鲍鱼tv

Written by Sean Beckwith, PhD student

Introduction

Dr. Glenn R. Parsons, CMS alumnus, Class of 1987, is Professor of biology and Director of the University of Mississippi Center for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology

Advisor at CMS:  Dr. John C. Briggs

Glenn Parsons earned his Ph.D. in biological oceanography in 1987.  He was initially interested in electrosensitivity in sharks, an ability that humans do not possess, but later changed his research focus to shark reproduction and ecophysiology.  He worked with live sharks in holding lagoons at a research facility, The Shark Institute, built in the Florida Keys by Sea World. That institute is now the Keys Marine Lab, operated jointly by the Florida Institute of Oceanography and 鲍鱼tv.  Parsons was not only the first researcher to utilize the facility opened by Sea World, but he also became the first person to capture video of sharks being born.  In later years, his work shifted to physiological characteristics of sharks and how those characteristics vary latitudinally from Tampa Bay to Florida Bay, with a focus on hammerheads.  In his current role he uses many of the same techniques he learned during his time at the College of Marine Science (then the Department of Marine Science), but of course he has expanded his toolkit in the last 30+ years.

Q & A with Dr. Glenn Parsons

Q:  Do you have a favorite memory from CMS?

A:  I have so many fond memories it鈥檚 hard to choose one of them.  I think about St. Pete all the time and still have friends there.  

One memory I think about often is when I first met my advisor Dr. Briggs in his office, he was just super nice, very laid back, very gentlemanly.  His office was his personal library.  He had books from the floor literally to the ceiling and I was just blown away.  He had the largest personal ichthyological library in the Southeast at the time, maybe even the U.S.  It was huge.  He ended up later donating a lot of it to the 鲍鱼tvSP Poynter Library (the John C. Briggs collection). 

It was amazing for me to walk in there  because here I was just a lowly graduate student, and he starts pulling books off the shelf and placing them in my hands 鈥� you know, I felt like I should be wearing white gloves. The books were really, really valuable, some to the tune of $20,000.  He had a book from something like the 1500鈥檚, which was the first scientific book ever published about fishes.  He handed me another book, one of a multiple volume set called Atlas Ichthyologique by Pieter Bleeker from the 1800鈥檚, and it is one of the most spectacular works on fishes ever produced.  I think about that all the time, the fact that I was holding some of these books.  Some of them are now in the Smithsonian.

Q:  What has been the most valuable aspect of your CMS education?

A:  It was probably the interdisciplinary aspect of CMS.  We had to take biological oceanography, chemical, physical, and geological oceanography even though I thought I鈥檇 only take biology classes.  But since I started to teach oceanography, that has helped me immensely.  I had no trouble at all putting together courses in oceanography.  Plus, my work is interdisciplinary.  The work that really changes our way of looking at things is typically done by those that are looking at the big picture.  And to look at the big picture, you鈥檝e got to have that skill set from a variety of disciplines. 

The other, more practical sort of thing is the location of the College of Marine Science.  For a person that does field work, location is really important.  Where I鈥檓 at now is about a 6 hour drive from the coast, and while it鈥檚 not something that stops me from doing my work, it is a hassle.  It doesn鈥檛 limit me so much in the research aspect, but in terms of teaching, it definitely does.  You can鈥檛 just pop over to the marsh or drive over to the beach and have a little day trip. 

Q:  Have there been any surprises along the way in your career path? Or, what were the biggest eye-openers?

A:  In the beginning, and this is true of all starting professors, one of the hardest things is that I understood the role of the professor as being an educator. When you first go into the classroom, you think you鈥檙e gonna give a lecture.  Well, anyone can give a lecture, but being an educator is different.  You鈥檙e not a fountain of information, and you鈥檙e not just delivering facts.  A real teacher has to understand a variety of things, like how to gauge their audience.  It takes a few years.  I can now look at a room after I鈥檝e spoken to them and I can tell, OK, that didn鈥檛 work.  I鈥檓 not getting across to them.  You have to be able to change what you鈥檙e doing on the fly. 

So going from being a new graduate, being able to deliver a lecture, to actually being a teacher and an educator was a big transition for me.  That was one of the surprises for me.

Q:  Are we moving the needle on the shark conservation dial? Is it moving quickly enough?

