Lyle Squire Senior moved to Cairns from Townsville in 1964 aged 11 and took employment at the oceanarium in 1968 where he met Bev.

Lyle was a keen spear fishermen and spent many hours exploring reefs and becoming familiar with the behaviour of many species. He became a national spear fishing champion and a commercial fisherman who would go on to be one of the world’s most highly respected consultants in tropical fisheries research and marine conservation.

Lyle’s breakthrough discovery was the aggregating behaviour of spawning reef fish and the environmental parameters that indicate the occurrence. Scorned by respected members of academia for years after the discovery, his legacy is now acknowledged worldwide and forms a pivotal feature of reef fishery management throughout the tropical world