Anton Edwards

Anton is a physicist who worked on the circulation of lakes and fjords, the Atlantic, coastal pollution, defence oceanography, aquaculture, and marine management and regulation. He has lectured on these themes in several Scottish universities. He entered fish farming in 1971 when he advised Marine Harvest about Loch Ailort. As the industry grew over the next two decades he privately surveyed and assessed about 60 proposed west Scottish aquacultural sites.

As a researcher in the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), and later when responsible for general marine monitoring in the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), he advised on regulatory and oceanographic processes relating to aquaculture and was a formative member of the European group developing guidance on Water Framework Directive implementation. He initiated three regulatory aquacultural models: Depomod benthic effects; water body nutrient enhancement, and the cage-local BathAuto model.

After these careers in SAMS and SEPA, Anton has worked as an independent marine consultant dealing with various oceanographic and regulatory issues. He was the scientific advisor to the Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum (SARF), a ten-year member of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre Scientific Panel, and seven-year rector of the University of the Highlands and Islands. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics - presently section treasurer in Scotland, member of the Academic College of the Natural Environment Research Council, editor of the journal of the Scottish Rock Garden Club, a member of Tay Estuary Forum, and in 2006 was made an honorary professor of the University of St Andrews. From these diverse perspectives he has extensive grant assessment experience in research councils and other national bodies.