
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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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