Associate Professor Anthony (Tony) Fowler
2021 ASFB Hall of Fame Award
A/Prof Tony Fowler is a fish biologist and fishery scientist who has made significant contributions to these fields at the state and national levels in Australia, and also at the international level. His PhD and early post-doctoral work during the 1980s and early 1990s involved research into the ecology of coral reef fishes on the Great Barrier Reef. Then, in the early 1990s, he undertook a post-doctoral position in Canada that contributed to the early exploratory work on otolith chemistry and its ecological applications.
From 1993, Tony has been a Research Scientist at SARDI Aquatic Sciences, South Australia. In this role, he has focussed on the population biology and dynamics of the primary finfish fishery species in South Australia, particularly Snapper (Chrysophrys auratus), King George whiting (Sillaginodes punctatus) and Southern Garfish (Hyporhamphus melanochir). His research has fundamentally underpinned the management of the fisheries on these species over the past 25 years and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. As such, Tony has become nationally recognised as an authority on these species and the management of their fisheries.
Tony’s research has made significant contributions to the development of several broad fields of research into fish ecology, evolution and fishery science. This work includes: the validation of annual increments in otoliths of tropical reef fishes; providing empirical evidence that supports the hypothesis that the dynamics of fish populations can be driven by recruitment variability, which ultimately relates to the variability in survivorship of the eggs and larvae through the early life history; contributing to the development and application of otolith chemistry as a tool for addressing ecological questions for finfish species; making a significant contribution to understanding the life history, population dynamics and stock structure for commercially important finfish species in southern Australia; and having provided comprehensive stock assessments for a range of Australian community-shared fishery species.
Tony has generated many reports throughout his career which have reported to government on the status on fisheries and provided scientific advice to underpin fishery management. Other significant reports have provided research outcomes to funding agencies. Furthermore, he has published widely in international journals. He has affiliate positions at both the University of Adelaide and Flinders University in South Australia and has supervised over 20 Honours and postgraduate students.
Tony has been a member of the ASFB since the 1980’s. Through the 1990s and 2000s, he was a State representative on the Executive of the ASFB and was a member of the inaugural Future of Society Committee. In 2012, Tony was the convenor of the annual ASFB conference that was held in Adelaide, and from 1993 to 2018 was an Australian representative on the International Otolith Symposium (IOS) Scientific Committee.
Tony Fowler was inducted into ASFBs Hall of Fame in 2021, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to fish biology and fisheries science.