Member profile - Dr Adam Smith

Growing up in the midst of the early space program, it was clear that all my friends wanted to be astronauts. Perhaps it was because Astronauts had nicknames like Buzz and Gus, and most of us kids had nicknames too. Although I’d never heard of an astronaut called “Bubba”. Personally, I never wanted to be an astronaut, perhaps like many in the Australasian Fishes project, preferring to be Jacques Cousteau instead. This desire to join the crew of the Calypso, did not, however, translate to any logical steps such as learning French or moving to Monaco. However, I never missed an episode of his television specials.

What made those shows so inspiring was more than fish pictures, which were amazing enough. The Cousteau production company created a mixture of travel, ocean diving as well as showcasing the emerging technology used in underwater research and television production. There was always a new invention or gadget to see. What attracted me to wish I was Jacques’s long lost, slight lazy and near-sighted, English-speaking nephew, was the variety of the experiences his shows offered. The rich mixture of exotic locations, innovative toys, research questions and, of course, fish filmed while diving in pristine locations. Who needed astronauts?

Reading about this Bio Blurb’s subject, Dr Adam Smith, reminds me of the excitement and sense of exploration I felt when watching The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau so many years ago and how varied of an experience it truly was. Adam describes himself as “A thalassophile who feels an inescapable need to be and live by the sea”. To ensure he has his daily dose of vitamin sea he became a marine scientist, naturalist and sportsperson with a fascination for the ocean, fish and their connection to people.

Adam grew up in Sydney as a keen swimmer, surfer, recreational rock fisher, spearfisher, freediver and trained as a SCUBA diver in 1982. He studied marine biology at the University of New South Wales and completed a BSc (Hons) and PhD. His early career was with NSW Fisheries Research Institute, The Ecology Lab and NSW Fisheries. In 1999 he moved to Townsville, Queensland as a Director with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, where he served for over 14 years in the development of strategic plans, policies and applied management procedures to ensure the reef remains a sustainable resource for Australia. In 2015 he founded Reef Ecologic which is a social enterprise and consultancy providing strategic advice, marine research and capacity building. It is a vast storehouse of coral reef knowledge and experience, with Adam as the CEO. He was an Associate Professor at James Cook University and remains in an adjunct role with the institution. He has 101 publications on topics including coral reefs, sharks, seagrass and human interactions. In his spare time, of which I doubt he has much, Adam is a keen ocean ski paddler and competes in long-distance events.

When asked about his first engagement with the ocean, he tells us, “I started snorkeling as a six-year-old in the rockpool at Bronte Beach. I was given my first speargun for XMAS at age 12. At university I joined the UNSW Dive Club, underwater hockey club and Sans Souci Dolphins Spearfishing club and enjoyed trips throughout NSW and annual camping trips to the Great Barrier Reef. I was inspired by Jacque Cousteau’s underwater adventures in his books and films. Locally I was inspired by Ron and Valerie Taylor and Ben Cropp who were spearfishers, filmmakers and authors.”

Moving to a tropical Australian city added fuel to his already water-based passions. He says, “I dive for recreation and work as often as I can, and the Great Barrier Reef and nearshore islands and headlands are amazing and diverse locations. To date I have logged almost 4000 SCUBA dives and there have been many more snorkel dives, so I have probably spent 10,000 days of my life on or underwater. I recently returned from a conference in the Maldives, and I was snorkeling every day. I prefer snorkeling to SCUBA because of the freedom and the longer time I can spend in the water. I still enjoy catching and eating a tasty Coral Trout or Spanish Mackerel and will also share the occasional photo of a dead fish on iNaturalist that I have captured by line or spearfishing.”

Adam is also an experienced underwater photographer, and like some of us has owned a wide range of underwater cameras. He says, “I have owned and treasured several underwater cameras from the Nikonos II with film to Coolpix (that was limited to 10m depth) to my current Canon G7X in a Fantasea FG7XII housing. I prefer simple, low volume cameras without lights as I take the majority of my photos while snorkeling.”

Adam’s contribution to Australasian Fishes has been impressive. He has a long history of participating in citizen science projects, however, he has been with Australasian Fishes for only a year and is already ranked as number 18, with 1,579 observations for the project. He’s contributed over 2,622 observations for iNaturalist, encompassing 1,004 different species. I personally have benefited from his IDs, especially for tropical varieties from the Great Barrier Reef. He says, “It is hard to believe but I have only been a member of iNaturalist for just over one year. My introduction to the app was because I photographed a fish I could not identify. I shared the photo on social media, emailed several fish scientists and also posted to iNaturalist. The fish was identified as a Largescale Grunter, Terapon theraps and I wanted to know more about local species of reef fish. I have made over 2450 observations including photographs of over 500 species of fish and 20 species of sharks and rays. Typically, I will take 50 to 150 photos when I do a reef trip and then select about half of these to upload to iNaturalist. My top three observations of fish by number are Spotted Coral Grouper, Great White Shark (after an amazing three-day charter at Neptune Islands) and Chinese Demoiselle (one of the most common species around local islands and reefs). I also assist with IDs of fish in Australia and internationally with 500 so far. I have also learned a lot about coral and other marine life while making observations.”

Adam is a rather unique participant of our project as both a citizen scientist as well as a marine scientist. There are great strengths and opportunities in being both. He is active in several citizen science groups such as Reef Life Survey, Reefcheck Australia and also adds observations to the Eye on the Reef databases. Like a true citizen/professional scientist, and evidenced by his numerous contributions to our project, he shares his knowledge of the marine environment to empower many other ocean enthusiasts including his family, local school, staff and local skindiving club which recently held a spearfishing event and observed over 300 sharks from 10 species. He stated, "We are analyzing the data of the shark sightings as well as fish caught and preyed upon by sharks." He is in the process of writing another scientific paper on this topic and also producing a video to share these observations.

To promote the cause of marine citizen science Adam has also set up a number of iNaturalist projects to focus citizen science on local attractions such as the Coral Greenhouse, Yongala shipwreck, Orpheus Island Research Station, Magnetic Island and also set up ReefBlitz 2022 event for the GBRWHA to celebrate World Oceans Day\Week. In addition to establishing iNaturalist projects, Adam is deeply engaged in community work which also fosters wider understanding and appreciation for the undersea world. He is a Board member of the Australian Underwater Federation, Recfish Australia and the Museum of Underwater Art. The last one, is a unique project, which is already gaining global attention, mixing art and the underwater environment.

Asking Adam for his appraisal of iNaturalist, our project and the importance of citizen science, he tells us, "My advice is that iNaturalist is the biggest citizen science app in the world with over 110 million observations of over 390,000 species and you can learn so much from this huge dataset, dedicated people and also contribute your unique experience. So, load the app and start with an observation. It is very cool when you receive suggested identifications, and the expert online community provides advice on species. However, iNaturalist comes with a warning as it can be addictive. Finally, I do try and create and share unique opportunities that may be of interest to fellow iNaturalists. In October 2023 I am leading and facilitating a citizen science expedition to the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. It will be a 14 -day journey with the small cruise ship company Coral Expeditions and it may be of interest to some readers who are passionate about iNaturaist and citizen science and wish to meet like-minded enthusiasts and broaden their knowledge.”

It turns out, after all those years, I was completely wrong about the ambitions of my youth. I have met Jacque Cousteau and been aboard the Calypso, but have now decided, rather than being Jacque’s nephew, I would rather be Adam Smith’s uncle. His world and interests include sport, photography, professional science, environmentalism, resource management, citizen science and even underwater art.

This journal post was written by Australasian Fishes member, Harry Rosenthal.