Staff Profile:
Fiona Woods, Laboratory Technician.
What is your job title?
Marine Laboratory Technician.
What section and service area do you work in?
Demersal Section, Fisheries Science Services (FSS).
Third level qualifications and where you obtained them?
- National Certificate in Applied Biology (Dundalk IT),
- National Diploma in Pollution Assessment and Control (Sligo IT),
- Bachelor of Science (Hons) Environmental Science (University of Coleraine and New University of Lisbon, Portugal).
What are your main responsibilities?
- Interpreting the ages of whiting and black sole fish using otoliths,
- Producing Standard Operating Procedures for port sampling and age reading training manuals,
- Training and coordinating staff in establishing Standard Operating,
- Procedures/Work Instructions for data management, sample tracking and age structure preparation,
- Sampling fish (lengths, weights and otoliths) at fish processors/fish auction halls
- Organising international cod age reading exchanges.
What are the most interesting aspects of your job?
- Attending international fish ageing workshops, thus increasing my expertise in age interpretation,
- Preparing data for international working groups, thus seeing the fruits of our sample and data collection throughout the year,
- Establishing clear and accurate Standard Operating Procedure/Work Instruction documents which are then used as a training tool for new staff and as a reference aid for current staff.
Why do you think the work of Marine Institute is so important?
The work of the Institute is so important because the marine resource is a living resource which is being exploited in many ways, and the work that we do encourages sustainable exploitation so that the resource will be there for generations to come.
What are your outside interests?
Environmental issues, travel, swimming, theatre, cinema and local community issues.