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The following email was distributed widely on 10 September
2004.
Retirement
Dear Friends and
colleagues
Apologies for cross-posting. I am writing to inform you that, at the age of
34, I am retiring from the field of aquatic animal health, and from science
altogether. From this day I am ceasing all related activities and will be unable
to provide related advice and so on. I apologise for any inconvenience that
this may cause. I will leave my website on crayfish pathology -
www.geocities.com/crayfishdisease - as a resource for colleagues, but will
not update or maintain it.
I want to make it clear that this is NOT a decision that I wanted to reach. I
have passionately pursued a career in this field for 14 years, and I dreamed
of doing this for the rest of my life. However, after returning to Australia
20 months ago from research fellowships in Europe, I have been unable to
obtain a salary even though I have continued to work on a full-time basis.
(The only exception being a 3 month contract when I was based in Bangkok,
away from my wife.) I am certain that I would have been able to continue if I
was prepared to shift for jobs - but over the last 6 years my wife and I have
lived in 6 cities in 4 countries, and the personal costs have been extreme.
We simply could not go through another relocation, not for a while anyway.
After delaying starting a family for many years - the right decision after
seeing a number of friends have children in countries where they could not
communicate with medical staff - we are now planning to start a family. I
have exhausted all possibilities of earning a salary from Brisbane. So I need
to search for a new occupation which will allow me to contribute to our
financial security.
I feel very proud of the contribution that I have made to aquatic animal
health - particularly to our understanding of diseases affecting freshwater
crayfish. I am bitterly dissappointed to be in this position because I feel
that my research, knowledge and skills have much to offer my field, my
country and my fellow human beings in general. It is especially
dissappointing because the Australian government and a range of stakeholders
have been highlighting the lack of availability of skill in aquatic animal
health. The need for a proper understanding of the causes of disease in wild
freshwater crustaceans is as great as ever, and I am convinced that
freshwater crustacean aquaculture, including crayfish, will be a large global
industry in the near future which will demand very signficant research
attention to disease. I had hoped to convince policy analysts and those in
charge of research funding that now is the time to act so that we develop
capacity and knowledge in freshwater crustacean pathology - alas I failed,
and I expect that research and policy will continue to be reactive rather
than proactive - at a cost to the aquaculture industry and the environment.
Although there have been many tough times, I have enjoyed the last 14 years
working in the field. I would like to make special mention of colleagues at
Biosecurity Australia and NACA as particularly good work mates, and that very
much included the managers. Lastly I want to make very special mention of the
incredible comeraderie of the astacology (crayfish) community – without
doubt, meetings of the International Association of Astacology were the
highlights of my time spent as a scientist and I shall never forget them or
the people. (Keep an eye out in the December edition of "Conservation
Biology" for a paper by myself and a number of prominent Astacologists -
ironic that my most important paper was my last!)
Many of you I will miss a great deal. Take care and best of luck for the
future.
Best regards,
Brett Edgerton
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Original Introduction
This a multi-purpose website,
with it’s aim to inform and assist people from all walks of life including,
fellow scientists active in the area or with an interest in aquatic animal
disease, aquaculturists, aquarium hobbyists, and students. It is my hope that
the language is appropriate for my intended broad audience. I have attempted
to cover a broad range of issues related to the subject, but have chosen not
to discuss any one area in great detail. For additional information please consult
the references list, the useful
resources section and/or send me an email.
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For each category of disease I
have included a list of references. This list is generated from my ProCite
database and I realise that it is imperfect I need to go through the 600
odd references in the database to delete the duplicates, add many references
which I know are missing, and generally clean it. Please excuse me if some of
your papers are missing or incorrectly listed.
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As well as to inform people, my aim in developing this
page is to develop contacts, so I would be happy to receive your email if you
have a question about anything related to my homepage or if you’ve noticed
one or several sick crayfish in your ponds, or in a stream near your house,
or in your aquarium, and you would like some assistance in identifying the
problem. Just click on my name below and I will do my best to respond
promptly. I’m always keen to hear about your experiences in farming crayfish,
especially the Australian species, so please email if you feel like sharing
some of your experiences. Please
click here to view additional
information about my professional and research interests.
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