UH-Clear Lake professor receives U.S. Fish and Wildlife grant

George Guillen

George Guillen recently received a research grant for $18,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Guillen, a University of Houston-Clear Lake (UH-Clear Lake) associate professor of biology and environmental science, received the grant for the proposal “Estimation of Blue Crab Fishery Bycatch Mortality and Critical Life History Parameters of the Texas Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin littoralis).”

The grant will supplement and augment funding already received for research to determine what, if any, impact the crab fishery has on the diamondback terrapin subspecies. The coast-wide study will estimate blue crab trap bycatch mortality rates through an approach that includes collection of site-specific data in Galveston Bay, evaluation of coast-wide historical data and an examination of newly acquired fisheries data associated with the blue crab fishery.

Guillen also serves as executive director of the Environmental Institute of Houston, a research, education and outreach program of the University of Houston System, which is located at UH-Clear Lake and addresses environmental issues affecting the greater Houston area and Texas.  

For more information about the Environmental Institute of Houston, visit www.eih.uhcl.edu.