Dr Keith Hendry – Managing Director & Principal Fish Biologist, APEM Ltd

I can trace my interest in pursuing a career in fisheries a very long way. I come from a fishing background, my family in Scotland being trawler men on the east coast, so I have always been surrounded by fish, fishing and fishermen of one type or another.

My first degree was at Plymouth Polytechnic, which offered that all important fisheries science bias to their Biological Science degree course. It was an excellent three years, covering both marine and freshwater fisheries and provided me with a strong base from which to progress. My first career break came immediately after my finals. Through being in the right place at the right time, I landed a seasonal job as a research diver at the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth – this was great practical experience, including diving, specimen collecting and undertaking underwater surveys.

I returned to the south west working in forestry for a year before getting my second big break as a fisheries technician for the South West Water Authority in the mid 1980s on the Roadford Dam project. The work involved all manner of field investigations into salmonid population, biology and migration, including electric fishing, trapping, radio telemetry, fish ageing, data management and so on. The amount of experience I gained in my three years was immense but at that time prior to water company privatisation, opportunities for advancement were few, so I decided to take my future into my own hands and take the first tentative steps into consultancy.

In 1987, I joined Manchester University as a research associate to service their contract research projects and undertake a PhD. I finished my PhD in 1990 and formed APEM as a Limited Company, leaving university in 1991. Since then it has been a case of slowly growing the consultancy but ensuring that we stick to the world of fisheries and aquatic science.

There are now 38 people employed by the company and, although most are aquatic scientists of one form or another due to APEM launching our aerial photography service for habitat surveys, we also have a pilot on board.  Maintaining my focus on fisheries science and keeping true to my early ambition to work in this field has been fundamental to the success of APEM. We have developed an excellent reputation as a niche consultancy specialising in fisheries, and for me this has been the realisation of what I consider to be the ultimate career. We have also recently introduced an apprenticeship scheme with the hope of giving a budding environmentalist the chance to follow their true passion and get a foot on that first important rung on the career ladder.

Maintaining professional interests away from the consultancy has also been important. Two pinnacles of achievement were being nominated a member of the Government’s Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Review Committee and being awarded the status of Fellow by the Institute of Fisheries Management, an extremely important body for anyone interested in pursuing a career in fisheries.

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