Dr. Dror Angel, Senior Research Scientist at RIMS. He has been studying environmental interactions of marine aquaculture since 1990 and has coordinated and taken part in numerous national and international projects dealing with aquaculture-environment interactions, and with coastal management. He was one of the leaders of the recent FP6 RTD project ECASA (an ECosystem Approach to Sustainable Aquaculture). Previous and on going EUprojects relevant to this proposal include: IRC-IMTA (An International Research Consortium for promoting and developing Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture), AQUAGRIS (Environmental Management Reform for Sustainable Farming, Fisheries and Aquaculture) and SPICOSA (Science and Policy Integration for Coastal System Assessment). He has recently participated in expert panels for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on offshore aquaculture and on the ecosystem approach to aquaculture. Dror is also involved in the research of jellyfish blooms, with an emphasis on ecological interactions and ecosystem effects and has recently co-edited a book on this topic.

Dr. Shirra Freeman, economist specializing in environmental and resource management and decision science. Her research includes integrated aquaculture, aquaculture fisheries interactions, forest ecosystems and environmental health. She participated in the FAO working group developing the ecosystem approach to aquaculture and is a member of the IUCN experts group on Mediterranean aquaculture. She is the economic focal point for the European Forest Union's Mediterranean Forest Research Agenda and is currently pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health researching the human health risks and benefits of consuming fish.