Last month, we announced the winners of the Women of Fisheries Gives Back! Award for early career fisheries scientists. Although we were only able give out two awards, the applicants were excellent and we wanted to highlight a few of their unique journeys and experiences. Meet some of the amazing early career women in fisheries science!
From early career to retired fisheries scientists, we would love to feature and amplify your experiences! Please fill out our Women of Fisheries Profile form to be featured individually in a future blog post!
Lisa Chong
Currently, I am a fourth year PhD student at the University of Florida. I received my BSc. in Marine Vertebrate Biology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2016. I initially thought my passion was in marine conservation. During my childhood, I lived near the ocean in New Jersey and had an appreciation for marine life. However, I discovered late in my undergraduate career that I had little to no interest in the courses I was taking. I also found that the conservation work, such as rescuing cold stunned sea turtles, was all arduous effort with little reward at the end as the survival rate was pretty low. I then shifted my interests to fisheries, which only started during my last year when I took courses in ichthyology, fisheries management, and tropical marine ecology. I found myself genuinely engaged in the lectures, lab assignments, and class projects. One of my fondest moments during my undergraduate studies was when I went to Akumal, Mexico for a study abroad, where I snorkeled with sea turtles and tropical fish every day and discovered the joy in creating and conducting my own research. I found that thirst for knowledge again, which inspired me to pursue a master’s degree. I then went overseas to Germany to study tropical aquatic ecology (I know, weird location! But they had an institute that focuses on marine and aquatic research in tropical regions). I initially thought I would focus my interests on fisheries biology for my master’s research, but I changed my mind when I took a statistics course where I met my master’s thesis advisor, who inspired me to learn about quantitative fisheries. Ever since, I learned extensively about modeling fish populations, using statistical models, building simulations, and conducting stock assessment-related research.
My master’s research focused on data-limited fisheries and length-based stock assessment
methods. I wanted to pursue a Ph.D. degree in fisheries and aquatic sciences to start a career in
quantitative fisheries and stock assessment research, which is why I attended the University of Florida. My dissertation research focuses on analyzing social-ecological effects of artificial reefs in recreational fisheries, specifically the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery. This research involves synthesizing the most recent knowledge about how fish populations dynamics, fish biology and ecology, angler behavior, and management agencies are influenced by the deployment of artificial reefs. I am developing statistical and mathematical models to analyze red snapper population, angler effort, and the effects of artificial reefs. I also work on the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic greater amberjack and Florida bay scallops.
These key moments have shaped my career and education. While I expect that I will keep
working at a desk staring at my computer (and getting frustrated when I mess up code or crash
R), in the future I hope to contribute to stock assessments of important fisheries in the US,
continue working on innovating research topics, gain new connections and collaboration
opportunities, and inspire future students and researchers in pursuing this field, especially
women and BIPOC, with the same passion and dedication that I saw in my mentors and advisors.
Danica Cooke
My name is Danica, and I am a wildlife/fisheries biologist for the Bureau of Land Management in Eastern New Mexico. I first became really intrigued with the world of fisheries as an intern for the Arizona Department of Game in Fish in 2016 after my freshman year of college. Before that summer, I had basically zero interest in fisheries: I did not understand the appeal. But spending a whole summer with my hands in the water, handling some really amazing freshwater fish changed that for me. It is where my love for desert freshwater ecosystems began. In 2017, I graduated from Scottsdale Community College with an associate degree in science. That summer, I got the opportunity to be a fisheries intern for the BLM in Arizona, where I was able to further my love for fisheries in the desert southwest. I enjoyed being able to spend my days in the water, learning the fish, and understanding what drove these ecosystems. In the summer of 2018, I got an internship that had little to do with wildlife or fisheries at all, and after that I was never more sure that I needed to be working outside, or more specifically, in the water. In the summer of 2019, I got an internship with the BLM office that I work for now as a biological sciences intern. During this internship, I was reminded once again how much I love being in streams. After this internship was completed, I was offered a full-time biologist position after graduation. And so, in 2020, just 2 months after I graduated from New Mexico State University with a bachelor’s degree in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Ecology, I began working as a wildlife biologist. While at NMSU, I was a member of the school’s AFS chapter, where I got to help with electroshocking efforts, and was also involved in the re-introduction of Gila Trout into Whitewater Creek. Since starting work with the BLM, I have become increasingly more involved with fisheries, as this office does not have a fisheries biologist. I started a pilot monitoring effort on a perennial, spring fed stream here in Eastern New Mexico, where I am looking into how different management actions have impacted and are impacting the fish species there. I designed and implemented a monitoring protocol, including the measurement of various stream and riparian indicators, and the collection of fish eDNA samples. The overarching goal of this monitoring effort is to see how the management decisions that have been made are impacting the species, so that we can continue those that are helping, and alter those that are not. I have found a passion in trying to understand the conservation and management of streams in the desert southwest, where such resources are few and far between. There are so many unique and resilient species in these waters, and I am trying to do what I can to make sure that these populations and their habitats are around for future generations to enjoy.
