by John Camplin
WISENET Journal No. 34, March 1994, pp. 4-5
An interest in fishing with her parents and an early interest in the biology of crabs have led Dr Meryl Williams, 42, to another challenging position, this time as Director General of the International Centre for Living Aquatic Resource Management (ICLARM), based in the Philippines.
In 1992, ICLARM became a member of the World Bank funded Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and with her new appointment in April, Meryl will have the distinction of becoming the first woman Director General in the CGIAR system of 19 international research centres. Characteristically, she sees her work with ICLARM as an opportunity to contribute to the goal of ecologcally sustainable development in world fisheries and aquaculture.
Only a year ago, Meryl's appointment as the first woman to become Director of the Australian Institute for Marine Science (AIMS) in Townsville attracted considerable interest Indeed, as she says, 'It has been a hard decision to leave AIMS so soon when I was enjoying the position so much.' However, she has found the new offer too good to refuse.
Looking back, Meryl sees that one of the major reasons for her success in forging a career in the male dominated world of science has been her sense of 'intellectual challenge'. At the same time, she insists there is a serious side to her approach to a career path.
'I've found that all the positions I've been in - all the changes in career - have broadened my intellectual challenge', she says. But she adds that there are drawbacks to a successful career, particularly in the enjoyment of her discipline, as pure scientifc work increasingly plays a secondary role to the management of people and the organisation.
'As I've attained more senior positions the intellectual stimulation and the satisfaction gained from the work has become greater but less frequent In the days when I was only doing science it was almost a constant joy. There were very few tensions. I wasn't managing people very much and I didn't have many strains apart from the everyday intellecwal stimulation, so it was constantly interesting. As I have risen to positions of responsibility there have been more times when the fun is a little less obvious. But the achievement at the end of the day is much greater as more responsibility comes your way.'
Meryl remembers her early fascination with fishes when, as a three year old, her parents used to take her fishing along the creeks and beaches of her native Ayr in North Queensland.
'We raught whiting in the sunset' she recalls. 'That is one of my earliest memories.'
Meryl Williams began her rapid rise through some of Australia's top science jobs in 1974, with a Bachelor of Science honours degree from James Cook University in Townsville, where her research focused on fiddler crabs.
'I chose crabs as my topic because I had held a holiday job at the Australian Museum working for the curator of crustacea', she recalls. 'I did not really have any great lifelong ambition to study anything but marine science.'
'Crabs immediately came to mind and they have remained my greatest scientificc interest. I was drawn to work on crustaceans more than anything else.'
Subsequently, Meryl won a PhD in zoology at the University of Queensland for her work on commercial sand crabs, and followed this five years later with a Masters degree in mathematical statistics.
'I had become very interested in the numerical analysis of data rather than just biological studies themselves, so I joined what was the very male dominated world of fisheries science in the Queensland Fisheries Service' she says.
From 1977 to 1981, Meryl became familiar with the fickle nature of working for government departments. The fisheries service was seconded to three different deparanents during those four years. As she recalls, 'Working in government gives no great stability in terms of the organisation you work for: you are required to go to different places, depending on the current requirements'.
By 1981, Meryl was in Noumea, New Caledonia, working with the South Pacific Commission on what she describes as one of her most interesting assignments, a tuna and billhsh assessment program carried out against the backdrop of ever-increasing maritime political activity.
'It was a very exciting time' she says. 'Most of the countries of the region were declaring their exclusive economic zones and starting to license fishing vessels in the zones. The ocean resources there, particularly the migratory tuna and billfish, are the major source of wealth and income, especially in foreign exchange. They are very important to the future economic prospecu of those countries.
Returning to Australia, Meryl completed her Master of Literary Studies in mathematical statistics at the University of Queensland and then, being unable to find work in the field of fisheries, joined the Queensland Health Department for 18 months to research cancer epidemiology.
Canberra called in June 1986 and she was to remain in the national capital for the next six and a half years, building a career path through the ranks of the Department of Primary Industries and Energy. From the position of Scientist 3 in the Bureau of Rural Science, Meryl berame assistant director and senior principal scientist in the Fisheries Resourse Branch of the newly constituted Bureau, set up to advise the government on managing Australia's fisheries, agriculture and forestry.
Meryl was appointed acting executive director of the Bureau of Rural Resources in March 1990, its executive direccor as chief of Division 2 January 1992, and associate director of the newly formed Bureau of Resource Sciences nine months later.
In February I993, Meryl was appointed director of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, assuming responsibility for 160 staff and an annual budget of $14 million plus an additional $2-3 million in external earnings.
Unknowingly, she also took over the reins only months before government debate began about restructuring marine science resources throughout the country. Current options for change include AIMS incorporating a few divisions of the CSIRO into AIMS to form a new marine science institute, or being taken over completely by CSIRO with its 7000 staff.
'We are very pleased that the govemment is now wanting to develop an increased focus on marine science, and we see this as an opportunity for that focus to reflect the way AIMS is working,' Meryl says. 'At present AIMS is the only such independent scientific organisation in Australia.'
The sometimes heated political debate has come at a time when the Institute is expanding to Australia's resource-rich North-West Shelf. AIMS is establishing a centre at Karratha, where research has commenced on the impacts of off shore oil drilling among coral reef systems, as well as coastal mining and refining, and the effects of an expanding tourism industry.
'A new institute would obviously be much bigger than AIMS and would be able to play a broader role - it would not be confined to tropical issues, for example. It would probably make sense for AIMS to take a lead role in an organisation of 400-500 focusing on marine scientific matters for the whole of the country, and with a specialist marine board', Meryl believes.
At this stage, as Senator Chris Schacht said in announcing her new appointment, 'Dr Williams' considerable expertise in scientific research and management will bring another senior Australian voice to a major international forum in marine science'.