About

Graduating from the Falmouth School of Communication, Josh studied ways to bridge the gap between the sciences and the arts, in an effort to push back against misinformation. Having witnessed first-hand the consequences of climate change, pollution of our rivers, and the overfishing of our seas, his attention focused towards some of our most imperiled biota—fishes! Out-of-sight, out-of-mind is a sentiment which those in conservation echo about our fauna hidden beneath the surface. 

 

"Before we can ensure a species carries on to be successful, we have to recognise and understand what they are"

 

For this reason, he is a fervent believer that fish-keeping and angling are powerful tools for breaching the surface and getting fishes in the fore of many people's minds—not to mention, great for mental well-being.

Now working as a publisher and freelance writer, Josh is able to impart rigid, scientific information into concise, comprehensible ideas. He has won 7 awards for his most recent publication, about an ancient lineage of fishes, The Bichir Handbook; designed and structured record holder, Peter Cockwill's Fly Fishing Trout in the Small Stillwaters, and Ivan Mikolji's famed Fishes of the Orinoco in the Wild, which led to the description of a new species of cichlid, Mikolji's Oscar Astronotus mikolji; is a regular contributor to Practical Fishkeeping Magazine, Amazonas, Life: Nature, Pets 宠物情缘, the recent fish: a literary celebration of scale and fin, with upcoming features in British Wildlife and Sea Angler; and has collaborated on the creation of bichir plushies, as well as giant bichir sculptures in Nong Nooch's Dinosaur Valley, Thailand.

 

In his free time, Josh is an enthusiastic angler and so-called "species hunter", with a goal of catching 100 fish species on rod and line in Britain and Ireland. He is an avid fish-keeper, building a 7'x4'x42" riparium (making it Cornwall's largest, private, glass aquarium at the time) where he has kept ancient "oddball" fishes, such as Florida Gars, African Arowana, a 40"+ South American Lungfish, every extant species of bichir, and also holds the record for the largest Black Ghost Knifefish in captivity. Josh likes to add to his blog and YouTube channel, covering piscine topics such as angling, aquaculture, and national interest ichthyology.


AWARDS & ACCOLADES

  • WINNER 15th Annual National Indie Excellence® Awards (NIEA) in the Animals & Pets category | The Bichir Handbook
  • WINNER 2021 Best Indie Book Awards (BIBA) in the Ichthyology and Illustration categories | The Bichir Handbook
  • WINNER 2020 FIIN Biodiversity Drawing Competition in the Nature Drawing category | The Bichir Handbook
  • SILVER WINNER 2021 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (NGIBA) in the Best Overall Design: Non-Fiction and Animals/Pets categories | The Bichir Handbook
  • Commended 9th in the 'Top 20 Best Ever Fish Books' by Practical Fishkeeping Magazine, March 2021 | The Bichir Handbook
  • Commended 2nd in the 'Top 20 Best Ever Fish Books' by Practical Fishkeeping Magazine, March 2021 | For design of Fishes of the Orinoco in the Wild
  • Honorable Mention 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (NGIBA) in the Grand Prize category | For design of Fishes of the Orinoco in the Wild
  • WINNER 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (NGIBA) in the Science/Nature/Environment category | For design of Fishes of the Orinoco in the Wild
  • WINNER 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (NGIBA) in the Animals/Pets category | For design of Fishes of the Orinoco in the Wild

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