Mark Rath

Mark has spent his entire professional life working in the field of aquaculture, first operating a tilapia farm in Thermal, California, and following the completion of his M.S. in Fisheries & Aquaculture at the University of Maryland, a decade managing and modernizing the RAS zebrafish facilities at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Mark is returning to the Office of Aquaculture where he previously served as Science Coordinator from 2016–2019. For the past 5 and a half years Mark has served as an Aquaculture Manager for the National Sea Grant College Program. In that role, Mark oversaw a $14 million, 34-state aquaculture portfolio encompassing multiple species and scientific disciplines. He developed requests for proposals and administered aquaculture grant competitions that were national in scope. He advised state Sea Grant programs on aquaculture science and policy priorities and coordinated aquaculture activities across the entire Sea Grant network to ensure alignment with agency goals and priorities. Mark led the planning and implementation of a forward-looking aquaculture strategy for the National Sea Grant office including science, literacy and workforce development objectives.