Burton V Shank, Ph.D.
Research Fisheries Biologist
Resource Evaluation and Assessment
Population Dynamics
Crustacean Stock Assessment and Population Modeling
Office: (508) 495-2363
Email: burton.shank@noaa.gov
Burton V Shank, Ph.D.
Research Fisheries Biologist
Burton completed a B.S. in Marine Biology from Texas A&M University, Galveston (1995), a M.S. in Biological Oceanography from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez (1998), and a Ph.D. in Biology from Boston University (2010). Prior to coming to the NEFSC, he worked in tropical benthic ecology, climate science, fish biology, fisheries observing and environmental monitoring.
Burton was first hired at the NEFSC in 2009 as a fisheries oceanographer and developed image-based surveys for monitoring the sea scallop fishery. In 2013, he took his current position as the stock assessment lead for American lobster and Jonah crab. The focus of his current work and research involves topics relevant to the assessment and management of crustaceans in New England including the development of next-generation assessment models and population simulations that incorporate ecosystem dynamics, and research on lobster ecology, life history and reproductive success. Since 2019, he has collaborated closely with the NEFSC Protected Species Division modeling entanglement risk and mitigation in fixed-gear fisheries on the US East Coast for North Atlantic right whales and other large whale species.