Issues + Answers Lecture Pioneers of the Gulf set for July 18

The Sun Herald and The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast will present the Issues + Answers lecture, “Pioneers of the Gulf: Sharing a Century of Knowledge about Gulf of Mexico Fisheries” Wednesday, July 18 at 7 p.m. in the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center auditorium.

The panel, featuring Harriet Perry, Tom McIlwain and Jim Franks, will explore the status of the fisheries resources of the Gulf of Mexico, particularly in the Mississippi Sound and surrounding waters.With a combined research history in marine fisheries of more than a century, the Southern Miss Gulf Coast Research Lab's (GCRL) Franks, Perry and McIlwain have a unique understanding of the subject.

As the retired former director of the Center for Fisheries Research and Development at the GCRL, Perry's main areas of research include the population dynamics of estuarine and marine invertebrates, blue crab aquaculture, invasive species, and management of marine fisheries. McIlwain, the retired former director of the GCRL, has dedicated five decades of research and service in the marine fisheries sciences. Franks, a senior research scientist and fisheries biologist with the Center for Fisheries Research and Development, centers his research on the life history aspects of coastal and oceanic pelagic fishes as well as the aquaculture of pelagic fishes.

This lecture is free and open to the public. The Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Centeris located at 1600 Government Street in Ocean Springs. For more information on this lecture or the Issues + Answers lecture series, visit www.usm.edu/gulfcoast/issues-answersor call 228.865.4573.