Dr Steven Purcell

BSc (ANU) (Hons 1A, JCU), PhD (JCU)

Position: Research Fellow

After his postgraduate research on herbivorous reef fishes and algae, Steve worked on an ACIAR project on a topshell (Trochus) fishery in the Kimberley region of WA and on projects in New Caledonia on sea cucumber stock restoration and invertebrate fisheries assessment and management. Steve works for SCU at the National Marine Science Centre, Coffs Harbour and is currently based in New Caledonia. Recently, Steve has lead projects on habitats of threatened and endemic fishes and sea cucumber fisheries of Pacific islands. His research spans a range of ecological and biological fields, published in 6 books, 3 book chapters and over 30 scientific research articles. Steve's passions include surfing, fishing and music.

Key Responsibilities

Steve is responsible for developing and leading research projects and procuring funds for marine research from national and international funding bodies. He was the principal facilitator of a regional workshop on Pacific sea cucumber fisheries management in 2011 (SCEAM Pacific) and is co-organiser and co-facilitator of a similar workshop (SCEAM Indian Ocean) for Indian Ocean fisheries in November 2012. Steve supports third-year Marine Science courses at the NMSC through lectures and is responsible for supervising research projects for Honours and post-graduate students. He provides service to extension workers and partner agencies in the Pacific and Indian Oceans through advice on aquaculture, stock restoration, and the assessment and management of tropical invertebrate fisheries.

Areas of Expertise

Stock enhancement, restocking and sea ranching
Sea cucumber ecology and fisheries management
Ecology and restocking of tropical topshell (Trochus)
Tagging methods for marine invertebrates
Sampling and experimental design
Reef fish ecology

Teaching Areas

Fish ecology
Fisheries management
Coastal habitats and ecological processes
Experiments and population surveys in fisheries
Coral reef ecology

Grants

Project	Donor	Duration	Amount
SCEAM Indian Ocean: a regional technical workshop to improve an ecosystem approach for managing sea cucumber fisheries	WIOMSA/FAO	2012	17,750 USD
Fisheries biology and movement of Mangrove Jack Lutjanus argentimaculatus in New South Wales	NSW Saltwater Recreational Fishing Trust	2012/14	169,651 AUD
Pacific workshop on the application of an ecosystem approach to managing sea cucumber fisheries	ACIAR	2011	25,509 AUD
Pacific workshop on the application of an ecosystem approach to managing sea cucumber fisheries	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations UN(FAO)	2011	55,000 USD
Improving income of Pacific island fishers through better post-harvest processing of sea cucumber: scoping study. PARDI/2010/004	ACIAR (PARDI program)	2011	135,125 AUD
Improved knowledge base for sustainable marine resource management (3rd Call): Threatened species research	Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority	Dec 2010 - May 2011	55,222 AUD
Improved knowledge base for sustainable marine resource management (2nd Call): Threatened species research	Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority	Dec 2009 - May 2010	27,860 AUD
Technical Guidelines on the Sustainable Management of Sea Cucumber Fisheries	United Nations - FAO	Jun-Dec 2009	15,000 USD
Assessment and Management of Sea Cucumber Stocks in the Northern and Southern Provinces of New Caledonia	ADECAL (ZoNeCo program)	Jan-May 2008	4,100,000 XPF (62,121 AUD)
Sea ranching and restocking sandfish (Holothuria scabra) in Asia-Pacific	ACIAR	2007-2011	937,548 AUD
Assessment and Management of Sea Cucumber Stocks in the Northern and Southern Provinces of New Caledonia	ADECAL (ZoNeCo program)	2007	16,000,000 XPF (242,424 AUD)
Evaluation and pilot-testing of the co-culture of sea cucumbers with shrimp in New Caledonia	Province Sud and Nord, New Caledonia	2006	4,472,693 XPF (67,768 AUD)
Sea cucumber population surveys in the Southern Province	Province Sud, New Caledonia	2006	3,000,000 XPF (45,454 AUD)
Ext: Optimal release strategies for restocking and stock enhancement of the tropical sea cucumber, sandfish (Holothuria scabra)	ACIAR	2005-2006	314,988 AUD
Allozyme electrophoresis techniques for population genetics analysis of sea cucumbers	ATSE Crawford Fund	2003	10,000 AUD
Strategies optimales de lacher en vue du reensemencement et de l'amelioration des stocks d'holothuries de sable (Holothuria scabra)	Government of France - via the French Pacific Funds	2003-2005	86,210 Euros (138,173 AUD)
Strategies optimales de lacher en vue du reensemencement et de l'amelioration des stocks d'holothuries de sable (Holothuria scabra)	Northern, Southern and Loyalty Islands Provinces of New Caledonia	2002-2004	36,000,000 XPF (500,000 AUD)

