08/15/1997

AU's Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures is Among the Best in the Nation

AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn University is home to one of the most prestigious and well-known fisheries programs, both nationally and internationally, and the second largest fisheries program at any university in the United States, according to John Grover, professor and academic coordinator for the Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures in the College of Agriculture.

"In this small discipline, we are one of the centers of excellence in the world," he said. The objectives of the program are to protect Alabama's water resources, help fish farmers and fishers be more productive and to help assure that consumers have a safe and wholesome product to eat, through research, instruction and outreach, said John Jensen, department head.

The department has almost 30 undergraduates and about 75 graduate students, and Jensen said students are attracted to the program by its national and international reputation and its extensive research and teaching facilities.

"We have one of the largest pond research facilities in the world," Jensen said. The field facilities near campus cover 1,600 acres of land with 350 acres of ponds, including a genetics laboratory where researchers are trying to map catfish DNA with the hope of selecting and engineering genes for certain characteristics, like fast growth, disease resistance and cold tolerance.

The department also does research and extension work at other facilities in the state: the Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center in Mobile, the Alabama Fish Farming Center in Greensboro and the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station System's Tennessee Valley Substation in Belle Mina and the Wiregrass Substation in Headland, and a new hatchery laboratory at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab should be completed by early 1998, Jensen said. There is also a fisheries extension agent at the Natural Resource Conservation Service office in Oxford.

Along with its research and teaching accomplishments, the Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures at Auburn has been a pioneer in the development the nation's farm pond program. The department was the catalyst in the initial development of the catfish farming business, and it has continued to be a significant source of research and information throughout the development of the industry, Jensen said.

Another accomplishment that has had a recent impact on the world's aquaculture industry is their development of sex reversal technology in the early 1980s that has helped make tilapia a world-wide "Grade A" fish product, Jensen said.

Because eight percent of the water in the continental United States either flows through or originates in Alabama, Auburn University's fisheries program is active in finding ways to conserve and best use the state's water resources.

Researchers in the department monitor the environmental quality of several of Alabama's reservoirs, and the department coordinates the Alabama Water Watch Program, a citizen monitoring program.

Alabama Water Watch was organized in 1992 as a way to help interested citizen groups become more aware of Alabama's water resources and to instruct them in sampling and testing of Alabama's water on their own.

The department's undergraduate program, which stresses a good foundation in the basic sciences, offers three options: science, production and pre-veterinary. The production option prepares a student for a career in aquaculture, or fish farming, and the science option focuses on fishery biology and is more suited to the student who wants to go on to graduate school. The department's graduate program is one of the oldest and largest of its kind, Grover said.

"Most jobs require advanced training to be competitive, and certainly to be able to advance," he said.

Graduates in fisheries may work for aquaculture consulting firms, fish farms, fish processing companies or government natural resource agencies, Jensen said.

"We are an important supplier of fisheries experts for the whole world," he said. "We've got graduates all the way from California to Maine and from Thailand to Sudan."

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News from:

Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
by Anna M. Lee

August 15, 1997