HMAS Adelaide Artificial Reef will have no impact on beach or surf

Dr Shaw Mead speaks with Rob Westerdyk about the influence that the artificial reef will have on surf and sand at Avoca.

Dr. Mead's background in coastal oceanography and marine ecology, specialising in hydrodynamic numerical modelling, coastal processes, offshore submerged reefs, coastal amenity enhancement and ecological assessment, allows him to effectively bridge the multi-disciplinary gap between physical processes and marine ecological impacts. His PhD thesis in physical oceanography is based on a series of peer-reviewed papers that together with more than 30 popular articles, have presented novel techniques to record the shape of surfing reefs, specify the breaking tube condition and to break-down surfing reefs into their morphological components using numerical modelling. Dr. Mead's research and consulting have led to major advances in our knowledge of offshore reefs for the development of multiple-use structures (coastal protection, amenities such as surfing, wind-surfing, diving, fishing, and ecological enhancement), and have incorporated numerical modelling of waves, currents and sediment transport to develop the designs and assess the impacts of coastal structures over a large range of spatial and temporal scales. Dr. Mead is a world-leader in artificial surfing reef design and research, enabling the incorporation of high-quality surfing reefs into multi-purpose coastal structures. Commercially, Dr. Mead has been involved in assessments of ecological and physical effects of marine construction, dredging, oil industry and aquaculture ventures.

Dr. Mead has 14 years experience in marine research and consulting, has published 34 peer-reviewed scientific papers, has solely or jointly produced over 150 technical reports pertaining to marine ecology, coastal oceanography and aquaculture. Dr. Mead has undertaken hundreds of research dives around the world, and is affiliated to the New Zealand Marine Science Society and the New Zealand Coastal Society (IPENZ). Dr. Mead is also experienced at presenting expert witness evidence in environment court and resource consent hearings, as well as public meetings and seminars.

Dr. Mead has been involved in or led a range of projects related to all aspects of coastal development including design and impact studies of Multi-Purpose Reefs (coastal protection, amenity and ecological enhancement) (in NZ, UK, Australia, US, Fiji, Costa Rica, South Africa, New Caledonia, Mexico), coastal process investigations to identify the causes and remedies for coastal erosion (in NZ, Australia, UK), port expansion incorporating surfing reefs (breakwaters and directed wave-driven currents to reduce maintenance dredging), oil field development (NZ and Australia), habitat enhancement (in NZ), and artificial reef designs for enhancement of fisheries and tourism (in NZ, Persian Gulf, Fiji). Dr. Mead's career is focused on the application of environmental science for sustainable development and the management of environmentally beneficial projects, and he actively seeks ways to provide clients and the community with well-balanced solutions to coastal management and development projects.

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Travel & Events

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• Adelaide
• HMAS
• scuttling
• Avoca
• Beach
• HMAS Adelaide
• Avoca Beach
• exHMAS
• exHMAS Adelaide
• ex-HMAS Adelaide
• EIS
• REF
• erosion
• Wamberal
• damage
• sediment
• water
• waves
• surf
• surfing
• pointbreak
• sandbank
• sandbars