St. Petersburg, Florida, United States
Fish populations are impacted by a number of factors including predator prey-dynamics, habitat availability, currents, pollution, fishing, and economics. I create computer models to simulate all of these factors to improve fisheries yields and ocean health.
•Support science‐based advocacy efforts to secure sustainable fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and California Current •Implement and defend key conservation and sustainability provisions to our nation’s fishery management laws •Transition fisheries management toward an ecosystem-based approach
•Dissertation topic: Atlantis ecosystem model development for the Gulf of Mexico’s Integrated Ecosystem Assessment program (IEA) •The use of generalized additive modeling to predict aggregate functional group distributions and biomass from long term seasonally averaged bottom conditions throughout the entire Gulf of Mexico •Modeling population connectivity, larval drift, and contaminant exposure mortality in the Gulf of Mexico •Working knowledge of the existing data sets in the Gulf (SEAMAP, NODC, NCDDC, Gulf Atlas, fisheries dependent data and observer data from NOAA) and collaboration with numerous institutions (NOAA offices, USF departments, UN-LME program, FSU, Univ. Michigan, Harte Research Institute, C-IMAGE, Deep-C) across the Gulf to parameterize models
•Principle Investigator for a $100,000 Coastal Management Plan research grant investigating the relative contributions of non-reef dwelling oysters to ecosystem function in Tampa Bay •Involvement with several FWRI-Molluscan Fisheries projects including scallop and clam restoration, larval dispersal modeling, beach re-nourishment, and oyster monitoring for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan •Three years of lab and fieldwork experience including species identification, water quality analysis, and biological / biochemical assays
•Investigated the epifaunal community of organisms inhabiting natural and artificial oyster habitats within the St. Lucie Estuary, Florida •Estimated the overall ecosystem contribution of oyster epifaunal communities from these various habitats using existing shoreline data
•Collected detailed information regarding all aspects of commercial long-line fishing operations and entered data into NMFS database •Trained in the identification of deep-water pelagic fishes, mammals, turtles, and seabirds •Developed unique working relationships with captains and foreign crews while encouraging compliance to NOAA policy and goals