Meet the Team at OceanWatch Australia

Anissa Lawrence - Chief Executive Officer 

With a passion for all things marine and a love of the ocean Anissa leads the highly talented and dedicated team at OceanWatch Australia. With a diverse background in chartered accounting, management consulting, environmental science and coastal and marine natural resource management, Anissa has over 17 years experience in managing people, projects and businesses. A core driver for Anissa is to develop, implement and communicate sustainable, workable solutions to environmental problems for the Australian seafood industry. As an experienced environmental communicator she also strives to facilitate corporate, industry and community action to understand and manage business, social and environmental risks to achieve sustainable behaviour, particularly in relation to coastal and marine issues.

Monique Needham - Program Manager - Aquatic Habitat Protection and Enhancement

With a love of the coast, and a taste for wild caught seafood, Monique has found her feet as Aquatic Habitat Protection and Enhancement Program Manager at OceanWatch Australia. After completing her honours year in Marine Science / Environmental Science  at Sydney University, Monique was offered a graduate position at the NSW Healthy Rivers Commission where she gained invaluable experience. She treated herself to a cheeky stint overseas, before coming home to Sydney and taking on her position at OceanWatch Australia 

Neil Godfrey - Administration Officer

Neil grew up close to the marine and estuarine environments of Perth developing an appreciation of their beauty and significance. His diverse background includes original research in biological science and management.

Lowri Pryce - Manager Business Development

Lowri is originally from Wales, and holds a Masters degree in Environment and Planning from RMIT, Melbourne.  She has previously worked in the UK Arts sector managing large-scale community and corporate sponsorship projects, in marine conservation advocacy & research, and within the yachting industry.

Simon Rowe - Program Manager - Tide to Table

Simon's rural background originates from a small sheep property at Laggan, near Goulburn, NSW. He gained a Ba Science in Urban and Environmental Horticulture with Honours in mine site rehabilitation at UTS. In the past he has worked sampling pesticides with the NSW EPA in Leeton and Moree, designed and implemented landscapes through his small business Distinctive Horticulture, sampled landfills and other contaminated sites in Sydney and had a stint in Berlin delivering beverages to thirsty Germans. Simon now focuses his efforts on Natural Resource Management projects to benefit Australian farmers, community, environment and maintain the future productivity of the Seafood industry.

Carla Wegscheidl – Project Manager, Tide to Table – Burdekin Dry Tropics
Carla has a BSc and studied seagrass communities in Moreton Bay for her honours at the University of Queensland. She subsequently worked for the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries in fisheries resource management, dealing with a range of issues including habitat management and restoration, aquaculture and fish passage. Carla joined OceanWatch Australia as the project manager for Tide to Table – Burdekin Dry Tropics, based in Townsville to pursue her desire to work proactively in improving fisheries sustainability through habitat restoration in the Burdekin region.

Denis Ballam
Denis is based in Cairns and has worked as a SeaNet officer for seven years building an extensive network within Queensland. Denis has spent 17 years within the seafood industry with seven years as an owner operator within the Queensland East Coast Trawl. As a previous regional representative of the Queensland Seafood Industry Association, Denis provides a balanced mix of practical skills and broad understanding of fisheries management issues.

Michael Wooden
Michael has extensive experience working with commercial fishers, through his previous employ with the NSW DPI in Cronulla, and recently with the NSW DPI Fisheries Conservation Technology Unit in Coffs Harbour. Michael attained a Bachelor of Science degree (Fisheries Management and Aquaculture) in Lismore and recently completed a Masters degree by research through the UNE- National Marine Science Centre. Michael has worked on numerous research projects which addressed species selectivity and bycatch reduction; in otter trawl, seine nets and traps. Michael is based in Brisbane, southern Queensland.

Dave Kreutz

Prior to starting with OceanWatch, Dave had been a professional fisher since 1990 in various NSW offshore and estuary fisheries and a skipper in the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery (ETBF) since 1995. He has been involved with Threat Abatement Plans, Pelagic Working Groups and underwater setting chute programs and is a committee member of Southern Seabird Solutions, an international body for the promotion and implementation of "Seabird Friendly" sustainable fishing practices. Dave's ambition is, together with fishers, make the ETBF a world leading environmentally sustainable pelagic fishery for seabirds, turtles and other by-catch species.  Dave is based in Mooloolaba, QLD.