CSULB Biologists to Speak on How Overfishing is Affecting

California sheephead are a popular local sport and food fish with an interesting biological method of managing their own populations. Every fish is born female but can change to male if the dominant male in its area dies.
Professor Christopher Lowe, a marine biologist, and Associate Professor Kelly Young, a reproductive biologist at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), teamed up with researchers from UC Santa Barbara to examine how overfishing of sheephead is affecting local populations. They will discuss their findings at the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (CNSM) Fellows Colloquium and Dean’s Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17, in the CSULB Pyramid Annex conference room.
Using a combination of standard fisheries techniques and new reproductive biology methods, their collaborative research is helping fisheries' managers develop more effective protection for sheephead as well as methods that can be used for other species impacted by the pressures of heavy fishing.
Lowe is an expert in the physiological and behavioral ecology of sharks, rays and other economically important game fishes. He earned his master’s in biology from CSULB and his doctorate from the University of Hawaii. In 2009, he was named CSULB’s Outstanding Professor. Young’s research interests are in seasonal reproduction and hormonal regulation of gonadal physiology. She received her doctorate from John Hopkins School of Public Health. In 2009, she was honored with CSULB’s Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award.
The program is free to members of the CNSM Fellows—the college’s premier support group—as well as CNSM students, and $25 for non-members. For reservations and to learn more about this and upcoming colloquia, visit www.beach-biology.com or contact Nicole Algarin-Chavarria, nalgarin@csulb.edu, 562/985-7446.
-- Anne Ambrose