Meet Andrew Hosie

Meet Andrew Hosie

What is your job title?

Biosecurity Collections Coordinator is what’s on my business card.

What do you study and why is it important?

My work at NIWA involves coordinating the identification process for New Zealand’s marine biosecurity programmes. There are various projects carried out by NIWA as well as Biosecurity New Zealand and other contractors to monitor our near-shore environment for invasive species, and the various specimens collected come to me to before being distributed to specialists. The projects have also acted as a bit of a stocktake on what lives where in New Zealand for both natives and alien species. Prior to 2000, New Zealand’s coastal fauna and flora had never been comprehensively surveyed in this manner, instead distributional data came from isolated projects which often had a very narrow focus.

As for what I study, I guess I’m the barnacle expert in NZ. This has come about because of the large volume of barnacles collected from biosecurity projects (hull fouling mostly). They form a large component of most marine habitats, most notably the intertidal and notoriously in fouling communities. No man-made glue or cement is as good as those produced by some barnacles to adhere to rocks or boats. Most people think of them as a nuisance, but I don’t.

What will you be doing on the voyage?

I will be curating and registering the biological specimens we bring aboard. This means ensuring that they are preserved in the appropriate way, recording the locality details, and ensuring that we can find the specimen once we get back on land.

Where were you educated?

Waimea College, Nelson

Canterbury University, Christchurch

How did you become interested in the ocean?

I’ve come from a very marine oriented family. My father and grandfather were both fishermen based out of Nelson, dredging for oysters, scallops and trawling for flounder and snapper mostly. I mostly just poked around and got in the way when I was on board, but unfortunately, Dad sold the boat before I grew out of being a sulky teenager and became really interested in sea-life.

Do you get seasick? And if so, any tips on how not to?

No, but I take a “Sea-legs” pill on the first day just in case.

What do you enjoy about your work?

I enjoy seeing what lives where. With my work I have gotten to see a lot of what makes NZ wildlife special, even if they are dead by the time I see them.

What have you learned/discovered?

As part of my work identifying barnacles for various projects I have stumbled across a group of cyptoniscoid isopods (related to slaters and sea-lice) that infest various crustaceans and can castrate the host. Cryptoniscoids are a poorly known group with few described species, considered to be quite rare and were previously unreported from Australasia. I have submitted for review a paper recording 5 species (4 new) within NZ waters, and currently working on describing a new species from the Ross Sea (Antarctica) and 3 species infesting ostracods or clam shrimp.

How do you spend your spare time?

Snorkelling, fishing, and I still love to go down to the shore at low tide and look under rocks.

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