Fisheries Biologist of the Year Award Goes to 40-year Florida WC employee
Bill Coleman, who pioneered many of the freshwater fish management and research techniques used today to maintain healthy fisheries, has received the 2013 Fisheries Biologist of the Year award from the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA).
“This award is a well-deserved tribute to the value, contribution and impact Bill’s career has had on Florida’s fish and wildlife resources,” said Nick Wiley, executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). “His passion, leadership and expertise will live through those he has mentored during his long career with this agency.”
Coleman, a nearly 40-year employee of the FWC, has accumulated a long list of accomplishments, including developing a technique to determine the age of largemouth bass, participating in some of the first drawdowns to achieve lake habitat restorations, overseeing the first freshwater genetics projects at the FWC and being the first to use electrofishing gear to estimate largemouth bass populations.
“Bill Coleman is an innovative and dedicated conservationist who has been involved in many different aspects of freshwater fisheries management and research, as well as aquatic habitat restoration,” said Steve Shea, the FWC’s Aquatic Habitat Conservation and Restoration Section leader. “Bill always put 100 percent of his efforts into any project that came his way.”
Coleman currently is responsible for managing projects to restore Florida lakes, rivers and streams and leads the Aquatic Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Subsection within the FWC’s Division of Habitat and Species Conservation. He is scheduled to retire at the end of October.
SEAFWA comprises fish and wildlife agencies from 15 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission came into existence on July 1, 1999 - the result of a constitutional amendment approved in the 1998 General Election as part of the package proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission.
In the implementation of the Constitutional Amendment, the Florida Legislature combined all of the staff and Commissioners of the former Marine Fisheries Commission, elements of the Divisions of Marine Resources and Law Enforcement of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and all of the employees and Commissioners of the former Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.
Five years later, after consulting stakeholders, employees and other interested parties, the FWC adopted a new internal structure to address complex conservation issues of the new century. The new structure focuses on programs, such as habitat management, that affect numerous species. It will focus on moving the decision-making process closer to the public and did not require any additional funding or additional positions.
