NEWSROOM
Haymarket Native Receives NMFS Fellowship
June 9, 2009
Louisiana State University graduate student Melissa Hedges is a 2009 National Marine Fisheries Service/Sea Grant Fellow in population dynamics. Hedges, a doctoral student in oceanography and coastal science, is one of only seven students nationally selected for the fellowship.
Hedges will conduct research to pinpoint indicators from a historical fish survey that show how fish communities in the Gulf of Mexico changed over time. The study will specifically examine red snapper, a species that is currently recovering from years of overfishing.
“One question we’re asking is: As we increase the number of red snapper, how will it affect other fish species in the ecosystem?” Hedges said. “We also want to incorporate the indicators into mathematical models used to manage the species and determine how many fish can sustainably be caught.”
Hedges’ fellowship began June 1 and will continue for three years. During that time she will work with fisheries scientists and spend at least one to two weeks on a research cruise each year. She will not work directly with the fish, but will build models from data collected.
Joseph Powers, associate professor of oceanography at LSU, will serve as her advisor and major professor. Elizabeth Brooks, a stock assessment scientist for the NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Mass., will mentor Hedges.
Hedges first got involved with NMFS stock assessments through the agency’s Recruiting, Training and Research Program at Virginia Tech. She ultimately hopes to land a position with NMFS as a stock assessment scientist.
Hedges, a native of Haymarket, Va., studied wildlife science as an undergraduate and for her master’s at Virginia Tech. She decided to change her focus to marine science after working as a sea turtle biologist during a fellowship with the Bald Head Island Conservancy.
The National Sea Grant Office and NMFS created the Graduate Fellowship Program in 1999 for population dynamics and marine resource economics. Each fellowship provides a $38,500 per year to cover a stipend, tuition, and travel money depending on the availability of federal funds. For more information or to apply, contact a local Sea Grant program or Terry Smith at Terry.Smith@noaa.gov.
Since its establishment in 1968, the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program has worked to promote stewardship of the state’s coastal resources through a combination of research, education and outreach programs critical to the cultural, economic and environmental health of Louisiana’s coastal zone. Louisiana Sea Grant, based at Louisiana State University, is part of the National Sea Grant College Program, a network of 32 programs in each of the U.S. coastal and Great Lakes states and Puerto Rico.
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