Thursday, September 17, 2015

Fred Scharf, a professor in the UNCW Department of Biology and Marine Biology, was named a Fellow of the American Fisheries Society (AFS) at the society’s 145th annual meeting in Portland, Oregon in August.

Scharf is part of an inaugural group of 83 Fellows. Under the new program, AFS designates certain members for their outstanding contributions through leadership, research, teaching and mentoring, resource management and outreach.

“It's truly an honor to be included in this initial group of AFS fellows,” said Scharf. “I've been very fortunate to have worked with so many great students and colleagues over the years.”

“We wanted to honor AFS members who are recognized by their peers as distinguished for their outstanding and/or sustained contributions to the discipline,” said AFS Past President Donna Parrish, who presided over the ceremony. “The Fellows program will help make outstanding AFS members more competitive for awards and honors when they are being compared with colleagues from other disciplines, and support the advancement of AFS members to leadership positions in their own institutions and in the broader society.”

A faculty member at UNCW since 2003, Scharf was a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the NOAA Fisheries Laboratory in Sandy Hook, N.J. He was previously honored by the AFS with the Excellence in Fisheries Education Award for his long-term contributions to the field as a teacher, researcher and public policy advisor.

A professor of fisheries biology, Scharf schools undergraduates and graduates on the principles of fisheries science, fish stock assessment and fishery management strategies. His research program is focused on applied fisheries ecology with an emphasis on the population dynamics and ecology of recreationally and commercially important fishes in marine and estuarine systems.

In recent years, Scharf has collaborated with colleagues from N.C. State University and UNC Chapel Hill to thoroughly study flounder migration and genetic diversity.

#CAS