About
David has over 18 years of expertise in fisheries / aquatic ecology, water monitoring and assessment, and the provision of land management advice to the farming community. David is based in Fermanagh where, together with his wife Anita, they also run a flock of sheep and the Ardunshin herd of pedigree Aberdeeen Angus cattle. David completed a BSc (1st Class Hons) in Zoology at Queens University Belfast, where he investigated potential effects of water and habitat quality on sea trout spawning and recruitment. David’s PhD (Queens, Belfast 2001) was funded by the Erne Salmon Management Programme and investigated the effects of environmental stressors on trout diet, growth and population dynamics.
Before returning to Ireland, David was the senior surface water quality scientist at Canterbury Regional Council, New Zealand (2010-2014), a research scientist at Landcare Research, New Zealand (2007-2010), and a post-doctoral research scientist at the Great Lakes Institute, Windsor, Canada (2003-2006). In New Zealand, David managed the region’s surface water quality monitoring programme, provided advice to farmers on land management and nutrient mitigation, and conducted research on the effects of multiple stressors on fish. In Canada, David investigated sources and pathways of aquatic invasive species in the North American Great Lakes. Between 1998 and 2003, David worked in Northern Ireland as an environmental consultant on various projects including nation-wide surveys of European otter, river physical habitat surveys (RHS accredited) in support of ASSI designations; water quality and aquatic ecology monitoring and assessment.
DWK Freshwater Consulting has experience in land use impact and mitigation and recently completed contracts (2014) for Canterbury Regional Council in New Zealand in support of the development of two sub-regional plans that set nutrient and water quantity limits for river catchments. Experience in the preparation of environmental impact assessments (EIAs) includes a recently completed contract with Paul Johnston Associates on a Fisheries and Aquatic Ecology EIA for the large-scale Gas to The West Project (2015-2016) in Northern Ireland. The business also has completed work in support of fisheries EIA and baseline aquatic ecological state for water storage, wind farm developments, dredging in lakes and rivers (all sub-contracted with PJA), and has prepared EIAs on behalf of private sector clients for proposed housing and industrial developments.
David is a full member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, a registered full member of the Institute for Fisheries Management, a visiting Research Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences at Queens University Belfast, and has published over 40 papers in national and international peer reviewed scientific journals in applied fisheries and freshwater ecology, land use impacts on water quality, and environmental limits.
