Dr Ryan Wilkinson has been appointed as the new Director of Inland Fisheries after acting in the role since March 2024.

Ryan is a passionate recreational angler who has a PhD in fish biology from Flinders University and moved to Tasmania in 2006 to take on an academic position at the University of Tasmania specialising in fish health, physiology and reproductive biology. He maintained a balanced portfolio of teaching and research over 6 years at the University and supervised several honours and PhD students.

Since leaving the University he has had a range of roles in the commercial aquaculture sector. He also worked for Biosecurity Tasmania for 5 years – initially as the Industry Collaboration Manager and most recently as Director of Biosecurity Operations, managing a busy operational team of 100+ staff across the state.

Ryan said “It has been a privilege to work as a member of the IFS team over the past ‘almost’ 12 months.  A highlight has been engaging with individual anglers, angling club members, representatives of Anglers Alliance Tasmania (AAT) and Trout Guides and Lodges Tasmania (TGALT), and members of the Inland Fisheries Advisory Council (IFAC), who are all deeply passionate about the current status, and future, of our inland fishery.  I look forward to continuing this engagement and working hard on behalf of all anglers to help develop our fishery into the future”.