taxonomic research is needed in this area with new species continually being discovered and described.      
 
How would you summarise what you are hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

We will hope to discover new species and to try better understand and document the biodiversity of fishes at these poorly sampled and rather remote tropical islands. To do this we will be using a wide range of techniques to sample the fishes such as SCUBA, line fishing, dip net and baited traps, each sampling different parts of the local fish fauna from 0-700m. I will working with a team who will collect, identifying and register the fish specimens. These representative collections of fish species will then be deposited in museums when we get back to shore, where they will be available for further taxonomic and biodiversity research for generations to come. In addition we will also be tissue sampling and photographing the fishes at sea to aid us with identification and with future genetic and taxonomic research projects.

Clinton Duffy
Massey Fin Print team
Marine Associate Auckland Museum

Clinton has worked as a marine scientist and marine and freshwater technical support officer for the Department of Conservation since 1989. At present I work for the Department's Marine Ecosystems Team, based in Auckland. I am also a Marine Associate of Auckland Museum and a part-time PhD student at Auckland University. My areas of expertise include the classification and biology of chondrichthyan fishes (sharks, rays and chimaeras), marine ecology and marine protected areas. My current research projects include regional connectivity and population monitoring of great white sharks, population structure of Galapagos sharks in the SW Pacific, the taxonomy of spiny dogfishes and smoothhound sharks, and the marine flora and fauna of the Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve.

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?

On this expedition I will be working with Dr Adam Smith, Massey University, to monitor reef shark populations using baited underwater video as part of the Global Fin Print project; making collections of spiny dogfishes and other sharks from deep water habitats (> 200 m depth); collecting tissue samples from Galapagos sharks, whitetip reef sharks and coral trout for other scientists studying the population genetics of these species; making representative collections of seaweeds; and recording observations of marine mammals, particularly humpback whales, for the South Pacific Whale Research Consortium.

What are you hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

My overall aim is to clarify the distribution of a number of shark species in the region, particularly Galapagos shark, sandbar shark and the spiny dogfishes.  At least six species of spiny dog fishes occur on seamounts, oceanic ridges and insular slopes in the region. About half are only known from a handful of specimens collected a long time ago, or have only recently been described meaning that we know almost nothing about their distributions or biology. I am hoping to fill in some of those knowledge gaps and perhaps discover some new species.  This is also the time of year that great white sharks migrate from New Zealand to the Coral Sea, Fiji and Tonga. My colleagues and I have tracked a number of New Zealand great whites to southern New Caledonia and Hunter Ridge near Mathew Island, so I am secretly hoping that we encounter some great whites on their winter holiday. Every great white is individually recognisable from its colour pattern so if we are able to get underwater images of any I may be able to match them to sharks in my photo-identification catalogue, or possibly recognise them again in a subsequent encounter somewhere else like Stewart Island or the Chatham Islands.

David Aguirre
Lecturer - Marine Ecology
Massey University

David Aguirre is a New Zealander and lecturer in marine ecology at Massey University in Albany. After years living and studying overseas he returned to New Zealand to make a contribution to advancing our understanding the forces governing the distribution of marine organisms surrounding our island nation.

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?

During this voyage David will be surveying the coral communities of the Southwest Pacific. In particular, David will focus on building our understanding of the biogeography of the most diverse group of reef building coral – the staghorn corals – as well as those corals present at the Kermadec islands, New Zealand.

What are you hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

Locations such as Menerva reefs and Ata Island are rarely visited by researchers despite these being the nearest coral reef locations to the Kermadec Islands. Accordingly, this voyage presents a unique opportunity to better understand how the diversity of species observed at the Kermadec islands has accumulated and what threats New Zealand’s only coral reefs may face in the future.

Dr Elena Kupriyanova
Senior Research Scientist
Australian Museum

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?

My research interests are centred on taxonomy and evolution of marine annelids, formerly known as polychaetes, so I will be mostly collecting and processing worms. My favourite group is calcareous tubeworms of the family Serpulidae.

