Big Blue Future - Inspiring the next generation
Event description
Join us for a hui as we look at the future of our ocean and sustainable fishing, with your chance to ask us your toughest questions!
Joining us overseas from the Marine Stewardship Council will be Rohan Currey, Chief Science and Standards Officer; Polly Burns, Head of Fisheries Standards Policy; Matt Watson, Senior Fisheries Program Manager, Asia Pacific, accompanied from Aotearoa New Zealand; Perya Short, Strategic Partnerships Manager and Rika Milne, Learning Designer.
- Join us in the room from 4 pm
- Join us online from 4:15 pm
- Whakatau (Welcome)
- Understand how to excel at ocean literacy and build hope and optimism for students
- A tour of the MSC-certified sustainable fisheries in Aotearoa New Zealand
- Ask us your toughest questions!
Watch live and on-demand
Ask your questions at menti.com using code 4937 6758.
Science experts
Dr Rohan Currey, MSC Chief Science and Standards Officer
Rohan is Chief Science and Standards Officer at the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). He is a member of the MSC’s Executive Committee and is responsible for overseeing the setting and maintaining of the MSC’s standards; research, development and evaluation; plus wider certification and assurance operations globally.
Prior to joining the MSC in 2016, Rohan was a Principal Scientist at New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries. He represented New Zealand at the International Whaling Commission and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.
Rohan holds a PhD in marine mammal science from the University of Otago. His professional affiliations include membership in the IUCN Species Survival Commission Cetacean Specialist Group and the Royal Society of New Zealand. He holds an honorary Associate Professorship with the University of Exeter and is Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation.
Polly Burns, MSC Head of Fisheries Standards Policy
Polly is the Head of Fisheries Standards Policy at the Marine Stewardship Council. She was the project manager for the Fisheries Standard Review that concluded in 2022 and is responsible for overseeing policy development for processes and requirements. Before joining the MSC, Polly held several roles within the aquaculture and fisheries sector, most recently as aquaculture interactions manager with Fisheries Management Scotland, to support the management of interactions between farmed and wild salmonid fish.
Polly worked with Lloyds Register for nearly 5 years, where she managed the assessments of fisheries and fish farms under the Marine Stewardship Council, Aquaculture Stewardship Council and other certification schemes.
Prior to that, Polly worked as the Assistant Biologist with the Spey Foundation. Polly graduated with a marine science degree from the Scottish Association for Marine Science in Oban and, in 2017, was given a sabbatical to study a Masters by Research at the University of York, producing a thesis that reconstructed the history of the marine environment around Ascension Island, a UK overseas territory in the South Atlantic.
Matt Watson, MSC Senior Fisheries Program Manager, Asia Pacific
Matt Watson is the Marine Stewardship Council’s Senior Fisheries Program Manager for the Asia Pacific and is based in Fremantle, Western Australia. Since 2012, Matt has supported MSC’s fisheries teams across the Asia Pacific as well as with Australian and New Zealand stakeholders to support the organisation’s vision of balancing a healthy ocean and sustainable seafood.
Matt has worked with the fishing industry for the past 16 years, from working on fishing vessels through to government engagement. Matt looks to work with stakeholder groups involved in the sustainable seafood space by listening to the challenges and finding supportive yet credible solutions to the issues at hand.
Matt has a Bachelor of Science in Oceanography and Marine Biology from Southampton University, UK and a Master of Research in Sustainability and Climate Policy from Curtin University, Western Australia.
About Te Kawa O Tangaroa and the Marine Stewardship Council
Our ocean covers 70% of the planet and supports life as we know it. Every second breath we take comes from the ocean. It feeds billions of people and hosts 80% of the world’s biodiversity.
But our ocean faces a triple threat of climate change, overfishing and pollution.
Ocean literacy ensures that our future leaders and shoppers are equipped with the knowledge to continue the fight to protect our ocean.
A key objective of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development is to boost ocean literacy in the formal education sector and create a new generation of ocean leaders by 2030.
To do this, the Marine Stewardship Council, an international non-profit with a vision of our ocean teeming with life for this and future generations, has created an education programme called Te Kawa O Tangaroa.