Our Patron

Baroness Wilcox

Baroness Wilcox heralds from a Plymouth fishing family and has been involved in the fishing industry all her life. She has spent over 20 years in the international food industry. The Baroness is a member of the House of Lords, President of the National Federation of Consumer Groups, Governor of Imperial College, a member of the All Party Fisheries Committee of Parliament and Shadow Minister for Trade and Industry, Energy and Science in the Lords, President of the Institute of Trading Standards, a non executive Director of Carpet Right Plc and Johnson Services Plc, a member of the governing body of the Institute of Food Research and a member of the Council of the Federation for Science and Technology. The Baroness is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and holds an Honorary Science Doctorate from the University of Plymouth.

Bryan Coode

Bryan spent ten years in the Army serving around the world on land and flying helicopters. After a number of international management roles he joined a company in high performance materials. For the last 14 years he set up and ran a European Division for Mitsubishi Materials, becoming the market leader.In 1999 he returned to Cornwall before retiring in 2005. Since returning Bryan has spent six years as Chairman of the Cornwall Garden Society and is now Vice President, responsible for grants to horticultural research and education, is Governor of University College Falmouth, was Vice Chairman of the Cornwall Development Project managing Objective One funding for Cornwall’s gardens, Trustee of Trebah Gardens and is involved in several other local organisations.

Teri Walter

Teri has lived in Padstow since 1968 when she moved here to marry a local fisherman. Teri owns and runs five retail businesses in Padstow, is the Mayoress of Padstow Town Council and a School Governess. Teri is fascinated by marine life and has a great love of the sea.

Peter Hodgson, CBE, FCA, D.L.

Peter Hodgson is a senior partner of chartered accountants, Hodgsons, and a former Chairman of University College Falmouth. In addition to his role at Hodgsons, Peter is a director of various private companies. He is also involved in a number of voluntary organisations and charities. Peter was Chairman of University College Falmouth from 1999 to 2007, having been a governor since 1997 and Chairman of the Finance Committee between 1998 and 1999. During his term as governor and then Chairman, Peter oversaw the purchase of the Tremough Campus and the subsequent decision to share the space with the University of Exeter. He also presided over the achievement of Taught Degree Awarding Powers and the name change from Falmouth College of Arts to University College Falmouth. Peter was instrumental in the merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008. Peter was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall in 2005 and Deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall in 2006.

Edwin Derriman MBE

Edwin started his career at sea as a “decky learner” when he was just 15 years of age. He worked on vessels fishing the Norwegian Deeps and the North Sea for the first decade and a half of his career, while working his way up through the ranks. He obtained his Skippers Certificate (Class 1, Deck Officer (Full)) in 1979 and went on to work as master of several vessels around the world including an eight month voyage to the Falkland Islands in 1989. He spent a total of 26 years at sea. In 1990 he changed direction in his career and became a Fishery Officer with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and two years later was made the Chief Fishery Officer in 1992 for the local authority in Cornwall, a post he retired from in March 2015. Edwin was the main initial driving force behind the Hatchery and has been working on this project since 1992.

Rob Clifford-Wing

Jean Taylor, MBE, BSc (Hons), Dip Data

Prior to her retirement in 2015, Jean spent twenty one years working for the University of Exeter, based at their campus in Cornwall. Her role involved engaging the business community in Cornwall with the academic expertise, promoting opportunities for collaboration, research and development and higher level skills development. She became Head of Strategic Economic Development in Cornwall for the University, focussing on EU funding and the contribution of higher education to the economic development of Cornwall. She retired in 2015. In her early career in South Africa, she was Research and Development Manager for a corporate involved in the manufacture of high temperature materials for the metallurgical industry. Her particular areas of interest for NLH include strategic planning, the development of the research programme, public sector funding opportunities and intellectual property.

Martyn Hedley

Martyn spent his working life in the City of London as Chairman of Willis Faber Dumas in their Aviation Division. Willis are a leading global insurance broker, developing and delivering professional insurance, reinsurance, financial and human resource consulting and actuarial services to corporations, public entities and institutions around the world.Since his retirement in 2003 he spends almost all of his time in Cornwall. His listed house won a prestigious Renovation of the Year Award for a major restoration project. Martyn acquired and invested in a local community village shop and post office, doubling turnover and improving long-term prospects for the business. For a local Multiple Sclerosis charity Martyn and his wife Amanda helped organise a fundraising activity, which raised over £50k.Martyn is also actively involved as a Director of the Livery Company’s Mutual – the mutual looks after the Livery companies in the City of London. Martyn had the honour of being made Master of the Worshipful Company of Grocers in 2005 and also the Chair of the Willis Pensioners Association.

