USA Marine Sciences Receives Fishing Rodeo Donation from Jaycees

The Mobile Jaycees, sponsors of the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo, continued their tradition of giving to the University of South Alabama on Thursday, presenting the marine sciences department with a $27,000 check to fund research and scholarships.

Dr. Bob Shipp, chair of marine sciences and a fishing rodeo judge, accepted the check during a luncheon on the USA campus.

Brian Johnston, president of the Mobile Jaycees, praised Shipp for his work with the fishing rodeo.

“We will continue to support the marine research that Dr. Shipp and USA does in conjunction with the fishing rodeo. It is important to our event and to the community in numerous ways,” said Brian Johnston, president of the Jaycees.

The Jaycees’ donations come from proceeds of the annual fishing rodeo, the only event of its kind to combine marine fisheries research with the hooking of prize catches.

Over the years, the Jaycees have donated more than $150,000 in fishing rodeo proceeds to the marine sciences department in addition to providing research opportunities to marine science students and faculty during the annual rodeo.

“The Mobile Jaycees and the marine sciences department at USA have had a great relationship for a number of years. Our faculty and staff, led by Dr. Bob Shipp, have been supportive of the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo for many years, and the Jaycees have been great supporters of our marine sciences programs. We are very grateful for the strong partnership that exists between the Mobile Jaycees and USA,’ said Dr. G. David Johnson, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

The luncheon, attended by USA officials and Jaycees, also honored this year’s winners of the Nelson Awards, which are scholarships funded by the Jaycee donation.

Nelson awards for master’s students were presented to Alison Rellinger of Grand Traverse, Mich., for $2,500 and to Mary-Elizabeth Miller of Otsego, N.Y. for $2,000.

Rellinger’s studies looked at the effects on specific sulfur compounds in the deep waters of Antarctica’s Ross Sea. Miller’s research was on the tolerance of jellyfish blooms to low oxygen conditions.

Nelson Awards for doctoral students were awarded to Luciano Chiaverano of Buenos Aires, Argentina for $3,000 and to James Marcus Drymon, of Charleston, S.C. for $2,000.  Chiaverano’s research studies focus on the environment’s impact on the changes in jellyfish, including reproduction capabilities. Drymon’s research studies are on the distribution and abundance of coastal sharks in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Shipp announced that one of the annual Nelson Awards will be named in memory of Jessica Hill Noel, who graduated from USA in 2000 with a major in marine sciences. Noel died in a 2006 diving accident while on active duty with the U.S. Coast Guard in Seattle. That $2,500 award when to master’s student Kelly McKay of Erie, N.Y. Her research focused on the defense mechanisms of turtlegrass.

The Nelson Awards are named for Gareth Nelson, former curator of fishes at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Nelson, who now lives in Australia, began attending the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo in the 1980s, collecting specimens for the museum that now make up the world’s largest collection of fish skeletons.