A:  We are moving the needle, yes.  But we are not moving quickly enough.  It takes forever to get things done, it seems.  However, if we look at the status of sharks back when I first started in this field鈥�nobody cared about sharks at all.  If I told someone about the shark biology I was working on, they would ask me, why?  There was really no interest at all.  Sharks were mostly seen as something to get rid of鈥攏ot so much by scientists but by the general public.  And then of course there was the whole Jaws thing, which really didn鈥檛 help the conversation much at all.  The public in general just really didn鈥檛 have much of an opinion about sharks other than fear and 鈥榃hat good are they?鈥�

The attitude among much of the public regarding sharks and their relationship to humans has really changed over the past 20 or 30 years.  There鈥檚 still fear, for some people, but even people that fear sharks recognize the importance of these animals in marine ecosystems.  Sharks have entered the psyche of people.  Most understand that they鈥檙e important, that you can鈥檛 just go out and eradicate sharks.  If you do, you鈥檙e gonna change ocean ecosystems in ways that are very unpredictable and deleterious.  These days we also have management programs in place, so yeah, we鈥檙e doing a lot better.

I don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e moving quickly enough, though.  A lot of times government regulations have to be put in place, some kind of fishery management, and a lot of times it just takes a while to get these things done.

Q:  Who is your main target audience these days and where are you most effective?

A:  It鈥檚 really multi-targeted.  I鈥檓 pursuing politicians on one end. I also work with managers, the fisheries managers, and the administrators that have to approve anything I鈥檓 suggesting.  If I recommend a device for commercial fishing that reduces the catch of non-target species (bycatch), it has to go through a certification process, and that process can take years.  And even when it gets to the point to where it鈥檚 ready to go out on fishing vessels, there鈥檚 no guarantee that people are going to use it.  Even if it鈥檚 better for the environment, it鈥檚 better for the fishers, it鈥檚 better for their quality of product鈥�It can be frustrating. 

The best thing for me to do, in my opinion, is for me to conduct the research to document problems. One of my strengths is problem solving.  In my research, that is one of my favorite things to do.  In fact, I鈥檝e become obsessed with problem solving.  If somebody says, look we鈥檝e got this problem with bycatch in the tuna fishery 鈥� shark bycatch, which is one of the things that I鈥檝e been working on 鈥� then it鈥檚 almost like I become obsessed about it.  I wake up thinking about it, I go to bed thinking about it. 

Q:  You鈥檝e worked on Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRDs) for sharks and shrimp鈥� Are there others?  Where is most of your effort focused these days, in terms of BRDs?

A:  Those are the only two I鈥檝e been working on currently.  Basically, the shrimp device goes into a shrimp trawl, and it eliminates 40 to 50% percent of bycatch.  It works really well.  The bycatch in the Gulf of Mexico is a real problem.  At one time, the Gulf of Mexico shrimp trawl fishery was ranked 5th in the world in terms of bycatch.  It鈥檚 something like, for every pound of shrimp that is caught, 4 to 5 pounds of other animals are captured.  We reduced that to almost 50%, so 2 to 2 陆 pounds of bycatch to 1 pound of shrimp.  Global bycatch discards are just crazy:  63 billion 鈥� that鈥檚 billion with a 鈥楤鈥� 鈥� pounds of bycatch per year!  That鈥檚 about a 40% discard rate.  It鈥檚 wasteful.  Clearly it鈥檚 bad for the environment. 

Federal fishers are required to use a bycatch reduction device (BRD), and the one that鈥檚 the most popular loses about 10-12% of their shrimp.  Our device loses only 1-2% of the shrimp.  It costs a bit more, but it pays for itself, assuming you catch shrimp, in about one night of trawling.  It鈥檚 already paid for in one night. 

I鈥檝e been working on that device for several years with colleagues of mine at the Pascagoula, MS, lab of the National Marine Fisheries Service.   That is the lab that created the turtle exclusion device, and it鈥檚 the same lab where I鈥檓 working on the shrimp BRD but also the shark BRD. 

I鈥檒l be working on the shark bycatch device again soon, depending on a proposal that I鈥檝e submitted.  Basically, I鈥檒l be researching the idea that we change the kind of leader that the fishermen use.  They use a 300 lb. test monofilament line that primarily catches tuna, but also catches shark.  The sharks are caught, hauled to the boat, and of course they let them go.  But, unfortunately, they鈥檙e already stressed to the point that they probably don鈥檛 recover.  

I am investigating a different kind of line called Spectra that is really high test.  It鈥檚 made from something called ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, which allows you to have a thinner line with a much heavier load.  A line made of 300 lb. Spectra is probably about a third of the diameter of 300 lb. monofilament.  But if you put a load on that line and just touch it with a blade, it breaks 鈥搃t cuts 鈥搑eally easily.  Sharks cut the line, they swim away.  Tuna do not because their teeth are completely different.  So we retain the tuna and allow the sharks to swim away.

For more information, visit D.  (Dr. Parsons鈥� lab is currently providing a free BRD to shrimpers that might like to try the device and, as long as funds last, will provide a $250 honorarium to try it.)

