Sea Grant and NOAA Fisheries Come Together to Support Next Generation of Fisheries Experts

By Jim Berkson, National Sea Grant Office and Julia Galkiewicz, National Sea Grant Office

On June 9-11, recipients of the jointly funded Sea Grant-National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Fellowship met at the NMFS Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC)’s Laboratory in Miami for an annual symposium. The symposium provides an opportunity for the fellows to bond, share their research in population and ecosystem dynamics, and marine resource economics, and learn how NOAA scientists can work with them to build a strong workforce for the future. 

The Fellows learned about cutting-edge research at SEFSC from laboratory scientists and about Sea Grant from Florida Sea Grant Director Karl Havens and Florida Sea Grant Extension Agent Lisa Krimsky. Awards were given to Jennifer Meredith of the University of Washington for her research on the migration decisions of fish harvesters in rural Alaska, and to Lisa McManus of Princeton University for her work on coral larvae dispersion and genetic differentiation. 

The symposium included field trips to University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, where the fellows viewed the world’s largest wind-wave-storm surge simulator, and aquaculture facilities where scientists study coral bleaching. They also had a tour of the Casablanca Fish Market and Restaurant, to learn how fish is processed and sold and how NOAA port sampling monitors fish caught in south Florida for regulation size and age. Finally, the Fellows toured NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory and learned how scientists are improving hurricane models and using increased computing power and new sampling devices to study hurricane development from inside tropical storms and hurricanes.

The Sea Grant-NMFS Fellowship program has been offered since 1999 and aims to increase expertise in Population and Ecosystem Dynamics, and Marine Resource Economics, as well as provide real-world experience to PhD students. Next year’s Symposium has already been scheduled for June 28-30, 2016 at the NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center’s Laboratory in Santa Cruz.

Please visit the Sea Grant-NMFS Fellowship webpage for more information.