James E. Brister
Director of the Seawater Research Laboratory
Email:
[[jebrister]]
Phone:
(804) 684-7255
Office:
SRL 113
Unit:
Research and Advisory Services
Website:
{{http://www.vims.edu/about/service_facilities/seawaterlab/index.php,Seawater Research Laboratory}}
Education
- B.S., Texas A&M University
- M.S., Texas A&M University
Experience
Over the course of my career, I have straddled the gap bridging commercial aquaculture and applied aquaculture research. This has encompassed working in both large integrated commercial crustacean and fish culture facilities and university research laboratories in Texas, New York, Belize, and Virginia.
Research Interests
My research interests lie in the ecology of near-zero-discharge outdoor commercial culture systems and the impact of microbial populations on the water quality and the nutrition and health of the target crop species. Additionally, I am interested in the design of high-density culture systems for the maintenance and growth of a wide variety of aquatic organisms. Other efforts have included the optimization of aquaculture system design, husbandry techniques, and nutrient management to increase yields and harvest predictability; and to increase the long-term ecological and economic sustainability of commercial aquaculture operations.
Goals
Currently my goals are to apply the same optimization strategies used to improve commercial operations in order to enhance the health and well-being of aquatic organisms being researched at the lab, while minimizing the impact of these operations on the local environment. In doing so, these efforts should enhance the ability of VIMS research scientists to reliably perform quality research while engaging our students in all aspects of the investigational process, and thus facilitating the transfer of new investigational findings to both the broader academic community and our constituent groups within the Commonwealth of Virginia and federal government.