As the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission debates reopening the Goliath Grouper fishery in Florida state waters, stakeholders and policymakers turned to FSU researchers for their expertise on the matter. Former Marine Lab Director Dr. Felicia Coleman, former faculty member Dr. Chris Koenig, and former PhD student Dr. Chris Malinowski were recently interviewed by National Geographic about the ongoing debate.
A new study led by former FSUCML graduate student Dr. Chris Malinowski (Dr. Felicia Coleman and Dr. Chris Koenig’s lab) investigates the health and reproductive consequences of mercury toxicity on Goliath Grouper (Epinephelus itajara). This newly published paper builds off of their two previous manuscripts: one on spatial mercury patterns in Goliath Grouper off the coasts of Florida (2019) and the other a baseline health assessment of Goliath Grouper (2020).
After more than a decade of fearless leadership and innovative thinking, Dr. Felicia Coleman has officially retired from the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory (FSUCML).
Dr. Felicia Coleman and Dr. Christopher Koenig, accompanied by grad student Chris Malinowski, are onboard the RV Walton Smith (the ship after which the R/V Apalachee was modeled) conducting research in Pulley’s Ridge and the Tortugas, 350 miles from Miami, where the cruise set sail. The objectives are to determine the density of red grouper in selected sites, and to determine whether fish living here are related to fish turning up in coastal sites like Florida Bay.
The Deep-C Fisheries Ecology Team (Dr. Dean Grubbs, Dr. Chris Koenig, and Dr. Felicia Coleman) are offshore conducting research from the shelf-edge to the deep sea onboard the Florida Institute of Oceanography's research vessel, the RV WEATHERBIRD II. In between the all day and all night longline and trap sets, the cataloging of specimens, and everything else that goes along with a vigorous field program, they are taking turns writing a blog that appears on the Deep-C website and will continue on their trip from 8-17 October 2012. Check back often to find out what's going on.
FSUCML faculty, Dr. Christopher Koenig and Dr. Felicia Coleman, are collecting new data on the once severely-overfished Atlantic goliath grouper in a new three-year study. The species is native to Florida's waters, and is currently making a comeback in the southeastern United States, after a 21-year fishing moratorium. Using nondestructive sampling techniques, Koenig and Coleman will examine specific conditions and behaviors supporting this species' population recovery along Florida's coastlines in both the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.
Dr. Felicia Coleman is a co-author on a new report released by the Pew Charitable Trust, A Once and Future Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem in which the expert working group makes recommendations for recovering Gulf resources and restoring the natural system. Recognizing that the Deepwater Horizon disaster of April 2010 was just the most visible, recent problem threatening the health of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem, the authors recommend going beyond the traditional restoration approach that targets specific habitats or species damaged by the oil to focus on the Gulf of Mexico as a whole to have it truly recover and thrive in an unpredictable future.
The study, Impact of crude oil on coastal and ocean environments of the West Florida Shelf and Big Bend Region from the shoreline to the continental Shelf Edge, represents an integrated, rapid-response study of the impact of oil on coastal and ocean marine ecosystems of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, including the northern West Florida Shelf from the Big Bend Region west to Louisiana, that can be completed in its entirety within 5 months.
Dr. Felicia Coleman, Director of the FSUCML, was recently appointed to the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee by the Department of Commerce, in consultation with the Department of the Interior. She is one of 11 new members appointed to the 30-member committee. The charge of the committee is to advise the Departments of Commerce and the Interior on the development and implementation of a national system of marine protected areas (MPAs). Coleman was instrumental in developing two marine protected areas in the Gulf of Mexico during her tenure on the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, the Madison Swanson Marine Reserve and the Steamboat Lumps Marine Reserve.