How would you summarise what you are hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

I hope to find new species of calcareous tubeworm belonging to the genus Hydroides - the group I have been researching for the last four years.

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Emma Betty
Researcher and Technical Officer - Marine Ecology
Massey University

Emma Betty is a researcher and technical officer in marine ecology, based at Massey University's Auckland campus. Emma is an experienced scientific diver and skipper, and is also a part-time PhD student at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Emma's research background is in the ecology and conservation of marine mammals in New Zealand waters. Specific interests include investigations on stranded and by-caught cetaceans; particularly in regard to the life history and feeding ecology of deep-diving species. Current research is focused on strandings, life history and conservation of pilot whales in New Zealand waters.

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?

As part of the Massey University FinPrint team, my primary role on this expedition is to conduct surveys of fish (with a particular focus on sharks and rays) on coral reefs throughout the Southwest Pacific, using baited remote underwater video (BRUVs) and diver operated video (DOVs). During the expedition I will also record marine mammal observations, and assist other participants to survey and collect fish, coral, and other invertebrates. Such observations, along with museum collections, will help improve our understanding of the marine biodiversity and population connectivity of the Southwest Pacific, in the face of a changing marine environment.

How would you summarise what you are hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

This expedition will take us to some of the most remote locations in the Southwest Pacific, and provide us with a unique opportunity to study near-pristine coral reef ecosystems that still boast healthy populations of top predators. The BRUV surveys undertaken on this expedition will provide data to the Global FinPrint initiative (https://globalfinprint.org/), which brings together collaborators around the world to fill a critical information gap about the diminishing number of sharks and rays. The research will improve our understanding of how sharks and rays influence the coral reef ecosystem and how humans impact these species and their habitats. Ultimately, the consolidation of this global research will aid management and conservation efforts for life on the reef.

Irene Middleton
Scientific Diver 
On behalf of Auckland Museum

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?

Assisting with photography, fish and invertebrate collections

How would you summarise what you are hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

We'll be working to help fill the biodiversity knowledge gaps for this area of the Pacific. I'll be assisting Tom Trnski and Severine Hannam and the wider team. Personally I learn a lot about biodiversity, fish identification and population connectivity from these expeditions, which is an area of research I am passionate about.

Libby Liggins
Lecturer in Marine Ecology
Massey University Auckland

Libby Liggins grew up with the coastal waters of Northland, New Zealand as her playground. She has lived in Australia and the USA working on tropical reefs of the Indo-Pacific Ocean. She is now a Lecturer in Marine Ecology at Massey University, Auckland where she is excited to be conducting research studying the tropical-subtropical-temperate transitions of marine communities and populations into New Zealand waters.

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?

During the voyage Libby will be collecting DNA samples from fishes and marine invertebrates - such as urchins, giant clams, and seastars - to help confirm the species identity of the animals and to generate population genetic and genomic data. These data will complement the research of colleagues working throughout the Indo-Pacific Ocean as part of the Diversity of the Indo-Pacific Network (DIPnet, http://diversityindopacific.net/). The collaborative research effort will help us understand where the biodiversity of this South Pacific region originates from, how these populations differ from other parts of the Indo-Pacific, and how often animals disperse to these isolated locations.

How would you summarise what you are hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

I look forward to gaining a better understanding of the biodiversity of New Zealand’s nearest northern neighbours. I expect that the islands immediately to our north will be a melding of our own Kermadec Island fauna and the tropics. Such observations will help us predict what species might extend their ranges into New Zealand under future climate change regimes. I also hope to extend the population genetic and genomic sampling of the Indo-Pacific to include these regions that are scarcely visited. The data I generate will be made available to other scientists through the Genomic Observatory Metadatabase (GeOMe, http://www.geome-db.org), so that they can also share in, and contribute to, biodiversity study of this unique region.