Publications

Books

Lovatelli A., C. Conand, S. Purcell, S. Uthicke, J.-F. Hamel and A. Mercier. (2004) Advances in sea cucumber aquaculture and management. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper No. 463. FAO, Rome. 425 p. ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/007/y5501e/y5501e00.pdf

Friedman, K., Purcell, S., Bell, J., Hair, C. (2008) Sea cucumber fisheries: A manager's toolbox. ACIAR Monograph No. 135. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra. 32 p. http://www.aciar.gov.au/publication/mn135

Purcell S.W., Gossuin H., Agudo N.S. (2009) Status and management of the sea cucumber fishery of La Grande Terre, New Caledonia. WorldFish Center Studies and Review Nº 1901. The WorldFish Center, Penang, Malaysia. 136 p. http://www.worldfishcenter.org/resource_centre/WF_2033.pdf

Purcell, S.W. (2010) Managing sea cucumber fisheries with an ecosystem approach. Edited/compiled by Lovatelli, A., Vasconcellos, M. and Y. Yimin. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 520. FAO, Rome. 157 p. http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i1384e/i1384e.pdf

FAO. (2010) Putting into practice an ecosystem approach to managing sea cucumber fisheries. FAO, Rome. 81 + vii p. (S.W. Purcell, author) http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1780e/i1780e00.htm

Purcell, S.W., Samyn, Y., Conand, C. (2012) Commercially important sea cucumbers of the world. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes. No. 6. FAO, Rome, 150 pp. +30 colour plates.

Book chapters

Purcell, S. (2004) Management options for restocked trochus fisheries. pp. 233-243. In: Leber, K.M., Kitada, Blakenship, H.L, Svåsand, T. (Eds.) Stock enhancement and sea ranching: developments, pitfalls and opportunities. 2nd Edition. Blackwell Pub., Oxford. p. 584

Kinch, J., Purcell, S., Uthicke, S., Friedman K. (2008) Population status, fisheries and trade of sea cucumbers in the Western Pacific. In: Toral-Granda V., Lovatelli A., Vasconcellos M. (eds.) Sea cucumbers: a global review on fisheries and trade. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 516. Rome, FAO. pp. 7-55

ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0254e/i0254e.pdf

Kinch, J., Purcell, S., Uthicke, S., Friedman K. (2008) Papua New Guinea: a hot spot of sea cucumber fisheries in the Western Central Pacific. In: Toral-Granda V., Lovatelli A., Vasconcellos M. (eds.) Sea cucumbers: a global review on fisheries and trade. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 516. Rome, FAO. pp. 57-77 ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0254e/i0254e.pdf

Peer-reviewed articles

Purcell S.W. and D.R. Bellwood. (1993) A functional analysis of food procurement in two surgeonfish species, Acanthurus nigrofuscus and Ctenochaetus striatus (Acanthuridae). Environmental Biology of Fishes 37: 139-159.

Purcell S.W. (1996) A direct method for assessing sediment loads in epilithic algal communities. Coral Reefs 15: 211-213

Purcell S.W. (1997) Quantifying organic content of material from coral reefs. In: The Great Barrier Reef, science, use and management: a national conference. Proceedings, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville.  2: 61-66

Purcell S.W. (2000) Association of epilithic algae with sediment distribution on a windward reef in the northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Bulletin of Marine Science 66: 199-214

Purcell S.W., D.R. Bellwood. (2001)Spatial patterns of epilithic algal and detrital resources on a windward coral reef. Coral Reefs 20: 117-125

Purcell S.W. (2002) Intertidal reefs under extreme tidal flux in Buccaneer Archipelago, Western Australia. Coral Reefs 21: 191-192

Amos M.J., Purcell S.W. (2003) Evaluation of strategies for intermediate culture of Trochus niloticus (Gastropoda) in sea cages for restocking. Aquaculture 218: 235-249

Purcell S.W., Amos M.J., Pakoa K. (2004) Releases of cultured sub-adult Trochus niloticus generate broodstock for fishery replenishment in Vanuatu. Fisheries Research 67: 329-333

Uthicke, S., Purcell, S. (2004) Preservation of genetic diversity in restocking of the sea cucumber Holothuria scabra investigated by allozyme electrophoresis. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 61: 519-528

Purcell S. (2004) Criteria for release strategies and evaluating the restocking of sea cucumbers. pp. 181-191. In: Lovatelli A., C. Conand, S. Purcell, S. Uthicke, J.-F. Hamel and A. Mercier (Eds.). Advances in sea cucumber aquaculture and management. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper No. 463. FAO, Rome, pp. 425.

