Sightings | Alumni News
Tuna is (mostly) Out; Tilapia is In
Jesse Marsh MEM’02 Helps Consumers Make Responsible
Seafood Choices p.3
More Sea Turtles and Back to the West Coast
After graduation, Marsh stayed at the Marine Lab to assist in an EPA-funded study
of the sex ratios of different popula-tions of loggerhead turtles, essentially
serving as a surrogate mom for 500 loggerhead hatchlings and as a staff sergeant
for 12 staff and volunteers.
Marsh oversaw the care and feeding of the turtles until they were old enough to have their sex determined by laparoscopic surgery, and then she watched over them through their recovery and release, all while complying with Duke protocols on animal research. (See Dukenvironment, Spring 2003.) In the end, she added guard duty to her responsibilities, because the high-profile project attracted visitors who wanted to see the charismatic turtle youngsters, says Crowder.
So impressed was Crowder with Marsh’s abilities, that when he heard that the Seafood Watch program, for which he serves on the board, was seeking a research analyst, he told senior science manager George Leonard, “Two words: Jesse Marsh.” Just look at her application, Crowder urged.
Leonard looked, and liked her credentials. Out of 50 or 60 candidates, she was one of three who were interviewed, and Leonard says, “She was clearly the best candidate.”
She’s a good representative of what Duke has to offer, says Leonard. “Students from Duke know the science issues but also have a good sense of why they are important, the real-world relevance rather than just the ivory-tower knowledge.” Another Duke graduate, Stephanie Danner MEM’06, joined the Seafood Watch program in 2006. “We just joke that whenever we need to hire someone, we’ll call Larry Crowder,” says Leonard.
Because of Marsh’s interest in sea turtles, she was a natural to take over the analysis of pelagic fisheries where longline bycatch is an issue, according to Leonard.
Now that she has completed the tuna fisheries analysis, Marsh has begun spending more time helping food service providers make sustainable seafood choices. The Bon Appétit Management Co. was asked to adopt the Seafood Watch guidelines when it received the contract to run the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s cafe in 2002, and its parent organization, Compass Group USA, recently adopted similar practices. Compass Group is the vendor for six food service outlets on the Duke campus. Marsh increasingly will work with businesses like these to help them choose sustainable alternatives to popular fish that are on the “avoid” list.
“If she decided to do a PhD, I’d take her in a heartbeat,” says the Marine Lab’s Crowder. “But she’s really in a position that suits her to a T. She’s working on something important.”
Marsh echoes that sentiment. “It’s great knowing at the end of the day that I may have influenced someone’s decision about buying seafood.”
Lisa M. Dellwo is a freelance writer in Durham, N.C.