Previous expeditions:
2013 Three Kings Biodiscovery Expeditions
2015 Kermadec Islands Biodicovery Expedition

Dr Mark Erdmann
Vice President, Asia Pacific Marine Programs
Conservation International

Dr Mark Erdmann is Vice President of Asia Pacific Marine Programs for Conservation International, with a primary focus on providing strategic guidance and technical and fundraising support to CI's marine programs in the Asia Pacific region. Mark is a coral reef ecologist (Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley) who has lived and worked for the past 23 years in Indonesia, though is now based in New Zealand since July 2014. During this time he has logged over 11,000 scuba dives while surveying marine biodiversity throughout the region.

He has published 161 scientific articles and 5 books, including the three volume set Reef Fishes of the East Indies. Erdmann was awarded a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation in 2004 for his work in marine conservation education and training for Indonesian schoolchildren, members of the press, and the law enforcement community.

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?

I will be conducting coral reef fish biodiversity surveys during the expedition focusing especially on the cryptic reef fishes that are not typically observed
during casual scuba diving.

What are you hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

My organisation is working with the Fiji government and local community members of the Lau Archipelago in SE Fiji to set up a network of Marine Protected Areas in what we are calling the ‘Lau Seascape Initiative’. My aim during this expedition is to further survey the reefs of the Lau group to gain a more complete picture of the distribution of biodiversity within the archipelago in order to better inform the conservation and management decisions now being made in this region.

Previous expeditions:
2016 Rangitahua-Kermadec Trench Voyage

Mark McGrouther
Collection Manager - Ichthyology
Australian Museum Research Institute

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?

I will be collaborating with other participants on fish related research programs. I don't have an active research program related to the expedition but my involvement is to obtain specimens for the Australian Museum collection that will be utilised in the research programs of others.

How would you summarise what you are hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

I am to collect representative samples of all fishes obtained by using rotenone while diving. The Australian Museum's share of the catch will be registered into the Australian Museum Ichthyology Collections where they can be examined by visiting researchers or made available via our loans program.

Odette Howarth
Massey University

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?

We will be using baited remote under-water video to record shark and reef fish biodiversity.  The cameras that we use allow us to film in stereo, thereby allowing us to take measurements of the size of different fish from a 2D image.

How would you summarise what you are hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

This project has been made possible by a collaboration with Global Fin Print and this trip will add valuable information to an existing worldwide database comparing shark species distributions and abundance.  These assessments of reef fish communities will give us a greater understanding of the roles these populations play in the ecosystems of some of the most isolated parts of the Pacific.

Sally Reader
Assistant Collection Manager of Ichthyology
Australian Museum Research Institute

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?

I will be collaborating with other participants on fish related research programs. I don't have an active research program related to the expedition however I do have an interest in the small cryptic  Gobioidei group of fishes. My involvement is to obtain specimens and genetic tissue for the Australian Museum collection that will be utilised in the research programs of others.

How would you summarise what you are hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

I will be collecting fishes with the aim to obtain a database and representative samples of the fishes of the region for taxonomic and genetic research. This voyage continues the ongoing discovery of the fish biodiversity of the shallow-water fauna across the South Pacific. The information gathered will increase the knowledge of the relationships between the fauna, and hopefully aid in the management and conservation of marine resources throughout the region. The resulting  catch will be registered into the Australian Museum Ichthyology Collections where they can be examined by visiting researchers or made available via our loans program.

Severine Hannam
Natural Sciences Collection Manager
Auckland Museum

Born in New Caledonia Severine Hannam spent most of her childhood on boats and from an early age developed a keen interest in marine life. She graduated with a Master in Marine Biology from AUT University in 2008. Her Masters research looked at benthic invertebrate diversity and density in Tucetona laticostata (Dog cockle) beds and involved countless hours sorting sediments and identifying invertebrates.

