NOAA Fisheries-Galveston
Dr. Roger J. Zimmerman is the Laboratory Director at a NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), facility in Galveston, Texas. The Galveston Laboratory is part of the NMFS Southeast Fisheries Science Center, specializing in the science of fisheries management and research on living marine resources in the Gulf of Mexico. Historically the Laboratory has dealt with federal issues in the Gulf concerning shrimp, ground fish and reef fish fisheries, and the conservation of sea turtles and marine mammals. Recently, essential fish habitat and ecosystem support of fisheries have become important issues. Dr. Zimmerman’s expertise is in marine crustacean biology and estuarine ecology. He has served NOAA as scientist and advisor for more than 20 years, addressing issues such as impacts of sea level rise, loss and restoration of coastal wetlands, delineation of essential fish habitat, effects of low oxygen in offshore waters and management of estuarine systems.
Dr. Zimmerman is a native South Texan, attending Texas A&I University in Kingsville for his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. In 1979, he earned a Ph.D. in Biological Marine Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez. He moved to the Galveston Laboratory in 1981, where he has conducted research for NMFS and taught and advised graduate students on the estuarine ecology of the Gulf of Mexico.
He is recognized for publications on the ecology of shrimp species and for his contributions to understanding how estuarine habitats function for fishery species. He has recently served on regional and national task forces, including – (1) the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology’s “Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia: Land and Sea Interactions,” (2) the Union of Concerned Scientists and Ecological Society of America’s “Confronting Climate Change in the Gulf Coast Region,” and (3) NOAA Fisheries’ “Planning for Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management.”