Another 20 international fish experts sign petition against Te Papa restructure

Tuesday, 2 April 2019

Mollusc scientist Bruce Marshall was one of two internationally renowned experts made redundant in Te Papa's controversial restructure.

Twenty international fish experts have added their voices to a petition opposing Te Papa's 'unwise' restructure, bringing the total signatories to 50.

The petition comes amid threats of an international boycott of Te Papa and revelations the Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Grant Robertson, met the museum's chairman on March 28 to 'discuss his concerns'.

The fish experts, from internationally renowned museums and universities spanning Brazil, Russia, Taiwan and the United States, wrote in support of axed fish collection manager Andrew Stewart. He was 'the kind of employee any organisation would do its best to keep in its fold' and the international community of scientists would be far more confident in the future of New Zealand's national fish collection with him at the helm, the scientists wrote.

International fish experts have rallied to support Te Papa fish collection manager Andrew Stewart, who faces redundancy in the museum's restructure.

The petition, sent to both Te Papa management and Robertson, said the museum's controversial restructure would lead to an 'unavoidable decline in curation standard' and staff burnout.

**READ MORE:

Correspondence reveals the minister responsible for Te Papa, Grant Robertson, met with the museum's chairman Evan Williams (pictured) on March 28 to discuss his concerns.

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International fish experts say Te Papa's restructure is unwise and will compromise the care of its collections.

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Te Papa wanted to use this photo of Himantolophus stewarti, a deep sea fish named in honour of the museum's axed fish collection manager Andrew Stewart. The scientist photographer said no, and called on his international colleagues to do the same.

* Te Papa slammed by 30 international experts over restructure making scientists redundant**

Te Papa has advertised for a new mollusc researcher, despite having just got rid of world-leading molluscs expert Bruce Marshall.

Stewart is one of two world-leading scientists axed in the restructure. Te Papa is now advertising for a mollusc curator, despite the fact the other axed scientist, Bruce Marshall, is a mollusc expert with 50 years' experience.

The petition adds to the chorus of opposition to the scientists' redundancies both in New Zealand and overseas. An American fish scientist was so angry at the restructure he refused Te Papa's request to use his photo of a fish he had named in honour of Stewart. He called on colleagues to 'join me in this boycott'.

In a response to another petition calling for a moratorium on restructuring at the museum, Grant Robertson said he had 'received a considerable amount of correspondence from others in the scientific community and the general public, also expressing their concern about the effect some of the staffing changes will have on the standard of care for collections held by Te Papa'.

He said Te Papa chairman Evan Williams had previously assured him the collections would not suffer, but he met again with Williams on March 28, to discuss his concerns further. While the restructure was an operational matter for Te Papa, Robertson said he was 'keeping a watching brief' on the situation.

In response to the fish scientists' original petition, Williams and Te Papa chief executive Geraint Martin said the new structure had 5.5 full-time positions 'dedicated to fish', compared with five jobs under the old structure. With that staff level, the fish collection had been maintained at a world class level, and had been fully databased. However, 3.5 of those roles are funded by other organisations, such as Niwa.

The amount of Te Papa staff time allocated to the fish collection remains at two full-time-equivalents before and after the restructure. However, Stewart's fulltime dedicated role will instead be split between three people with generic titles rather than specific fish expertise.

Many critics have emphasised the importance of Stewart's and Marshall's experience in taxonomy - identifying, describing and naming New Zealand's flora and fauna, which underpins everything from identifying biosecurity pests to understanding relationships between different organisms. A Royal Society review in 2015 found New Zealand had a critical shortage of experienced taxonomists.

Martin said the new structure would help create a pathway for young scientists to progress, ensuring succession. However, the Royal Society report also said experienced taxonomists were an endangered species, and expertise took 10-15 years to build up.

The petition authors pointed out that Stewart was perfectly placed to mentor a successor. 'There is no better person to train and supervise a young ichthyologist to take Stewart's place when he retires,' they wrote.