Dr. Charles
Sidman

About

I am currently the Associate Director for Research. My educational background spans Anthropology, Urban and Regional Planning and Geography, where I specialized in social survey development and geospatial technologies. Prior to my current position, I was a research affiliate with the Florida Sea Grant Boating and Waterway Management Program. In this capacity, I developed a map-based survey technique to characterize recreational boating patterns, which was used by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to support waterway resource management. More recently, I have concentrated my efforts on evaluating efforts to promote co-management of fisheries resources in the Caribbean through grants obtained from the Japan International Cooperation Agency. I am particularly proud of a program I established to train Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean-based fisheries professionals at the University of Florida through collaborations with other Sea Grant programs and regional partners, including the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism and the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute. In addition to coordinating core-research functions and program reporting, I also presently serve as principal investigator on a seven-year program funded by the NOAA Restoration Center to promote sustainable angling in the Gulf of Mexico through the use of fish descending devices.