Steve Garner, Ph.D.

Steve Garner is a NOAA affiliate through the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS, University of Miami). He works in the Biology and Life History Branch of the Fisheries, Assessment, Technology, and Engineering Support Division in Panama City, Florida.

Dr. Garner began his career in fisheries science as an undergraduate at the University of West Florida through an internship with NOAA Fisheries collecting king mackerel otoliths (ear bones) for stock identification. He received a master's degree in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences from Louisiana State University. There he studied the potential for artificial oyster reefs to enhance juvenile estuarine fish productivity. He received his Ph.D. in Marine Sciences at the University of South Alabama where he studied the potential for hook regulations to enhance capture efficiency of red snapper fishery. He then completed a postdoc at the University of Florida prior to becoming a NOAA affiliate. His research on the red snapper fishery utilized onboard observing methods, remotely operated vehicles, stereophotography, acoustic tags, and simulation modeling to answer research questions related to movement, gear bias, and selectivity to inform stock assessment.