Severine also worked as marine biologist Dr Steve O’Shea’s research assistant from 2008 to 2011, spending most of her time in the field collecting samples or processing them in the university’s laboratories. Her role also saw her looking after the university’s marine invertebrate collection.
Qualified as a scientific diver, Severine has spent time on vessels of all sizes gaining significant dive experience and knowledge of scientific field gear. She is currently natural sciences collection manager at the Auckland Museum, looking after the marine and geology collections. In her spare time … she does more of what she loves, spending her time diving and learning more about her favourite marine animals – crustaceans, a group of invertebrates which includes lobster, shrimps and many more.

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?

My role on this expedition is as a scientific diver, so I’ll be looking for new fish and marine invertebrate species that I can record and collect for integration into Auckland Museum’s marine collection. Collecting these specimen records creates a really important reference for the future and enables us to better understand our marine environments and how they are changing over time.

How would you summarise what you are hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

Taking part in these marine expeditions is incredibly exciting for a number of reasons. I always learn a lot from the other researchers who have highly specialised knowledge about specific taxonomy groups. There is also a really high chance that we will find species that are new to science because many of the areas we are surveying on this expedition have been so rarely surveyed before. What I am most looking forward to is diving around Matthew Is because it is an active volcanic island – I’m expecting that to be an out-of-this-world experience.

Dr Stephen Keable
Collection Manager - Marine Invertebrates
Australian Museum Research Institute

What research are you undertaking on this expedition?
I'll be aiming to obtain a variety of invertebrates for projects at the Australian Museum Research Institute (https://australianmuseum.net.au/amri) but particularly polychaetes (marine worms) and crustaceans (crabs and shrimp), to relate the Australian fauna to the wider south western Pacific area. Using baited traps I also plan to collect my research specialty, isopods (marine slaters). These slaters scavenge on the remains of other animals. They are significant in food webs and fisheries, so it is important to know how to identify them, and how they are distributed and related.

How would you summarise what you are hoping to achieve by taking part in this expedition?

This project has been made possible by a collaboration with Global Fin Print and this trip will add valuable information to an existing worldwide database comparing shark species distributions and abundance.  These assessments of reef fish communities will give us a greater understanding of the roles these populations play in the ecosystems of some of the most isolated parts of the Pacific.

Will McKay
Sir Peter Blake Trust Youth Ambassador

Will McKay is a current PhD student at the University of Auckland. His research is in aquaculture, and focusses on the production of larval giant kokopu (whitebait). Will has converted his Masters degree into a PhD programme, and is supervised by Dr Andrew Jeffs. He also works in the Research Investigations and Monitoring Unit at the Auckland Council, where he undertakes monitoring and data analysis for marine and freshwater water quality.

Will is a keen diver, free diver, and thoroughly enjoys the outdoors. The greatest scientific challenge New Zealand faces today is described by Will as the threat to New Zealand’s environmental health. Due to changes in land use and urban development, New Zealand’s waterways are in poor condition, and requires the development of new practices, technology and wider reaching education to save our sailing natural environments.

Sir Peter Blake’s legacy of educating the New Zealand public about environmental issues, is a legacy Will wants to become part of, and inspiring others to develop an understanding, appreciation, and protection for our natural environments.

What do you hope to get out of your time on the Southwest Pacific
Expedition?

I can't wait to get amongst a group of marine experts and help create new
knowledge about the Pacific. This will be an awesome opportunity to share the
exciting nature of ocean environments and the discoveries that still await us. As part
of Sir Peter Blake's legacy, I want to spread awareness and increase engagement
with the marine environment in the hope that we can ensure long term health and
sustainability.

As an entirely new experience for me, an expedition on the open ocean, I am looking
forward to the challenges ahead and the opportunity to further develop my scientific
and communicative skills.

Why do you believe it is important for people to learn more about our
marine environment?

Our planet is deeply connected and interlinked between all habitats and
unfortunately the flow of our interactions as humans often ends with the ocean as
somewhat of a sink. As such, the decisions we make on a day to day basis can have
long lasting and adverse effects on the marine environment and it inhabitants.
To avoid this scenario and to protect our oceans we need to create a level of
understanding and interest in the marine environment. People look after the things
they care about, so through educating people in the endless diversity and
extraordinary life in the oceans we will be teaching them to love and protect it too.

