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Dr Leslie Roberson
Dr

Leslie Roberson

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Overview

Background

I grew up in Seattle in the Pacific Northwest of the US, and spent my childhood in on and around the water. I have a Bachelors in Environmental Studies from Yale University (on the Long Island Sound, not the most beautiful body of water) and a Masters in Applied Marine Science from the University of Cape Town (surrounded by stunning vibrant incredible ocean!). I’ve been lucky to work on a wide variety of conservation and management projects around the world, including Latin America, Africa, and more recently Oceania and Southeast Asia. As a marine scientist, I'm passionate about all things fisheries, except actually doing the fishing (which I am very bad at). I’m also one of the few surfers who wants to see more sharks in the water. My research straddles the marine conservation and fisheries management fields, including work with fisher behaviour and bycatch reduction (see here for some featured projects), fishing impacts on threatened marine species, and seafood trade dynamics. Ultimately, my interest is improving the environmental and socioeconomic sustainability of fishing and seafood in Australia and globally.

Here at UQ I am a member of the UQ Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science and the Ocean Conservation Team led by A/Prof Carissa Klein.

Availability

Dr Leslie Roberson is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
  • Associate Fellow, CSIRO, CSIRO

Research interests

  • Fisheries management

    I work on many issues related to fisheries, including monitoring, control, and surveillance and bycatch mitigation. I work closely with a variety of government and industry partners.

  • Sustainable seafood

    I am interested in global protein provision and how seafood can contribute to food security, and what seafood "sustainability" means in terms of livelihoods and the ecosystems impacted by fishing

  • Marine conservation

    Although I have experience with evaluation and planning of marine protected areas, my current interests focus on other conservation measures - mostly effective fisheries management

  • Biodiversity protection

    I was always interested in protection of the natural environment, but a trip to the Galapagos Islands during a study abroad in Ecuador in 2008 sealed the deal for me. After that summer, I changed my Major to Environmental Science and have since specialized in marine conservation

Works

Search Professor Leslie Roberson’s works on UQ eSpace

27 works between 2015 and 2025

21 - 27 of 27 works

2020

Journal Article

Over 90 endangered fish and invertebrates are caught in industrial fisheries

Roberson, Leslie A., Watson, Reg A. and Klein, Carissa J. (2020). Over 90 endangered fish and invertebrates are caught in industrial fisheries. Nature Communications, 11 (1) 4764, 1-8. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18505-6

Over 90 endangered fish and invertebrates are caught in industrial fisheries

2019

Journal Article

Need to address gaps in global fisheries observation

Roberson, Leslie A., Kiszka, Jeremy J. and Watson, James E. M. (2019). Need to address gaps in global fisheries observation. Conservation Biology, 33 (4) cobi.13265, 966-968. doi: 10.1111/cobi.13265

Need to address gaps in global fisheries observation

2019

Journal Article

Reply to ‘Consider species specialism when publishing datasets’ and ‘Decision trees for data publishing may exacerbate conservation conflict’

Tulloch, Ayesha I. T., Auerbach, Nancy, Avery-Gomm, Stephanie, Dickman, Chris R., Fisher, Diana O., Grantham, Hedley, Holden, Matthew H., Lavery, Tyrone H., Leseberg, Nicholas P., O’Connor, James, Roberson, Leslie, Smyth, Anita K., Stone, Zoe, Tulloch, Vivitskaia, Turak, Eren, Watson, James E. M. and Wardle, Glenda M. (2019). Reply to ‘Consider species specialism when publishing datasets’ and ‘Decision trees for data publishing may exacerbate conservation conflict’. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 3 (3), 320-321. doi: 10.1038/s41559-019-0805-6

Reply to ‘Consider species specialism when publishing datasets’ and ‘Decision trees for data publishing may exacerbate conservation conflict’

2018

Journal Article

A decision tree for assessing the risks and benefits of publishing biodiversity data

Tulloch, Ayesha I. T., Auerbach, Nancy, Avery-Gomm, Stephanie, Bayraktarov, Elisa, Butt, Nathalie, Dickman, Chris R., Ehmke, Glenn, Fisher, Diana O., Grantham, Hedley, Holden, Matthew H., Lavery, Tyrone H., Leseberg, Nicholas P., Nicholls, Miles, O'Connor, James, Roberson, Leslie, Smyth, Anita K., Stone, Zoe, Tulloch, Vivitskaia, Turak, Eren, Wardle, Glenda M. and Watson, James E. M. (2018). A decision tree for assessing the risks and benefits of publishing biodiversity data. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 2 (8), 1209-1217. doi: 10.1038/s41559-018-0608-1

A decision tree for assessing the risks and benefits of publishing biodiversity data

2017

Journal Article

Pelagic bioregionalisation using open-access data for better planning of marine protected area networks

Roberson, Leslie A., Lagabrielle, Erwann, Lombard, Amanda T., Sink, Kerry, Livingstone, Tamsyn, Grantham, Hedley and Harris, Jean M. (2017). Pelagic bioregionalisation using open-access data for better planning of marine protected area networks. Ocean & Coastal Management, 148, 214-230. doi: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2017.08.017

Pelagic bioregionalisation using open-access data for better planning of marine protected area networks

2017

Journal Article

Potential application of baited remote underwater video to survey abundance of west coast rock lobster Jasus lalandii

Roberson, L. A., Attwood, C. G., Winker, H., Cockroft, A. C. and Van Zyl, D. L. (2017). Potential application of baited remote underwater video to survey abundance of west coast rock lobster Jasus lalandii. Fisheries Management and Ecology, 24 (1), 49-61. doi: 10.1111/fme.12201

Potential application of baited remote underwater video to survey abundance of west coast rock lobster Jasus lalandii

2015

Journal Article

First survey of fishes in the Betty's Bay Marine Protected Area along South Africa's temperate south-west coast

Roberson, L., Winker, H., Attwood, C., De Vos, L., Sanguinetti, C. and Götz, A. (2015). First survey of fishes in the Betty's Bay Marine Protected Area along South Africa's temperate south-west coast. African Journal of Marine Science, 37 (4), 543-556. doi: 10.2989/1814232x.2015.1110045

First survey of fishes in the Betty's Bay Marine Protected Area along South Africa's temperate south-west coast

Funding

Current funding

  • 2025
    Combining data and expert knowledge: Working with skilled fishers to identify feasible conservation targets for threatened species
    UQ Foundation Research Excellence Awards
    Open grant
  • 2023 - 2025
    Leveraging fisher skill to reduce bycatch in global fisheries
    Minderoo Foundation Limited
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2023 - 2025
    Leveraging individual operator skill to reduce threatened species bycatch in prawn trawl fisheries
    Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation Inc
    Open grant

Supervision

Availability

Dr Leslie Roberson is:
Available for supervision

Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.

Media

Enquiries

Contact Dr Leslie Roberson directly for media enquiries about:

  • Australian fisheries
  • Bycatch
  • Flake
  • Sustainable seafood

Need help?

For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team:

communications@uq.edu.au