I'm looking for any information on freshwater marine biology.  I will soon be graduating highschool and moving onto college and was wondering if anyone could tell me a little about this career... if there are any biologists on the site??  I need a little insight on everything I will be doing and anual earnings and things of that nature.  Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thnx,

Dalton

Marine biology is the study of organisms in salt or brackish waters so it technically differs from freshwater fisheries biology.  If you're interested in careers in the freshwater biological sciences, contact your local Fish and Wildlife Department and they will usually allow you to shadow a biologist and learn what the job involves.  Pay scales and overall job responsibilities can vary greatly, so just get in contact with  fisheries biologists that work in your area and they can probably answer all the questions you might have.

freshwater marine biology = contradictory lol

BR members Bob Lusk and Big O (Mr. Ragetail) would be the guys to contact.

Contact the biology department at LSU and visit the dean or assistant dean and maybe a prof to find out more information.

LSU has a course in marine biology so go to a college fair or contact undergraduate recruiting and order a course catalog.

Go see the people.  They are there to give you giudance and advice and they are seeking biology students.

Good luck.  

BassFishinMagician,

I'm in my 30th year as a private fisheries biologist and lake management consultant. Most of those years have been spent helping people design, build, stock and manage private fishing lakes. All of those years have been spent learning.

For me, it is a driving passion, something I think about incessantly, yearning to learn and to be the best I can possibly be. But, the essence of what I do is to help people become the best stewards of their land and water as they can possibly be. At the same time, I get to help be the architect to mold land and water resources to improve them ecologically and environmentally for the next five or six generations to come. That's a pretty big deal.

For you, follow your passion. The money will come, if you are the best you can be.

I would definitely go to college. While I don't necessarily think a college education makes a great biologist, I definitely think that a person who can work their way through a major university, go to class, make good grades and come out the other end with a diploma is someone who has enough discipline and self control to go be whatever they choose to.

But, the biggest thing you will get from college is the ability to learn. That sheepskin is a ticket to go out and learn.

If your passion is fish, fishing, fisheries biology or something similar, chase it.

The biggest problem with college, in my humble opinion, is that most of them are out of tune with the reality of this business in the private sector. They tend to crank out students and send them into the public sector. The model for that is low pay, safe job, good benefits. Those of us on the private side are paid well, no benefits unless we buy them and weird hours. But, our side is exceptionally rewarding.

One thing to be aware of, though...if your mission is to make a lot of money, don't be a biologist. It took me almost 20 years to get to the point to make more than a comfortable living. That's not a price most people of your generation are willing to pay.

If you wish to take a breath into my world, go to www.pondboss.com and click on "Ask the Boss".

Like this great forum, ours is focused on managing lakes and ponds and you can get some outstanding information from our forum members about that topic. Plus, there are a number of fisheries biologists who monitor that site every day and they are willing to chime in and offer you some advice about that career choice.

All the best,

Bob Lusk

good post bob

Thnx bob... I wasn't really sure what the official name of what I'm looking to do really is but I think you nailed it on the head.  I will check out the link and see how much information I can learn. And yes, it is most definately a burning passion!