31 March 2007
Scholarship to promote success in Marine Science
A Masters student at the University of Auckland had more than one reason to celebrate today not only was it Oliver
Hannaford's 25th birthday, but he was also the first student to be awarded a new joint Ministry of Fisheries and
National Institute of Water and Atmosphere (NIWA) graduate scholarship in quantitative fisheries science worth $25,000 a
year.
Minister of Fisheries and Associate Minister of Tertiary Education Jim Anderton presented him with a cheque and a
birthday cake in Auckland today. "The contribution of skilled marine scientists to sustainable fisheries is invaluable.
There is a world-wide shortage of marine scientists with strong mathematical and statistical backgrounds. Such skills
are essential to fisheries science so the Ministry has initiated this scholarship programme as a first step towards
filling the gap,” he said.
Oliver Hannaford will be undertaking a Master of Science in Statistics degree, developing mathematical models of the
west coast snapper fishery to use in assessing the health of the snapper stock. "I'm deeply grateful for the
scholarship," he said. "I'll be able to concentrate fully on my research without having to worry about the future. And
it's really encouraging to see the government investing in students."
Effective management of fisheries requires reliable predictions of what kind of impact different management options will
have. The snapper fishery on the west coast of New Zealand is an important natural resource that has a long history of
commercial and recreational fishing. It has the second highest reported catch for snapper in New Zealand. The fish stock
was last assessed in 2005.
The scholarship is valued at up to $25,000 per annum for an MSc degree and $30,000 per annum for a PhD. The Minister had
also ordered up a birthday cake for the occasion.
ENDS