Kathy Guindon

 

is a fish enthusiast originally from Pennsylvania where she earned her B.S. in Biology at Lebanon Valley College and then spent a few years in Raleigh, NC where she received her Master’s degree from North Carolina State University studying habitat utilization and growth rates of juvenile southern flounder in the Pamlico Sound. 

 

Kathy completed her Ph.D. at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science while working full time as an Assistant Research Scientist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI).

 

During her 20 years at the research institute, she studied Florida’s fish and fisheries to include mangrove and seagrass fish communities, the fishes of Tampa Bay’s river systems, and the life histories of Florida pompano and permit. During her last 12 years at FWRI, she spent her time observing and researching Atlantic tarpon, where her projects focused on learning the effects of catch-and-release fishing on tarpon survival, movement, and stress responses using ultrasonic telemetry, physiology and genetics. If her name sounds familiar, Kathy shared this work with us during Sea & Learn on Saba in 2012.

 

Despite this lifetime of fisheries research, in October 2014 she switched from research to education to share her passion for fish with youth in an effort to inspire and create The Next Generation That Cares™. Dr. Guindon currently serves as Director of the FWC’s brand new Suncoast Youth Conservation Center that opened in April 2016. The center provides hands-on marine science education in three core areas, saltwater fish and fishing, boating, and wildlife discovery in the Tampa Bay area.  

 

This year Kathy will enlighten us about "fish talk" and the various ways fish communicate to one another whether friend or foe.  Her public presentation is scheduled for Final Night, Friday, October 28, 2016 @ 5:30 p.m.  Location TBD.

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