Semisi Pone

Doug Waterhouse Semisi Pone

Doug Waterhouse was the biocontrol guru in the Pacific, certainly during my 10 years there from 1985-1996. His vision of using biocontrol to reduce the use of agricultural chemicals must be applauded. The Pacific Islands are susceptible to dumping of pesticides and the surrounding marine ecology of the islands would be destroyed forever if they are poisoned with agricultural chemicals. This tribute to Dr Doug Waterhouse, Dr Paul Ferrar and others who helped me during my years in the Pacific as a Scientist and who helped the Pacific Islands in the area of Plant Protection. Our Pacific Ocean and its 22 Island States and Territories is a pristine, clean and natural place. We have a generational responsibility to keep it clean and pass it on to the future. One man's great vision, which I proudly shared, was to use biological control methods in the plant protection industry to avoid overuse of agricultural chemicals. In some islands, nitrates can be found in the underground water lens due to overuse of agriculture fertilizer. We should make a note of that and change our fertilizer regimes to avoid any build up of more toxins in our food and water supplies.