Lord St Levan

James lives at St Michael’s Mount, which attracts over 300,000 visitors each year and is managed in partnership with the National Trust. As well as operating the visitor activities on the Mount, his family business comprises a 600 year old agricultural estate, Cornish Heritage Builders, the Godolphin Arms and the Mount Haven Hotel in Marazion. He is the founder Chairman of Pirate FM, from which has grown UKRD Group, the fourth largest commercial radio group in the UK. He is Chairman of Visit Cornwall, and negotiated the transfer of its operations from the public sector to a community interest company. James also keeps a watchful eye on his seven lobster pots in Mount’s Bay.

Jeremy Simmonds, RD, BA (Oxon)

Jeremy Simmonds, a retired London solicitor, has enjoyed a life-long interest in shellfish law and shellfish matters generally. Among other things, he has had an active involvement in pressing for changes to the law as it affects shell fishermen and the shellfish industry, particularly shellfish cultivation.Jeremy became the President of the Shellfish Association of Great Britain in November 2008 having worked closely with the three past Directors of the Association, primarily on legal issues, for nearly 40 years. He has commented that – “The Marine and Coastal Access Bill now before Parliament, for which we have lobbied for so long, is only the latest of many legal challenges that have faced the industry. Experience shows that it will not be the last!”Jeremy is very pleased to have been able to join the Board of Trustees and to continue the link with the Shellfish Association of Great Britain first created by the late Dr Eric Edwards OBE, a Director of the Association for 18 years.Jeremy is also a Liveryman of the Fishmongers’ Company, one of the sponsors of the National Lobster Hatchery.

Dan James BA (Hons)

Dan joined Eden Project in September 2002 to manage its funding activity across a number of sectors including Public funds, Trusts and Foundations. His role includes raising funds to pay for programmes and projects that deliver against Eden’s charitable mission, as well as playing a leading role in the establishment and maintenance of key regional stakeholder relationships. Prior to joining Eden, Dan spent 5 years working in local regeneration for Cornwall Enterprise and Government Office for the South West.

Geoff Brown

Geoff comes from a long line of Newquay fisherman who date back to the pilchard industry of the 1800’s. In the seventies he worked an under 10m Toms built vessel, the Shirley Anne, potting and trawling from Newquay and then handlining on the south coast for mackerel during the winter months. Later he went into teaching but retained his love of the sea and commitment to seafarers giving 20 years of service to the RNLI as both crew and now DLA. He was also station officer for the Newquay Coastguard rescue team from 1980 until 2005, during which time he was twice awarded the Chief CG Commendation for Meritorious Service. Retiring from full-time teaching in 2005, Geoff returned to his first love of potting with the Spirit of Cornwall and also assisted his son with his shellfish export business. Elected to Cornwall Council in 2009 Geoff now works to support seafarers as a member of the Harbours Board and as vice-chairman of the CIFCA.

Dr Grant Stentiford

Grant is the Director of the European Community Reference Laboratory for Crustacean Diseases based at the CEFAS Weymouth Laboratory. Grant joined Weymouth in 2000 and his career highlights include; leading the development of molecular pathology within his team and the introduction of bio-informatics as a key requirement in linking pathology into the emerging technologies in molecular biology, such as proteomics. This is in addition to continuing to develop his skills as a crustacean pathologist.

Rachel Turner

I am an environmental social scientist focusing on marine resource governance, small-scale fisheries and coastal communities. My research uses social science methods to understand how socio-economic and environmental contexts drive resource-use behaviour and responses to change. The aim of my research is to inform management and governance systems, and help address challenges of sustainable natural resource management.

Prof Dave Hodgson, Bsc

I am a quantitative ecologist, with a research focus in two fields. I study the maintenance of phenotypic variation in natural systems, such as viruses in insects, antiherbivore metabolites in plants, and niche specialists in bacterial microcosms. I also study the robustness of empirical models of population and community dynamics, with application to strategies of conservation management and the exploitation of natural resources. My goal is to lend ecology a predictive framework, and to help explain (and conserve) biodiversity.

