Aquaculture Site Selection - An Ecosystem Approach

Dr. Dale Kiefer

Dr. Kiefer, who obtained his doctorate in biological oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, is a Professor of Biology at USC. He has published over 75 papers in the fields of marine microbiology and optics and has obtained 3 U.S. patents for inventions in optical instrumentation and wave damping floats. He has worked extensively on water quality monitoring, plankton models, remote sensing, and marine conservation.

Dr. David Fredriksson

Dr. Fredriksson is an Asistant Professor in the Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering at the US Naval Academy. He received his doctorate from the University of New Hampshire. The primary focus of his research is in Open Ocean Aquaculture, including the design and evaluation of fish cage and mooring systems using physical and numerical models, and the operation of sensing instrumation in open ocean sites. To validate these design methods, he has compiled a considerable amount of field data which he has made available for this study. In cooperation with Dr. Irish (see below) he has developed most of the numerical flow models that are being used in this study.

Dr. Jack Rensel

Dr. Rensel is a leading expert in aquaculture research and environmental issues. He is deeply involved in field research and monitoring and used that information to advocate for rational state and federal environment performance evaluation for net pen aquaculture. For AquaModel, he is involved in conceptual model development, model testing and validation and outreach. He also conducts research on current aquaculture and food web topics in fresh and marine waters, including studies of the beneficial food web aspects of optimally sited commercial net pens, using promising tools such as stable isotope analysis. Dr. Rensel has worked on projects in North and South America, the Caribbean Sea, South East Asia and in other locations worldwide. Dr. Rensel is a recognized international expert on harmful algal bloom dynamics and has been involved in development and testing of mitigation strategies for farmed and wild stocks.

Dr. James Irish

Dr. Irish is a Research Professor, Jere Chase Center for Ocean Engineering and an Oceanographer Emeritus in the area of Applied Ocean Physics & Engineering at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He obtained his doctorate from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. His principal areas of research are in developing and deploying new instrument systems using new sensors, telemetry, and microprocessors to conditionally sample the ocean; and then using this data to improve our understanding of tides, internal and surface waves, water mass formation, sediment dynamics, and bottom boundary layer processes.

Frank O'Brien

Frank, who obtained his master's degree in Mathematics specializing in Statistics from the University of Vermont, is the Director of Software Engineering for System Science Applications. He is software architect and designer with over 45 years experience in the field of software analysis and design. He collaborated in the development of the first version of EASy software. In addition to this, he provides a continuous supply of elegant tools for the analysis and visualization of geographic information for use in SSA's many environmental and engineering projects.