Chris Stewart - MS student

         I completed my undergraduate education at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC.  While there, my coursework focused on a traditional curriculum in biology with particular attention to marine organisms and systems.   During my Junior and Senior year at East Carolina I furthered my interest in marine sciences by taking classes such as fisheries techniques, marine biology, marine community ecology, marine field ecology, oceanography and ichthyology.  I also got the chance to work with Dr. Joe Luczhovich on several occasions while completing my undergraduate research at East Carolina.  One such project titled: Acoustical analysis of the sounds produced by the longspine squirrelfish, Holocentrus rufus, Along the Belize Barrier Reef System, lead me to Belize with Dr. Luczhovich where I had my first encounter with bioacoustics.  While in Belize I recorded and analyzed sound produced by the longspine squirrelfish while at the marine research center (MRC) of Calabash Caye Field Station.  Using spectrographs and power spectral density plots created on the Lab View 5.0 platform and Cool Edit 96, I was then able to determine that the longspine squirrelfish had a higher calling rate during the night rather than during the day.  The following semester I got the chance to work with Dr. Luczhovich again on another project where I got to do a more in-depth study using tapes from an earlier study recorded using sonobouys.  I analyzed the average sound pressure levels (dB) produced by silver perch and weakfish.  From these recording I was able to note the changes in sound pressure level (dB) for both silver perch and weakfish in response to bottle nose dolphin vocalizations.

Shortly after receiving my B.S. in Biology form East Carolina I began working for Dr. Charles Peterson and Monica Dozier, Institute of Marine Sciences –UNC, as a research technician on several of their projects. One project entitled: Recruitment, growth, and habitat utilization of red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) in North Carolina estuaries, gave me another valuable opportunity to broaden my outlook on marine science.  In this project I assisted with recruit and adult sampling surveys, growth and behavior experiments, fish identification, gut analysis, data entry, net and gear repair, and cage construction.  Working on this project gave me a chance to better understand the various aspects involved in conducting research oriented in fisheries management.  While at the Institute of Marine Sciences –UNC, I also got the chance to work as a research technician for Dr. Sean Powers on several of his projects.  While working with Dr. Powers, I helped to assess the impact of cownose ray migration on adult scallop populations and localized recruitment failure with gillnet surveys, scallop density monitoring and predator exclusion experiments.  On another project I assisted with oyster disease assessment by collecting oysters using SCUBA, monitoring live oyster percent cover, incubating and reading diseased oysters for infection prevalence.  Again working with Dr. Powers, I assisted with taxonomic identification, scientific inventory, and data entry for trawl samples to determine movement patterns and estuarine residence time of juvenile ground fish on tidal flats in Alaska. 

While attending the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, my Master’s work has focused on assessing the relative abundance and recruitment timing of larval and juvenile red drum in the Cape Fear and New River estuaries (project title: Spatial and temporal variability in recruitment timing, relative abundance, and mortality of juvenile red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) in Southeastern North Carolina).  In each of these two large estuaries I conducted extensive beach seining and gill-netting over the course of two years (2003-04).  Using otolith derived daily ages I examined the interannual variation in hatch date distributions, as well as assess cohort-specific mortality for red drum in each estuary.   Working with Dr. Scharf has provided me with another great opportunity to further understand the process of conducting research that is prevalent to the needs of fisheries scientist and managers.  The knowledge that I have gained from my research while attending UNCW should prove to be valuable to me when it comes to setting up and managing my own projects in the future as a fisheries biologist for a state, federal or private agency.

Chris is currently working for the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries in Wilmington, NC.