Rate My Professor Jordan Goetze

Dr Jordan Goetze serves as an Adjunct Research Fellow in the School of Molecular and Life Sciences within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Curtin University. He earned his PhD in Marine Ecology from the University of Western Australia, with a thesis titled 'The effectiveness of periodically harvested closures as a fisheries management strategy' completed in 2016, and a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Marine Science from the same university. His career includes roles as a postdoctoral fellow on the Global FinPrint Project based at Curtin University, where he utilized stereo-video technology to assess reef shark populations across global sites, and as a Niarchos Fellow with the Wildlife Conservation Society, facilitating research collaborations in developing countries. Currently, he is a research scientist in the Marine Science Program at the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

Goetze's research focuses on marine ecology, fish behavioral ecology, fisheries science, and conservation strategies, particularly the impacts of fishing on reef fish assemblages and the efficacy of management tools like periodically harvested closures and marine protected areas. He specializes in developing and applying stereo-video methods, including baited remote underwater stereo-video surveys, to quantify fish abundance, diversity, and wariness. Notable contributions include leading the development of CheckEM, an open-source toolkit for standardizing, cleaning, and visualizing stereo-video fish survey data, published in 2026. Key publications encompass 'Global status and conservation potential of reef sharks' (Nature, 2020), which synthesized data from 391 reef sites worldwide to evaluate shark conservation needs; 'Directed conservation of the world’s reef sharks and rays' (2024); 'A field and video annotation guide for baited remote underwater stereo-video surveys of demersal fish assemblages' (Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 2020); 'Optimized fishing through periodically harvested closures' (Journal of Applied Ecology, 2019); and 'Fish wariness is a more sensitive indicator to changes in fishing pressure than abundance, length or biomass' (Ecological Applications, 2017). With over 1,200 citations, his work has significantly influenced marine conservation policies and fisheries management practices globally.