Lindsay Hansen
I love fish. I love how diverse they are, how resilient they can be. I love that they navigate a 3D world. I think they have incredible personalities. The cliché relationship adage, ‘there are many fish in the sea’ is actually comforting for me. I have been on a journey to understand and learn from fish. I attended UC Berkeley for my undergraduate career, where I studied conservation science and art. During my time at Berkeley and afterward, I studied methylmercury movement through rivers, free dived to determine the sex of whale sharks, and researched microplastic pollution in rural streams. I was an educator at an ocean institute, where I taught children about ocean conservation and the magic of marine fish. I learned how to electrofish, tag fish, and chased spawning salmonids up streams to count their nests. I taught elementary school science and field biology college courses, and volunteered to lead fish anatomy dissections at public science festivals. I attended Northern Arizona University for a Masters of Science in environmental science and policy, where I formed a connection with native fish in the Grand Canyon for my thesis. Since graduating I have been working in the Grand Canyon, where I monitor native fish in the Colorado River and create growth and abundance models to track their populations. I spend three months of the year living on the banks of the river, capturing native fish via hoop netting and boat electrofishing and administering PIT and VIE tags. I have used my training as an artist to convey the findings of research to non-scientists, by donating artwork to conservation organizations and creating illustrated books, oil paintings, science illustrations and murals that feature fisheries science themes. Simultaneously to earning my Master of Science degree, I undertook a Master of Arts degree in biology from Miami University, where my thesis was using the arts to improve science communication. This year I wrote and published a children’s book, ‘The Adventures of Franny the Flanny’, to share the science of a Grand Canyon fish beyond the scientific journal. Science communication is a huge passion of mine, and I believe this is a unique skill I can contribute to the fisheries science field. To see my works, please visit my portfolio: http://www.lindsayehansen.com.
Jennifer Loch
Since a young age, I was fixated on a profession as a marine scientist and growing up in Florida further motivated that goal. My B.S. in biology from Florida State University was a natural progression and one that both facilitated and solidified my interest in the field. My interests initially centered around sharks thanks to “Shark Week” programs, but it was during a research internship at Mote Marine Lab as part of my undergraduate thesis that I focused on predatory bony fish (common snook) ecology. This experience also tested my resolve as I was faced with my two phobias – flying and alligators – not exactly expected when working in the fisheries ecology and enhancement department! In two separate instances, I helped rescue occupants from a small plane that crashed in the bay while we were conducting field work (luckily they were okay) and accidentally captured an angry alligator in the seine net! Perhaps I should’ve taken that as a sign to pursue other interests, but it was an otherwise wonderful, immersive experience with great mentors and a system that I loved, and I knew I found my place. I then received my M.S. in Marine Biology through the Three Seas Program at Northeastern University. This incredible program exposed me to several marine/coastal ecosystems and research areas – from marine botany and fish biology, to coral biology and oceanography, to marine mammals and genetics. But alas my love of fish prevailed, as my thesis examined the impacts of predation on coral reef fish recruits in Moorea, French Polynesia. After my master’s, I spent several years teaching biology at local colleges and worked as a biologist for a local county government and as an aquarist intern at Disney. These experiences broadened skillset outside of research to ultimately make me a more versatile scientist and better prepare me for my PhD. I completed my doctorate last year which assessed the response of marine sportfish to habitat restoration through examination of population, community, and trophic dynamics (e.g., gut content and stable isotope analyses) at the University of Central Florida. For this work I was awarded the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation and Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation fellowships. I successfully navigated the program and my field and lab research through 3 major hurricanes, the global pandemic, and most notably the birth of my two daughters, thankfully with plenty of support. Moving forward my research interests and career goals continue to be broadly centered around better understanding the impact of anthropogenic disturbances (e.g., fishing and habitat alteration) on marine fish populations and communities and how that can be mitigated through conservation efforts such as habitat restoration, fish restocking, post-fishing recovery methods, and even policy. I also enjoy engaging with the public and anglers to learn more about their experience with these resources and how to conserve them through collaboration. I have thankfully had a wonderful career thus far with unique experiences and incredible people and look forward to the chapters ahead.
Elizabeth Renner
I first became interested in fisheries biology as an undergrad when I was working as a stream survey intern for the South Dakota Department of Transportation. I was so fascinated by stream fishes like the endangered Topeka shiner after my first summer in waders that I continued to pursue opportunities in the field, working for a stream ecology lab in Alaska for a semester and then studying the impacts of small impoundments on downstream native fish communities as an NSF-REU student at Kansas State University. I returned to K-State in May 2017 and worked under the supervision of Dr. Keith Gido and Dr. Walter Dodds on a project analyzing the influence of gizzard shad on water quality and fish communities in small reservoir food webs. During this time, I collaborated with biologists with the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife and Parks to orchestrate a four-year, before-after-control-impact study in twelve state fishing lakes to track changes following whole-lake low-dose rotenone manipulations to selectively remove overabundant gizzard shad. Two of these state fishing lakes experienced unanticipated gizzard shad introductions and another was invaded by zebra mussels, creating an opportunity for us to track ecosystem responses and changes to fish communities following these invasions. In the summer of 2021, I had a formative experience working remotely with the Southern Nevada Fish & Wildlife Office as a USFWS Directorate Fellow for 11 weeks to compile and analyze 15 years of phytoplankton and zooplankton monitoring data from the Bureau of Reclamation and fish sampling data from BIO-WEST to study how the quagga mussel invasion affected endangered Razorback Sucker recruitment in Lake Mead. We found that plankton communities and razorback sucker abundance were more impacted by dropping water levels than by the quagga mussels. I presented my findings to USFWS leadership officials and the Desert Fish Council, and my supervisor and I are working to publish my final project report. Since defending and graduating from K-State I have been working as a fisheries biologist for South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks on the Upper Missouri River in Fort Pierre. My new role has me wearing many hats, from running standard gillnet and hydroacoustic forage fish surveys on Lake Oahe to surveying small ponds to doing dive surveys in dam tailraces for zebra mussels and monitoring paddlefish and goldeye populations. I also do fisheries outreach with K-12 students to get their hands wet at a conservation summer camp and by mentoring science fair projects. It has been deeply rewarding to be able to serve my home state and work to manage the Missouri River’s fisheries, and I hope to continue to grow and develop as a fisheries professional so I can effectively mentor and support other young women entering the field.