Ashleigh Anderson

Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, Aquaculture Technician

Ashleigh is the Aquaculture Technician for the Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board - a key research partner and project participant within the Moana Project.

Her role involves supporting all field work logistics, sampling, analyses and data collection for two research projects centered on better understanding the connectivity and larval dispersal of Green Lipped Mussel within the Whakatōhea rohe and wider Bay of Plenty region. 

Ashleigh received her MSc (Biological Sciences) at the University of Waikato and, as part of her thesis, was involved in a horticulture industry – lead biodiscovery programme to investigate seaweed - derived secondary metabolites for bioactivity against kiwifruit pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa biovar 3).

She has since worked in various Research & Development / Quality Control positions for companies who manufacture and produce bioactives for primary industry (ie. Seaweed biostimulants, Mānuka honey, Mānuka oil).