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The Team

Photo Credit: Rob Price

We are a small team that coordinates the management of the MPA through Tamar Estuaries Consultative Forum (TECF) but we work with TECF members who all play an important role in the management of the site.  

Amelia Sturgeon

Amelia Sturgeon

TECF Coordinator

Amelia manages and furthers the objectives of TECF, which is the strategic management partnership for the Plymouth Sound and Estuaries. She supports and coordinates members and projects, promoting collaboration and information sharing. Amelia is responsible for updating, monitoring, and coordinating the implementation of the Tamar Estuaries Management Plan.

Amelia has had a passion for marine policy since studying an M.Sc. in Applied Marine Sciences at the University of Plymouth. A previous role at Plymouth City Council, providing environmental planning and policy advice, developed her understanding of how to manage the threats to our local waters and coast.

Amelia is thrilled to work with so many interesting partners where she can learn from different specialists and help to actively protect the local area. In her free time, she likes to go surfing or walking to explore the Devon and Cornish coastline.

Kate Duncan

Kate Duncan

Marine Recreation Mitigation and Management Scheme (MRMMS) Officer

Kate’s area of work focuses on Marine Projects, principally the delivery of the Plymouth Sound and Estuaries MPA (previously EMS) Recreational Mitigation and Management Scheme with the involvement of other partners around the MPA network in Devon and Cornwall. This aims to share guidance, knowledge, and best practice to help reduce pressures and negative impacts on the protected features from recreational activities and helping to enhance and restore them. She enjoys working collaboratively, exploring opportunities for positive and effective ways to help conserve and manage the marine environment.

She has a background in marine biology, including an M.Sc. in Aquatic Ecosystem Management. After a time working in the book industry, returned to the marine sector, obtaining an M.Sc. in Marine Conservation from the University of Plymouth. She went on to join the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park Coastal Ranger team before taking on the role of the Marine Recreation Officer in 2023.

As with her work, in her spare in her spare time she enjoys spending time in or near the water, ideally swimming, paddling, and exploring the coast on foot with a sketchpad or a camera.

Rob Giles

Rob Giles

King’s Harbour Master

Rob Giles became Queen’s, and now King’s Harbour Master (KHM) for the Dockyard Port of Plymouth in August 2022, advancing from the post of Deputy which he previously held for a year as a Ministry of Defence (MOD) Civil Servant.

Rob was a Warfare Officer in the Royal Navy for 18 years in a multitude of seagoing appointments; he was a Mine Clearance Diving Officer, Principal Warfare Officer and Commanded HMS CHARGER.  He left the Royal Navy in 2007 and following this has held a number of public sector appointments in a local authority and the Devon and Cornwall Police.  He held the post of Harbour Master / CEO of the Dart Harbour and Navigation Authority between 2010 and 2016.

The primary role of KHM is to preserve and prioritise the port for military use, as a Statutory MOD Harbour Authority, however; Plymouth is an extremely diverse port with environmental, commercial and leisure use.  These are all managed alongside military movements to and from the dockyard to create a balance of activity.

KHM Chairs TECF, gathering the statutory and environmental bodies, to develop the Tamar Estuaries Management Plan, with the aim of improving habitats, water quality and biodiversity within the port area.  In balance with this, KHM also supports the University of Plymouth and other bodies in developing technologies, such as renewable energy generation and autonomy, that might contribute to UK energy production and net-zero goals.

Andrew Jones

Andrew Jones

Deputy King’s Harbour Master

Andrew is the Deputy King’s Harbour Master for the Dockyard Port of Plymouth. Overseeing the Port Conservancy, Safety and Events departments for KHM, he advises on port matters to members of TECF. Andrew has been working with TECF for many years and has built up many trusted connections that brings out the best in collaborative working.

An Oceanographer by background, Andrew spent many years at sea in the Oil and Gas and Renewable Energy industry advising on marine science impacts on the installation, demolition and monitoring of sites worldwide. Andrew moved ashore in 2015 to take on the newly established Port Conservancy department for KHM, before qualifying with distinction as a Harbour Master in 2020 and promoting into the role of DKHM in 2022.

Andrew is a married father of three and enjoys spending time with his family outside, particularly at the fantastic Devon and Cornwall beaches.

Ben Mitchell

Ben Mitchell

Port Conservancy Officer

Ben’s role in the Kings Harbour Master Team is to oversee port conservancy and environmental protection within the Dockyard Port of Plymouth, ensuring the port is fit for use as a port and that the harbour is in a fit condition for a vessel to utilise it safely. Ben has worked in the maritime industry for the last 14 years and holds a Maritime and Coastguard agency (MCA) officer of the watch unlimited certificate of competency.

The team above work alongside the TECF members to manage the site, as well as partners and stakeholders. More about the site governance can be found under Governance.

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