Q:  Can you explain the legislation that concerns the banning of trade in shark fins?  What is the current status?

A:  Banning the trade of shark fins has been reintroduced, with cosponsors already supporting the bill in the House of Representatives.  A similar bill has been created in the Senate.  It鈥檚 officially called The Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act, and it is and . Trading in shark fins, which are used in shark fin soup, is not yet illegal federally, but 12 states have slowed the sale of shark fins by banning at the state level.  So, finning 鈥� the act of removing a shark鈥檚 fin and throwing the shark back in the water 鈥� is illegal in the U.S. and is illegal in many parts of the world. However, the trade of fins from sharks that are taken whole (and transported back to market) is legal in the U.S.  The problem, however, is there is no enforcement of anti-finning regulations in many places. Therefore, fins that have been taken by finning in various parts of the world enter the market and some of those fins end up in U.S. markets.  There is no way to determine which fins were taken legally and which were taken by cruel, wasteful finning.  There will always be poachers out there, but we鈥檝e gotta do something.  And the only thing we can possibly do is say, 鈥淲e鈥檙e not gonna participate in this anymore.鈥�  

While some shark fin soup is still consumed in the U.S., it鈥檚 becoming less and less accepted here and in other places in the world.  The fins from 75 million sharks are taken each year, worldwide. This is a major contributor to the declines in shark populations that we have witnessed over the past 30 or 40 years. 

Unfortunately, it is very attractive for fishers to break the law in this regard when you consider that they have a choice of keeping the flesh, which takes up a lot of space on a boat at 50垄 or so a pound, versus filling that space up with something that brings $650 a pound.  You know, there鈥檚 really not much of a decision for them to make.

Florida is kind of a holdout because there are a lot of commercial shark fishers in Florida, and they trade the fins, but I was pleased to see that one senator from Florida supports the legislation.  

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Q:  When did you realize you needed to take your ideas and create patentable products?  What were some of the hurdles faced there?  How rewarding has that been?

A:  That was a little bit problematic for me.  It was rewarding in that it gave me a sense of accomplishment.  But the biggest hurdle is the paperwork involved.  I did it all myself; I didn鈥檛 hire a patent attorney.  And at the end of the day, it wasn鈥檛 as bad as I thought it was going to be 鈥� primarily because there was a fellow in the U.S. Patent Office who was my agent (they give you a person to communicate with), and I wanted to send him a bouquet of flowers or something.  He really helped me.  Patent language is very weird, and he helped me rewrite the patent where needed. 

So, it was a sense of accomplishment, and it was really at the request of several scientist friends of mine who said, 鈥淵ou need to patent that.鈥�  And I had too many people tell me that for me not to patent the shrimp trawl BRD.  So, I did it.  It was a good learning experience for me, but the problem is that I have to get fishermen to accept it.  That has been a big problem so far, yet I remain the eternal optimist.

Q:  What was your inspiration for writing Cherokee Summer?

A:  My inspiration for Cherokee Summer was, in two words, 鈥淢y dad.鈥�  He had a lot of crazy stories and I said I鈥檓 gonna鈥� put all these together into a short novel.  And, it鈥檚 really meant for the 12 to 18 year-old group.  It鈥檚 got some crude stuff in it 鈥� you know, kids can be crude 鈥� and, it鈥檚 perfectly appropriate for that age group, but the interesting thing is that I wrote it for that age group and adults have bought it.  They鈥檝e told me that they just thought it is great.  It鈥檚 meant to be more of a comedy, kind of, you know, funny misadventures kind of thing. 

I鈥檓 writing another novel.  This one is definitely not for the 12 year olds.  It鈥檚 called Night Fishing.  It鈥檚 kind of a Michael Crichton, Stephen King kind of thriller/horror type novel.  It鈥檚 meant to be anyway.  Who knows, it may flop. I don鈥檛 know, but it鈥檚 not real high on my priority list right now.  I鈥檝e got too many other things going on. 

Q:  And how about your other book, the field guide, Sharks, Skates, and Rays of the Gulf of Mexico?

A:  It鈥檚 doing well.  I鈥檝e sold several thousand copies of it.  It鈥檚 been ranked #1 on Amazon several times for 鈥渇ish book,鈥� or ichthyology, for shark book, etc.  For just a small field guide, people have really liked it. 

I鈥檓 actually writing another book, and I鈥檓 dedicating it to Dr. Briggs.  It鈥檚 called The Fishes:  An Ecophysiological Approach.  For that one, I鈥檝e got a publisher (Cambridge Press) and a deadline on it, so it will be published.