Chris Long, Ph.D.

Chris Long is a NOAA Affiliate of the Southeast Fisheries Science Center through the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) located at the University of Miami.

Chris Long is a protected species biologist working at the intersection of spatial ecology, fisheries management, and conservation biology. He received his M.S. in Biology and Ph.D. in Conservation Biology from the University of Central Florida, studying human impacts on juvenile sea turtle foraging ecology. While in graduate school, he also managed long-term monitoring of sea turtle nesting ecology at the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, taught in and coordinated a biology summer camp for high school students, and mentored many undergraduates through their first research projects.

After graduating from UCF, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher with the National Research Council and the University of Florida, collaborating with NOAA's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center to develop new methods of estimating protected species bycatch. Combining machine learning, observer data, and satellite-derived environmental variables, these new methods show promise for improving bycatch estimates at low observer coverage. Secondarily, he also compared the interchangeability of loggerhead sea turtle satellite telemetry and observer data in predicting bycatch and species distributions. As an Assistant Scientist at the University of Miami's Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, Chris is working to build marine mammal and sea turtle distribution models using aerial and shipboard survey data, as well as developing methods to improve bycatch estimation.