Advisory Board and Editors Aquaculture, Fisheries & Fish Science
Timothy Omara
Dr. Timothy Omara is a researcher with the Institute of Chemistry of Renewable Resources, BOKU University, Austria. He is also an Assistant Lecturer of Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda.
He was previously with the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Sciences and Aerospace Studies, Moi University, Kenya, and affiliated with the Centre of Excellence II in Phytochemicals, Textile and Renewable Energy (PTRE) hosted at the same University.
Dr. Omara holds research assiduity and proven track record of publications and refereeing across international peer-reviewed journals, with research interests including-but not limited to- food toxicology, analytical, natural products and environmental chemistry employing advanced analytical techniques.
He has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles and 5 book chapters as of August 2025, and currently serves as an Academic Editor in PeerJ Life & Environment, PLoS ONE, PeerJ Analytical Chemistry, Journal of Food Quality (Wiley), Natural Product Communications (SAGE) and VEGETOS (Springer)
Darren M Parsons
Darren completed degrees at the University of Auckland where he used acoustic tracking technology to study fish movement within a marine reserve. He then completed a PhD at North Carolina State University where he investigated the effect of a recreational fishery on spiny lobster. Since 2006 Darren has been at NIWA, where he has investigated a range of fish ecology projects, focusing on the value of juvenile fish nurseries and climate change effects on fish larvae. More recently Darren's work has focused on fisheries monitoring projects such as describing the age distribution of inshore fisheries and estimating relative indices of abundance via trawl and potting survey's and CPUE analyses. In 2017 Darren was co-appointed through the University of Auckland's Joint Graduate School in Coastal and Marine Science.
Ana Pavasovic
Dr. Pavasovic is an academic in the School of Biomedical Sciences at QUT. Her research interests are primarily in the area of physiological and functional genomics of marine invertebrates. Dr. Pavasovic uses molecular and bioinformatic approaches to answer questions relating to stress physiology and novel gene evolution in animal systems.
Xavier Pochon
Team Leader, Molecular Surveillance, Biosecurity Group, Cawthron Institute, New Zealand.
Associate Professor, Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
My research at the Cawthron Institute is highly applied and consist of developing multi-trophic molecular tools for environmental monitoring of marine industries (e.g. aquaculture farms, marine biosecurity in ports and marinas, and deep-sea exploration).
At the University of Auckland, I combine 'real-world' and 'blue-sky' research applications, including; i) investigating functional underpinnings of Symbiodiniaceae in coral reef ecosystems, ii) characterizing microbiomes in aquaculture and natural settings, iii) measuring eDNA and eRNA decay rates in marine invertebrates and vertebrates, iv) studying preferential settlement of marine invasive species associated with marine plastic debris, and v) exploring the diversity and dynamics of open-ocean plankton communities in the Pacific and beyond.
Arnold Rakaj
Dr. Arnold Rakaj works at the Laboratory of Experimental Ecology and Aquaculture at the University of Rome Tor Vergata where is carrying out basic and applied research on marine invertebrates and their role in the benthic dynamics.
Karine Rousseau
Associate Professor of Comparative Neuroendocrinology at Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, in Paris; PhD in Reproductive Physiology
Andrew A Shantz
I am a marine ecologist, utilizing principles from community and physiological ecology to understand the impacts of global change on marine ecosystems.
Cindy J Smith
Professor of Environmental Microbiology, Infrastructure and Environment, University of Glasgow. Royal Academy of Engineering-Scottish Water Research Chair Fellow on Biofiltration by Biological Design 2018-2023. 2012-2017 Science Foundation Ireland Starting Investigator and Lecturer National University of Ireland, Galway. 2010-2011 University Fellow, National University of Ireland, Galway. 2003-2010 postdoctoral researcher and research co-investigator at the University of Essex and then the University of Sheffield (Molecular ecology of the nitrogen cycle in temperate and tropical estuaries). PhD in Environmental Microbiology and a BSc Environmental Biology, University College Dublin, Ireland.
Linsheng Song
Professor of Marine Biology and Vice President of Dalian Ocean University. Member of council of the Chinese Society of Malacology, fellow of the Chinese Society for Oceanology and Limnology. Editorial Board Member of Fish & Shellfish Immnology, Developmental and Comparative Immunology, Scientific Report.
Isabel Sousa Pinto
Professor at the University of Porto and researcher at Ciimar: Centre for Marine and Environmental Research. She has a PhD in seaweed ecology, ecophysiology and cultivation from the University of California Santa Barbara. Her main research is in biodiversity and ecology of benthic communities and the biology, cultivation and use of seaweeds and she is the Head of the Laboratory of Coastal Biodiversity. She is also member of the Steering/Executive Committees of several international and European programs as: EPBRS - European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy, MABEFF+ – European Institute for the study of Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning, MARS - European Network of Marine Research Institutes and Stations, EMBOS - Development and implementation of a pan-European Marine Biodiversity Observatory System, and co-chair of the Working group on Marine Ecosystem Change from GEO BON – Biodiversity Observation Network and in the Portuguese delegation to the UN Convention for Biological Diversity
Robert J Toonen
Research professor of Marine Biology at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology in the School of Ocean & Earth Sciences & Technology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Cemal Turan
Cemal Turan is a Professor in the Department of Marine Sciences at Iskenderun Technical University, Turkey.
His primary research interests include Marine Biodiversity, Fisheries, Alien Species, Molecular Ecology and Biotechnology.