For seven years as an Extension agent for the Florida Sea Grant College Program at the University of Florida, Dr. Angela Collins has been based at the UF/IFAS Extension’s Manatee County office helping coastal residents, recreational anglers, commercial seafood producers, and shellfish aquaculture industry members whose livelihoods depend on healthy coastal systems.
Collins is now expanding her work in a new role as an Assistant Extension Scientist for Florida Sea Grant and the University of Florida’s School of Forest, Fisheries and Geomatics Sciences, and she has transitioned locations to be based at the Tropical Aquaculture Lab in Ruskin, Florida.
I am so excited to grow into this role, which will allow me to expand my capacity to serve both the bivalve shellfish aquaculture community and Florida’s marine fisheries.
Collins with Matt DiMaggio, new director of UF Tropical Aquaculture Lab and Florida Sea Grant affiliate researcher.
Collins’ marine extension work includes research and education that promote sustainable seafood production, bivalve shellfish aquaculture, and best practices for responsible marine fisheries (including barotrauma mitigation, artificial reefs, and communicating science to the public).
“Being based within SFFGS and located at Tropical Aquaculture Lab provides an opportunity to enhance ongoing projects and nurture connections in southwest Florida, while amplifying research and extension collaborations that respond to the needs of coastal stakeholders at a broader level,” says Collins, whose outstanding leadership, innovation and initiative supporting Florida’s commercial and recreational fisheries earned her the 2020 Don Sweat Sea Grant Extension Award.
Stakeholders of Dr. Collins’ programs can continue to follow her work and find resources on marine fisheries and shellfish aquaculture at her program’s Facebook and Instagram social media handles, now under the name ‘Florida Sea Grant at UF/IFAS Tropical Aquaculture Lab’.
