No Fish Tale (Reprinted from Mt. Carmel Register (Illinois) News
December 28, 2006
Mt. Carmel native now chief scientist for pioneering ocean mammal study
By Bob Livingston - Register Staff Writer
In a matter of hours, Greg Fulling will be headed for the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.
Fulling, a 1980 graduate of Mt. Carmel High School, now lives in Plano, Texas, where he works for Geo-Marine, an environmental consulting firm whose main client is the U.S. Navy. And his work is taking him to the island of Guam.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Eastern Washington University, a master’s degree in the same field from Angelo State University in Texas, and a doctorate in marine biology from the University of Southern Mississippi. This all despite of, in his own words, being “a poor student” at MCHS.
Fulling became interested in marine biology while watching “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau,” but because of his grades, and where he lived (far from the ocean) he was advised that he should look into another career.
And while achieving his dreams, his life took several turns.
After graduating from MCHS, his family moved to Blytheville, Ark. He attended Mississippi County Community College, now Arkansas Northeastern College, for a year, transferred to Southern Mississippi for two years, dropped out of school, got married and then joined the U.S. Air Force. Fulling spent eight years in the USAF, and became an instructor for Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape at Fairchild AFB. It was during that time he obtained his bachelor’s degree.
Next came a hitch at Dyess AFB near Abilene, Texas, where he trained coalition forces in Desert Shield/Storm in Saudi Arabia. He was also involved in jungle training in Panama for pilots and aircrews.
After Desert Storm, he enrolled at Angelo State, and got out of the Air Force in 1992. He finished his masters degree in 1993.
The family then moved to Pascagoula, Miss., and Fulling was accepted into the doctoral program at USM. He worked at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs. He was there five years, doing fisheries and working on his dissertation. He also taught several classes, including Ichthyology and Marine Biology.
“Prior to graduating, but after defending my work, I began working for the National Marine Fisheries Service doing marine mammal survey work,” Fulling said. “With this job I had the chance to spend lots of time at sea doing surveys and learning more about marine mammals and the importance of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. NMFS is responsible for ensuring compliance for this act.”
Also while working on his doctorate, he taught high school biology, chemistry and math for two years.
“My job (with NMFS) was to design, implement and analyze data with regards to species present, and estimate their abundance. I have been the chief scientist and cruise leader for four marine mammal cruises in the Gulf of Mexico, one aerial survey on the Atlantic coastline and, most recently, I worked with world renowned humpback whale biologist Phil Clapham on a survey cruise in the Caribbean Sea at a location called Silver Bank. This is a region where the whales go to give birth and reproduce. I drove a fast-rescue boat to get close to the whales for photographic identification, and to take biopsies for genetic analysis.”
Now Fulling is headed to Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, where he will be the Chief Scientist for the first systematic survey which will estimate marine mammal presence and the abundance of those mammals. The survey will take approximately 90 days, and the results will be presented to an international marine meeting in South Africa in December 2007.
Fulling wanted to let everyone know, especially the area’s children, that they can achieve their dreams if they work hard and never give up.
“I have wanted to do things I now do since I was little,” he said.
He added his eight years in the Air Force “served as a springboard for my resolve and drive to focus on my education.”
Although his parents, Don and Sharon, are both deceased, he still has relatives in the Mt. Carmel area. His grandmother is Mary Litherland. And his cousins are in the DeWitt, Witsman and Spruell families. Fulling’s brother, Steve, lives in Blytheville, Ark., with his family while his sister, Beth Onks, lives in Savannah, Ga., with her family.
Unusual Sight