Articles

• The Business of Nature
• 10 Questions on Shoreline Erosion
• AUMERC Sponsors Seafood Safety Workshops
• Symposium Explores Resiliency Solutions
• Tracie Sempier to Serve as Coastal Storms Outreach Coordinator
• Dr. Rick Wallace Retires
• Coastal Symposium to Be Held in October
  
• Featured Publication
• From the Director

Sea Briefs is a report on the results of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium.

Editor: Valerie Winn

Front page kayaking photo: Leah Bray

This newsletter is available in PDF format from:
masgc.org/seabriefs

MASGC supports applied, interdisciplinary marine science research, education and outreach efforts to foster the sustainable development and management of the Mississippi and Alabama coasts and nearshore ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico

Mississippi-Alabama
Sea Grant Consortium
703 East Beach Drive
Ocean Springs, MS 39564
Phone: 228-818-8840
E-mail: seabriefs@masgc.org
MASGP 08-011-02

Dr. Rick Wallace Retires

Dr. Rick Wallace, a marine biologist who spent 25 years dedicated to bringing technology and applied research to the public, has retired from Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center (AUMERC) and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (MASGC). He plans to return to Sea Grant on a part-time basis and continue working with the seafood industry.

After completing his doctorate in fishery biology at Auburn University in 1982, Wallace began working for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System in a small program called the Sea Grant Extension Advisory Service in Mobile, Ala., working on fisheries issues, which included turtle excluder devices, federal fishery management and softshell crab production.

“During those early days, I was fortunate to be able to participate in some ‘extra activities,’ which were the kinds of things that attract students to the marine sciences,” he said. “These included living underwater for a week at the Hydrolab facility in St. Croix (Virgin Islands), a week of surveying fish in the Florida Keys and the chance to make some excursions in a deep-diving submersible vehicle at the edge of the Desoto Canyon in the Gulf of Mexico.”

Over the years, administrative changes at Auburn University resulted in the program becoming part of the Fisheries Department and being renamed AUMERC. AUMERC maintained a close link with Sea Grant and continued to conduct the MASGC Extension Program.

Writing a regular newspaper column, a newsletter and various extension publication on local fish and shellfish has been very rewarding, Wallace said.

“I am most proud of our Understanding Fisheries Management booklet, which introduced thousands of fishermen and policy makers to the mysteries of federal fisheries management,” he said. For Wallace, one of the highlights of the last decade was the development and construction of the Auburn University Shellfish Laboratory on Dauphin Island.

MASGC Director Dr. LaDon Swann said that Wallace was a scientist who was dedicated to people.

“During his 25 years with AUMERC and Sea Grant Extension, Rick was a consummate extension professional and a fisheries scientist,” said Swann. “Rick chose not to place himself in the limelight. Instead, he was a servant leader who worked tirelessly for his staff and the constituents he served.”