Summary

Jeremy Higgs, assistant director at the Center for Fisheries and Research Development at the University of Southern Mississippi, discusses his work in fisheries research. He talks about his background and how he fell in love with the research opportunities in the Gulf Coast. Jeremy explains his role at the Research Center and the various projects he manages, including larval shrimp studies, offshore billfish work, bull shark life history study, and oyster reef work. He also discusses the importance of oyster reefs for the ecosystem and the sport fish species that rely on them. The conversation explores the different species of fish studied in fisheries research, including swordfish, marlin, tuna, mahi, wahoo, and more. The researchers discuss the unique characteristics and behaviors of these fish, such as their feeding habits, visual adaptations, and growth rates. They also touch on the importance of studying these rare event species and the collaborative efforts between scientists and anglers. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the handling and donation of fish samples after they are brought back to the dock.

Keywords

fisheries research, Gulf Coast, larval shrimp, billfish, bull shark, oyster reef, ecosystem, fisheries research, swordfish, marlin, tuna, mahi, wahoo, feeding habits, visual adaptations, growth rates, rare event species, collaborative efforts, handling fish samples, donation

Takeaways

• The Gulf Coast offers a wealth of research opportunities in fisheries, both inshore and offshore.


• Oyster reefs play a crucial role in the ecosystem, providing habitat and food sources for sport fish species.


• Jeremy Higgs manages various research projects, including larval shrimp studies, billfish work, bull shark life history study, and oyster reef work.


• Collaboration with fishermen, scientists, and other institutions is essential in gathering data and understanding fish species.


• Sampling and analyzing fish specimens at fishing tournaments provide valuable insights into reproductive biology, age determination, and diet composition. Different species of fish, such as swordfish, marlin, tuna, mahi, and wahoo, are studied in fisheries research.


• These fish have unique characteristics and behaviors, including feeding habits, visual adaptations, and growth rates.


• Studying rare event species is important for their long-term management and conservation.


• Collaboration between scientists and anglers is crucial in gathering data and samples for research.


• After sampling, the fish are handled and donated to organizations for various purposes, such as rehabilitation and feeding birds of prey.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

02:26 Research Opportunities in the Gulf Coast

04:19 The Importance of Oyster Reefs

08:13 Managing Research Projects

15:12 Collaboration in the Scientific Community

32:12 Exploring the Diversity of Fish in Fisheries Research

34:08 Understanding the Feeding Habits and Adaptations of Pelagic Fish

37:57 The Significance of Studying Rare Event Species

41:44 Collaboration between Scientists and Anglers in Fisheries Research

56:38 Handling and Donation of Fish Samples in Fisheries Research

USM Center for Fisheries Research and Development

Transcript:

Katie (00:00 .206)

What's up, you guys? Today's podcast is a special treat. Today I have Jeremy Higgs, the assistant director at the Center for Fisheries and Research Development at the University of Southern Mississippi. I met Jeremy on site at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic last year as he was taking all of these incredible samples from these massive blue marlin coming to the dock. Stay posted. You're not going to want to miss it.

Katie (00:33 .134)

Welcome to the KDC Sawyer podcast. I'm your host Katie. And today I have the pleasure of sitting down with Jeremy Higgs. Jeremy, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for the opportunity to be on the show today. I really appreciate it. Now, Jeremy, you're the assistant director over at the research center. How long have you been at USM? I've been with USM about 14 years. Different roles in my time here as research technician up to where I'm at now as assistant director of fisheries.

That's awesome. Where did you come from before USM? I did my undergraduate work at Southwestern College in a little town in Kansas. We had to do a summer field session at a marine lab. There was a flyer in our lobby and it was for the Gulf Coast Research Lab and it was a first SHERC class. I came down here on a fluke and absolutely fell in love, did a summer of coursework here, and then did an internship and then came back to do graduate school.

and then start working in fisheries. That's awesome. Now, did you use the word fluke as a pun or was that just... That was coincidental. Is it that... For the listener, a fluke is a flat fish. Am I right? It is. And the whale tail, the tails of marine mammals. how cool. I didn't know that. That's awesome. Well, that's all she wrote. That's really cool. So what made you fall in love with USM?

So the campus here is absolutely gorgeous. The Gulf Coast is amazing. And after being here for the summer, I realized there's a lot of research opportunities in this area, not only inshore but offshore. And the folks that we got to work with, like Jim, who's, you know, he really is a big figure here on the coast and the work he's done. So it was easy to get excited and to see passion from other people. And it really just kind of drew me into the entire environment down here.

That's so cool. I got the opportunity to visit you guys on campus last year and I was blown away by how beautiful it is there and what a special thing you guys have going on. Your whole team seems really into the process, the research and being out on the water as well as in the lab. It shows that you guys are passionate about it. We have an absolutely phenomenal team working with us in CFRD as well as other colleagues here at GCRL and along the coast. It's a truly unique place to work and

Katie (02:55 .566)

a great opportunity to delve into this field. Beautiful. So Jeremy, tell me a little bit about what you do at the Research Center and some of your day -to -day life, but as well as some of your projects. So things have changed a bit over the years. I don't go in the field as much as I used to, but when I do there for fun projects, a lot of my day -to -day now is managing other programs that are going on, so different grants for the research that we are being...

that we are conducting. These range from larval shrimp studies to help inform about the opening of shrimp season every year, all the way up to larger offshore projects such as the billfish work that we do in the Gulf as well as elsewhere around the world. So currently I'm working on a bull shark project, a life history study. We also have...

some of our long -term monitoring projects that we're looking at some of the data, look at abundancies and distribution of different species. And so just a little bit of everything, even some oyster reef work from time to time. those oyster reefs, they're super important. You know, a lot of people don't realize how important they are for the ecosystem. They're a very diverse community and you wouldn't think about it on a reef, but there's so much space in between the oysters and in the sediment around that that is a

There's just a huge community that exists there that not only keeps the reef reef healthy, but also provides a lot of food sources for important sport fish. So we have a lot of small crabs and shrimp that are on the reef that the trout and red drum love to munch on. So like it's a really, really important community. How does that end up affecting the sport? Like the offshore is that does that affect the offshore fishery at all? Not not so much. Our reefs are pretty inshore.

As the salinity increases, you lose the viability of the oysters once you get too far south of the islands here. All of our reefs are inside the Mississippi Sound, so it's really just for inshore sport fish species, I would say it's the most benefit out of it. That's cool. Oysters also serve a huge purpose in terms of filtering the water, keeping the water pH levels.

Katie (05:18 .221)

as they should be? Absolutely. Oyster reefs are wonderful filters of a natural environment. So a healthy reef has a lot of good water quality around it. Even though in our area, everything is very murky, so you would never tell, but when the reefs are very viable, they're continuously filtering. That's how they feed. And so they pull a lot of the nutrients and sediments back out of the water. Now, I love that you said that the water is so murky there, because I learned something in your lab last year that just kind of blew my mind and also made so much sense.

Now I'm from a small town on the Texas Gulf Coast and we have an incredible inshore fishery as well. I'm not a very good inshore fisherman, but I do like to do it in my pastime and in my free time. And what I learned about was the size of the ear bones. Now we're going to get into otoliths a little bit later, but the size of the ear bones, which are otoliths, of the red drum and why with that murky water. Do you want to share that a little bit? Yeah. So.

The ear bones in fish or the otoliths help with a lot of different things. Fish can listen for sounds to hunt or whatever it may be. If you're in murky water, you have to rely on your hearing a lot more than your visual senses. Your ear bones generally get larger in that case so you can have better sound reception as well as if it's a species tha