The following information was released by the Department of Commerce:
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) biologist Jason Link has been named the 2005 recipient of the FSBI Medal for fisheries scientists who have made exceptional advances in the study of fish biology and fisheries science.
The medal was awarded by the Fisheries Society of the British Isles and was announced at the September meeting of the American Fisheries Society in Anchorage, Alaska. The FSBI Medal is awarded to scientists younger than 40. It is only awarded in years when the society deems that there is a deserving candidate.
NOAA biologist Jason Link: Link leads a scientific group called the Food
Web Dynamics Program at the NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center's
laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. Link and his colleagues maintain a database
with information on the feeding habits of more than 100 species of fish
found off the Northeastern U.S., based in part on the lab's decades long
program of meticulously inspecting the content of
stomachs from more than half a million fish.
Link's group is responsible for designing and carrying out broad-scale
feeding surveys in the waters of the Northeast United States continental
shelf. Link began his career studying the interactions between fish and
zooplankton (microscopic animals that float in the water). He has continued
to work on these predator-prey relationships but is now primarily working
on computer models that can be used for fisheries management. His recent
scientific efforts have focused on essential fisheries habitat, multi-species
models, ecosystem models, and developing resource management tools and
systems that have a stronger ecological basis. In addition to conducting
scientific research, Link has chaired or participated on numerous regional,
national, and international working groups, review panels, editorial boards,
committees, workshops, and scientific teams. His work has helped lay the
groundwork for an ecosystem-based understanding of fish stocks, one of
the key ideas in modern fishery management. In addition to providing
practical advice for fisheries managers, Link's research is contributing
to the growth of ecological theory -- especially in the area of food web
ecology.
Link graduated from Gwinn High School in Gwinn, Michigan. He received a B.S. from Central Michigan University and a *Ph.D. from Michigan Technological University. *He lives in Falmouth, Mass., with his wife Julie Link and their two children. Link's parents are Mike Link of Pine Village, Indiana and Judy Fuller of Geneva, Indiana. He is the grandson of Charlie Link of Lafayette, Indiana and Gladys Taylor of Independence, Indiana.