Tom has over 35 years of experience as an environmental manager, estuarine ecologist and an environmental consultant. He has worked on a range of environmental projects and programs including environmental impact studies and migratory fish including the feeding ecology of invertebrates and fish in estuaries and near coastal environments in Northern California and Western Australia. While working in WA he has undertaken water quality, contaminant and biota surveys, hydrology and nutrient loss from catchments, environmental clean up and action plans for river and catchment systems, managed application of State Environmental policies in Cockburn Sound, Swan-Canning and Peel-Harvey estuarine systems, and has worked on a number of WA coastal regions. This experience and his applied research have led to over thirty publications and numerous reports and formal presentations as well as emphasised to him both as a facilitator and environmental practitioner in the importance of effective community and stakeholder communication.