Uthicke, S., Purcell, S., Blockmans B. (2005) Natural hybridisation does not dissolve species boundaries in commercially important sea cucumbers. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 85: 261-270

Purcell, S.W., Blockmans, B.F., Agudo, N.N.S. (2006) Transportation methods for restocking of juvenile sea cucumber, Holothuria scabra. Aquaculture 251: 238-244.

Purcell, S.W., Kirby D.S. (2006) Restocking the sea cucumber Holothuria scabra: sizing no-take zones through individual-based movement modelling. Fisheries Research 80: 53-61

Purcell, S.W., Patrois, J., Fraisse, N. (2006) Experimental evaluation of co-culture of juvenile sea cucumbers, Holothuria scabra (Jaeger), with juvenile blue shrimp, Litopenaeus stylirostris (Stimpson). Aquaculture Research 37: 515-522

Purcell, S.W., Blockmans, B.F., Nash, W.J. (2006) Efficacy of chemical markers and physical tags for large-scale release of an exploited holothurian. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 334: 283-293

Bell J.D., Agudo N.S., Purcell S.W., Blazer P., Simutoga M., Pham D., Della Patrona L. (2007) Grow-out of sandfish Holothuria scabra in ponds shows that co-culture with shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris is not viable. Aquaculture 273: 509-519

Purcell, S.W., Simutoga, M. (2008) Spatio-temporal and size-dependent variation in the success of releasing cultured sea cucumbers in the wild. Reviews in Fisheries Science 16: 204-214

Bell J.D., Purcell S.W., Nash W.J. (2008) Restoring small-scale fisheries for tropical sea cucumbers. Ocean and Coastal Management 51: 589-593

Massin C., Uthicke S., Purcell S.W., Rowe F.W.E., Samyn Y. (2009) Taxonomy of the heavily exploited Indo-Pacific sandfish complex (Echinodermata: Holothuriidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 155: 40-59

Purcell, S.W., Blockmans, B.F. (2009) Effective fluorochrome marking of juvenile sea cucumbers for restocking and sea ranching. Aquaculture 296: 263-270

Purcell, S.W. (2010) Diel burying by the tropical sea cucumber Holothuria scabra: effects of environmental stimuli, handling and ontogeny. Marine Biology 157: 663-671

Baird, A.H., Kospartov, M.C. Purcell, S.W. (2010) Reproductive synchrony in Acropora assemblages on reefs of New Caledonia. Pacific Science 64:405-412

Purcell, S.W., Cheng, H.W. (2010) Experimental restocking and seasonal visibility of a coral reef gastropod assessed by temporal modelling. Aquatic Biology 9: 227-238

Beger M., Babcock R., Booth D. J., Bucher D., Condie S. A., Creese B., Cvitanovic C., Dalton S. J., Harrison P., Hoey A., Jordan A., Loder J., Malcolm H., Purcell S. W., Roelfsema C. M., Sachs P., Smith S. D. A., Sommer B., Stuart-Smith R., Thomson D., Wallace C. C., Zann M. and Pandolfi J. M. (2011) Research challenges to improve the management and conservation of subtropical reefs to tackle climate change threats. Ecological Management and Restoration 12(1):e7-e10.

Rushworth, K.J.W., Smith, S.D.A., Cowden, K.L., Purcell, S.W. (2011) Optimal temperature for growth and condition of an endemic subtropical anemonefish. Aquaculture 318: 479-482

Purcell, S.W., Mercier, A., Conand, C., Hamel, J.-F., Lovatelli, A., Toral-Granda, V., Uthicke, S., (2012) Sea cucumber fisheries: global analysis of stocks, management measures and drivers of overfishing. Fish and Fisheries DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-2979.2011.00443.x.

Purcell, S.W. (2012) Principles and science of stocking marine areas with sea cucumbers. pp. 92-103. In: Hair C.A., Pickering T.D. and Mills D.J. (eds) Asia–Pacific tropical sea cucumber aquaculture. ACIAR Proceedings No. 136. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research: Canberra. http://aciar.gov.au/publication/PR136.

Purcell, S.W., Hair, C., Mills, D. (2012) Sea cucumber culture, farming and sea ranching in the tropics: progress, problems and opportunities. Aquaculture 368-369: 68-81.

Updated: 28 November 2012