Colin Trundle

As the Principle Scientific Officer for Cornwall’s regional Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority (IFCA), Colin leads the organisation’s research team, who conduct statutory and investigative environmental surveys of the area’s diverse coastal marine habitats in order to provide evidence with which to inform local fisheries policy, legislation and its enforcement. Colin’s lengthy hands-on experience as a fisheries officer in the field mean he is well placed to provide expert advice on marine habitats, environmental impact monitoring and fisheries conservation enforcement, as well as providing a current link to the local fishing community.

Dr Colin Bannister

I am a career fisheries scientists who started at the then MAFF Fisheries Laboratory, Lowestoft in 1964, and retired from it in CEFAS days in 2004. To begin with I worked on tagging and assessing flatfish stocks at Iceland and in the North Sea, but also spent 1976-77 as the first scientific advisor to DG9 and DG14 in Brussels during the formulation of the CFP.My association with SAGB dates back to 1981 when I became head of the shellfish science team at Lowestoft when Eric Edwards became SAGB Director. I attended the SAGB committees, and became deeply involved with advice to MAFF, SAGB and SFCs on the containment and eradication of Bonamia, lobster management and stock enhancement, the management of cockle, oyster, scallop, whelk and razor fisheries, and projects on gravel dredging at Race Bank and Hastings Shingle Bank, to name just some of the highlights that culminated in the Walne Lecture of 1999. During that period I also attended the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea in Copenhagen as Chair of the Shellfish Committee, and later of the Consultative Committee, which reorganised ICES science in the 1990s.Since ‘retirement’ I have returned to the shellfish fold, taking part in a range of MSC assessments of shrimp and lobster fisheries in North America and Greenland, attending the SAGB committees, and writing contract reports on the Shellfish Industry Development Strategy, the National Shellfish Resource Group, and the Management of Brown Crab fisheries, on which I am currently leading for SAGB.Along the way the SAGB has been kind enough to appoint me as an Honorary Life Member and Council Member, and in 2009-11 I was chair of the Crustacean Committee, and also an honorary auditor.

Dr Ros McIntyre

Ros is a fisheries scientist and has worked with shellfish at Cefas since 2009. One of her main roles is to produce regional stock assessments for lobster, and it is her ongoing mission to improve the quality and quantity of the data so we can get the best out of the assessments. Ros is also a member of the ICES crab and lobster working group, as well as being involved in a wide range of research, from tagging crabs, to intertidal surveys and whelk maturity studies.

Dr Adam Powell

Adam is an aquaculture researcher/manager with specific interest in hatcheries, novel species, welfare, pathogens and disease prevention, immunology, crustaceans. After completing his PhD on culture techniques and health of crabs, Adam spent a decade working for Swansea University, where he helped develop their Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Research. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow with the University of Gothenburg’s Department of Biological & Environmental Sciences.

Dom Boothroyd, BSc, MSc

Dom is responsible for the day to day management of the business, from raising the public profile of the charity, to writing research proposals and lending a hand in the hatchery. Dom was born and raised in North Cornwall, gained an Honours Degree in Fisheries and Ocean Science, a Masters Degree in Fish Biology, and then worked in Aquaculture for a few years before working in the ornamental industry and eventually public Aquaria. Before coming to the NLH Dom was the Curator of the Aquaria at the World famous Burj al Arab Hotel in Dubai.

DR CARLY DANIELS, BSc

Carly has been on the hatchery team since 2004 when she joined us as a student to undertake her graduate project. She stayed with the team as a research technician and has been the driving force behind much of the hatcheries research work. Carly completed her PhD in 2011 which was funded by the NLH, the Great Western Research Fund, the Fishmongers Company and the University of Plymouth. Moving on from Senior Hatchery Technician in 2012 Carly became Research & Development Officer driving our research forward and overseeing the research undertaken in-house and by students. Now she is heading up Europe’s largest lobster research project as Principal Investigator of Lobster Grower 2.

Dr Charlie Ellis, BSc

I am a marine biologist and fisheries scientist with a broad experience in applied ecological research. I specialise in research and education, especially in areas of crustacean fisheries conservation, sustainable aquaculture, genetics and social enterprise science.