Vaughn Filmer
Sir Peter Blake Trust Environmental Educators Award recipient

Vaughn is a teacher of Senior Geography, Outdoor and Environmental Education, and Junior PE and Social Studies at Fiordland College, a Silver Enviroschool in Te Anau. He is married to Joanna, a conservation worker, and has two sons, Elliott (5) and Gulliver (3) both named after Fiordland mountains. He is a founding member of Kids Restore the Kepler, a conservation, and education project in Fiordland National Park and loves mountain biking, snowboarding, kayaking, packrafting, tramping and camping and he is a rock climbing/abseiling instructor.

What do you hope to get out of your time on the Southwest Pacific Expedition?

As an educator, I am always encouraging students to take opportunities, step out of their comfort zone and challenge themselves. For me, an ocean voyage is fulfilling all these ambitions. I hope to bring back stories and a deeper understanding of a new environment, the challenges it is facing and possible solutions to these. I am also looking forward to meeting the scientists who are working hard to better understand this ecosystem.

Why do you believe it is important for people to learn more about our marine environment?

New Zealand is an island nation. We are surrounded by ocean, yet we have a relatively limited understanding of how this environment functions and just how much it influences our day to day lives. We collect kaimoana, recreate and navigate the oceans, and we know they are fragile ecosystems, which we have had a major effect on. Perhaps, though, we don't know just how much more fish we can take, how much more plastic we can add and just what warming, and rising oceans will mean for everyday New Zealanders.

Photography/Videography Team

Kina Scollay
Cinematographer & Filmmaker
www.kinascollay.com/

Kina Scollay is an underwater cinematographer and filmmaker. He specialises in both wildlife and feature films. His roles include underwater director of photography, underwater camera and producer on numerous New Zealand and international productions - from feature films to blue chip documentary series. Kina's intuitive filming style comes from 20 years' professional diving  with 15 years behind the camera.

Recently he was producer and underwater DOP for Our Big Blue Backyard, the extremely popular TVNZ series. He was underwater DOP for MEG, the major Warner Bros feature film due to be re-leased in 2018. His credits include work for Discovery Channel, BBC, Nat Geo, and NHK - Japan’s national broadcaster.

His footage of Great Whites, taken during the New Zealand Great White Shark Research Project, of which he was a founding member, is sold for broadcast productions in New Zealand around the world.

Kina led the NHNZ filming team on the 2015 Auckland Museum Kermadec Expedition. On this trip, he hopes to document the underwater world of the South West Pacific in extraordinary 6k definition, using his state of the art RED digital cinema system.

Richard Robinson
Underwater Photojournalist
www.depth.co.nz

My goal is to document the expedition using state of the art 360 underwater cameras that will illustrate in virtual reality the incredible diversity of underwater life of the South West Pacific and the excitement of breaking new grounds in marine science. His images previously featured in the major Auckland Museum exhibition Moana: My Ocean. His work has helped document four previous expeditions 2011 Kermadec Expedition, 2013 Three Kings Expedition, 2015 South Pacific Biodiscovery Expedition and 2015 The Great Humpback Whale Trail Expedition Team.

Full Expedition Team

Dr Tom Trnksi – Auckland Museum (Expedition Leader)
Severine Hannam – Auckland Museum
Irene Middleton - Auckland Museum
Carl Struthers – Te Papa
Jeremy Barker – Te Papa
Mark McGrouther – Australian Museum
Sally Reader – Australian Museum
Mandy Reid - Australian Museum
Elena Kupriyanova - Australian Museum
Anna Murray - Australian Museum
Adam Smith - Massey University
Clinton Duffy - Massey University
Stephen Keable - Australian Museum
Emma Betty - Massey University
Odette Howarth - Massey University
Dave Aguirre - Massey University
Libby Liggins - Massey University
Mark Erdmann - Conservation International
Semisi Meo - Conservation International

Photography/Videography Team 

Kina Scollay
Richard Robinson