AFTER more than 30 years, line-fish scientist Dr Bruce Mann has retired from his work with the Oceanographic Research Institute (ORI).
ORI is the research division of the South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR) which shared the news in a statement, saying Mann had ‘retired’ on February 28.
“Bruce’s rapport with the non-scientific community has been one of SAAMBR’s greatest assets; his science engagement with people from all walks of life, from government officials to coastal resource users, to local communities and school children, has been invaluable. His colleagues in ORI’s sister divisions, uShaka Sea World and uShaka Sea World Education, will attest to that,” said SAAMBR CEO Dr Larry Oellermann.
SAAMBR spokesperson Ann Kunz added that Mann’s unofficial relationship with ORI goes back further, starting off as a volunteer when he was just a schoolboy.
“Bruce earned an MSC in Ichthyology and Fisheries Science at Rhodes University, where he met and skilfully angled the greatest catch of his life, his future wife, Dr Judy Mann. Judy and Bruce graduated in 1991 and moved to Durban the following year to take up positions at ORI,” said Kunz.
Mann became Prof Rudy van der Elst’s understudy, working at ORI’s marine line-fish research programme.
“He continued to grow the research portfolio with a remarkable and diverse list of projects and moved into innovative fields of research such as Baited Remote Underwater Videography Systems (BRUVS) and radio-tag telemetry,” said Kunz.
Mann excelled in the field and revelled in a life that revolved around angling, boating and scuba diving.
“In between field trips, Bruce found time to analyse his data and write up his discoveries, producing a remarkable 117 papers in scientific journals and conference proceedings on topics ranging from fish diets to fishermen’s attitudes, and everything in-between. He co-authored a couple of books with 21 chapters in these books; developed a fishing app for mobile devices; produced countless reports for a truly diverse range of stakeholders; presented his work at 113 international and local conferences, and wrote at least 120 popular articles for both print and electronic media. He also managed to earn his PhD, besides supervising seven BSc (Hons) and 13 MSc postgraduate students,” said Kunz.
Although retiring from active duty and moving to the Eastern Cape, Mann hasn’t cut his ties with ORI and KZN completely – he continues his work as a research associate.
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