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JANUARY 2026
Jim presents at CSI's Science on the Sound The Coastal Studies Institute hosts a monthly-evening seminar series that is focused on sharing scientific research with the general public. This month, Jim shared his lab's research on sheepshead, a coastal fish species that is popular among recreational anglers. The seminar can be viewed here (LINK). |
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NOVEMBER 2025 Ray participates at science outreach event in Greenville The Tar River Community Science Festival takes place annually in Greenville and is an opportunity for the public to interact with local scientists. Ray talked with people about the Coastal Studies Institute and his research on aquatic soundscapes. |
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Fisheries Lab represented at CERF Conference The Coastal & Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) holds a biennial conference, bringing together scientists from across the country. The Fisheries Lab attended this year's event in Richmond, VA. Cami presented her research on invasive blue catfish. Andrew presented work on the impacts of inlet dredging. Ray and Jim presented work on the habitat function of oyster aquaculture. |
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OCTOBER 2025 Jim presents at water quality symposium The Water Quality for Fisheries Symposium is an annual event hosted by the Coastal Carolina Riverwatch. The event brings together scientists, policy makers and stakeholders to discuss challenges and consider solutions to issues related to water quality in coastal North Carolina. Jim presented research on how invasive blue catfish might be contributing to water quality issues in Albemarle Sound, by consuming filter feeding bivalves. |
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AUGUST 2025 Check out a new video on Ray's research! |
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New paper out on Local Ecological Knowledge from the shrimp fishery There has been growing interest in using information from stakeholders, termed Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK), in resource management. A new paper in Frontiers in Marine Science examines LEK from North Carolina shrimp fishers about how shrimp responds to climate (LINK). The LEK results are compared with statistical models of shrimp populations to identify potential biases between approaches. |
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Amelia Magee joins the lab to research shrimp Penaeid shrimp in the southeast U.S. can be infected by a parasite that causes black gill disease. Amelia will be conducting her M.S. research on this host-parasite relationship, specifically examining patterns of disease prevalence from across North Carolina and in a variety of habitat types. Amelia is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and is being co-Advised by Drs. April Blakeslee and Jim Morley. |
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JUNE 2025
New paper out on climate vulnerability of U.S. southeast species Climate vulnerability assessments have been conducted for species in all U.S. coastal regions by NOAA. These expert based assessments are designed to identify species that are at greater risk from climate change, based on their life history. The assessment for the southeast region has been published in PLOS Climate (LINK). |
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Andrew volunteers on NOAA research cruise The NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center conducts an annual survey of reef fishes off the southeast Atlantic coast. This survey provides important biological and abundance data for the management of many important fisheries (including Red Snapper). Andrew recently returned from volunteering for a two-week leg of this survey off Florida. He spent much of his time at sea catching fish in traps and then collecting data and biological samples from specimens. Andrew has volunteered on this survey over the last three summers. |
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MAY 2025 Lauren joins the lab as a summer technician The Fisheries Lab is hosting Lauren Elgin, a senior from the University of Delaware, as a summer field and lab technician. Lauren will be participating in all of our field sampling, including at oyster farms (picture), and also processing acoustic imaging and hydrophone data in the lab. |
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APRIL 2025
Fisheries Lab engages with local classrooms Through two programs that match up scientists with K-12 classrooms, Shad in the Classroom and SciMatch, the Fish Lab conducted activities with over 100 students this month. Andrew, Cami and Caid gave fish anatomy and ecology lessons at schools in Dare, Currituck and Duplin counties. |
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MARCH 2025
Fisheries Lab attends annual Tidewater AFS Conference The Fisheries Lab attended the annual Tidewater Chapter Conference, which is part of the American Fisheries Society. The meeting was held in Beaufort, NC. Caid and Ray presented posters on their graduate research (Caid Poster; Ray Poster), and Chloe gave a presentation on shrimp black gill disease. Cami currently serves as an officer on ECU's AFS student subunit and Andrew serves as a representative on the Student & Early Career Professionals subsection of AFS. |
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JANUARY 2025 Cami and Andrew present research at NC Sea Grant review North Carolina Sea Grant hosted a review of their program to federal-level administrators in Raleigh. Cami and Andrew each presented research posters on their work. Cami shared results on the impacts of invasive blue catfish, while Andrew presented work on dredging impacts in Beaufort Inlet. Each of them have received funding from NC Sea Grant through graduate student scholarship awards. |
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Fisheries Lab gives webinar on species vulnerability to climate change
Verena Wang (former lab postdoc) and Jim gave a webinar on their work to understand how marine fishes use different habitats throughout their life history, and how this might affect the adaptability of different species to climate change. Over 150 fisheries managers, NGO representatives, and academic scientists attended. The webinar can be watched here LINK. |
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