UT scientist receives millions to fund oceanic research project
Peter Thomas, a scientist at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, received $2 million in funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study the effects of low oxygen on fish production. The study will last up to five years.
“People in this world rely on fish, so this situation is an important matter to the population and it needs to be investigated,” Thomas said.
Thomas will work with professors Kenneth Rose and Dubravko Justic from Louisiana State University, Kevin Craig from Florida State University and Thomas Grothues from Rutgers University.
The scientists will study the large area of low oxygen water called the “dead zone” in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The low amount of oxygen in the water could cause declines in environmental and economical information and in the fish population.
“There have been recent models that have predicted [that] this kind of decrease in reproduction can lead to a population decline,” Thomas said.
Thomas found in a previous study that, due to the hypoxic water, the Atlantic croaker suffers from low egg and sperm production during a time of year when they usually increase in numbers.
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