Research Fisheries Biologist
Agency/Institution: Alpena Fisheries Research Station, Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Phone: 989-356-3232
E-mail: fielderd@michigan.gov
Area of Expertise/Interest: Great Lakes stock assessment with emphasis on coolwater species, fish ecology, food-web dynamics, fisheries management
Background
I began my career as a fisheries research biologist for the South Dakota Game, Fish, & Parks Department where I spent eight years studying the Missouri River fish community with emphasis on walleye in Lake Oahe and other mainstem impoundments. I came home to Michigan in 1994 as a Great Lakes Fisheries Research Biologist for the Michigan DNR working principally on Lake Huron. Here I have continued my work on nearshore fish community assessments, studying and quantifying the dynamics of those fish populations. My research emphasis has continued to focus on recreationally important Percid species but also some emphasis on restoration of Cisco. Some of my work has also branched out to include assessment of Double-Crested Cormorant predation effects on nearshore fish communities and have several publications stemming from that work. More recently I have developed a series of quantitative stock assessment models with emphasis on the newly recovered walleye stocks of Saginaw Bay and much of the Michigan waters of Lake Huron. Included have been a stochastic simulation model and decision analysis. My work is integrated in the Great Lakes scientific community via the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and specifically the Lake Huron Technical Committee. My research emphasis has been on topics in support of management decision making and restoration of native species.
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