WITH FISH FARMING PRESENTATION |
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SPEAKER: Dr. John Tucker, head of the HARBOR BRANCH Fish Biology Department
TOPIC: Marine Foodfish Culture and Stocking DATE: January 15, 2003 TIMES: 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., reception with speakers will follow each event LOCATION: Main auditorium of the Johnson Education Center at HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution, 5600 U.S. 1 North, Fort Pierce, Florida COST: Free Fish farming has great potential to alleviate overfishing of the oceans by allowing fish to be raised under controlled conditions for both consumption and stocking, but the field still faces many challenges. On Wednesday, January 15, as the second weekly event in the HARBOR BRANCH Ocean Science Lecture Series, Dr. John Tucker, head of HARBOR BRANCH's Fish Biology Department, will explain advances made in recent years that dramatically improve fish culture success by controlling the environment, reproduction, nutrition and health at aquaculture facilities. Tucker's work, which has taken him to most warm regions of the world, including Australia, Bermuda, Palau, Singapore and Thailand, has improved the commercial viability and environmental friendliness of raising fish such as Nassau groupers, red drum, seatrout, sheepshead, snook, barramundi and many others. Traditionally, fish hatcheries have used drugs that are potentially dangerous for the fish they raise, wild fish, the environment and even humans. Methods developed by Tucker and his colleagues have nearly eliminated this need for drugs in the hatchery and have improved growth rates, increased disease resistance and decreased stress levels for the cultured fish. Much of Tucker's work is outlined in his 760-page textbook "Marine Fish Culture," which has become a standard reference for the field and is sold in more than 100 countries. John Tucker came to HARBOR BRANCH in 1983. On an experimental scale, he has raised forty species and hybrids of fish, with more than 33,000 juveniles and adults produced and more than 25,000 of those released. Dr. Tucker has conducted research at the National Marine Fisheries Service in North Carolina, has held posts in Australia, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, St. Thomas, Guam and Palau, and he has been technical advisor for numerous research and commercial projects. Besides his work on the aquaculture and biology of marine fish, he also is a scuba instructor and has spent hundreds of hours studying fish underwater. He has taught students from 29 countries for Florida Atlantic University, Florida Institute of Technology, Indian River Community College, the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, Mexico's National Fisheries Institute and National Polytechnic Institute, the University of Puerto Rico and Australia's Curtin University of Technology and he was a Fulbright Professor for a year at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. Dr. Tucker received his Ph.D. in Fish Physiology from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Besides his textbook, "Marine Fish Culture," he has produced more than 80 scientific publications. FULL SCHEDULE FOR 2003 OCEAN SCIENCE LECTURE SERIES: January 8 - Shirley Pomponi & Don Liberatore - Submersible Science at Harbor Branch: Looking from the Inside Out January 15 - John Tucker - Marine Foodfish Culture and Stocking January 22 - Edie Widder - Bioluminescent Oddities and Wonders January 29 - Ned Smith - What Goes Around Comes Around: The Gulf Stream and the Circulation of the North Atlantic Ocean February 5 - Greg Bossart - Emerging Diseases in Marine Mammals: Should "Flipper" Be Worried? February 12 - Tammy Frank - Lifestyles of the Very Hot, the Very Cold and the Very Deep: How Do They Survive There? February 19 -Clay Cook - "Hunger Makes Strange Bedfellows": Symbiosis of Algae with Corals, Sea Anemones and other Marine Organisms February 26 - Joe Lopez - The World as a Classroom: Molecular Studies of Marine Biodiversity in the Field March 5 - Lee Frey - Robot Explorers: A Look at Unmanned Underwater Vehicles March 12 - Amy Wright - DBMR: The Deep Sea-Link to Drug Discovery March 19 - Megan Davis & Ken Riley - A Fish Eye's View of Aquaculture March 26 - Dennis Hanisak - "The Gleaming Indian River with Its Waves of Blue": Poetic License or Remembrances of Things Past? (Kermit Returns) HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution, Inc., is one of the world's leading nonprofit oceanographic research organizations dedicated to exploration of the earth's oceans, estuaries and coastal regions for the benefit of humankind. CONTACTS: Mark Schrope - Science Writer 772-465-2400 x433) • schrope@hboi.edu Jan Petri - Government and Public Relations 772-465-2400 x241 • petri@hboi.edu |