A scientist with a passion for the aquatic environment, Finbar works in water quality and ecology, helping to establish that human activities don’t negatively affect the environmental health of New Zealand’s landscapes, rivers, and seas. What’s important to him is that scientific work strengthens the relationship between people and the environment. He likes variety and mucks in wherever possible, whether that’s in freshwater projects, air pollutant monitoring, or contaminated land investigations.
Typically, Finbar deals with resource consent monitoring—drinking water, wastewater, and contaminated land consents. Day-to-day tasks include writing monitoring plans and spatial assessments, data analysis, and report writing to simplify and summarise those results for clients. His favourite project so far? Researching the ecology of an area in Marlborough Sounds to determine the environmental value of its bush, rivers, and marine space, looking at native species, historical scientific monitoring, and current ecological issues to assess how future human developments there might impact local biodiversity.
Naturally an ocean lover, Finbar can be found surfing or freediving when he’s not working.