Jon Vølstad Education: Ph.D. Quantitative Fisheries Biology (Biometrics), University of Bergen (Norway), 1990. British Council Fellow, Biomathematics/Statistics, Oxford University (U.K.), 1987. Cand.real. Fisheries Biology including Management, University of Bergen, 1985. Cand.mag. Double majors in Mathematics/Statistics and Biology, University of Bergen, 1982. Experience Summary: Dr. Vølstad has over 18 years of international research and consulting experience in quantitative fisheries biology and ecological statistics, specializing in statistical survey methods, experimental design, and fisheries stock assessment. He has directed the development and implementation of multiple large-scale research surveys and field experiments for ecological studies and the monitoring and assessment of fisheries in marine, estuary and river systems. Quantitative Fisheries Stock Assessment: Dr. Vølstad is Co-PI for a joint project with UMD to conduct an ecological risk assessment for the States of Maryland and Virginia to evaluate the proposed introduction of Asian oysters (C. ariakensis) in the Chesapeake Bay and alternative actions for oyster restoration. The Center of Independent Experts (CIE), at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, contracted Dr. Vølstad as outside peer reviewer to provide input to the Groundfish Assessment Review Meeting (GARM) for 20 northeast USA stocks conducted by Northeast Fisheries Science Center in 2002. He also served as CIE peer reviewer on the Second SEDAR (South East Data, Assessment and Review) on the assessments of the Status of the Stocks of Vermilion Snapper and Black Sea Bass from the south east of the U.S. in 2003, and on the 2004 SEDAR on the assessment of Gulf and South Atlantic King mackerel. Dr. Vølstad was Principal Investigator (PI) for a project funded by the National Marine Fisheries Service to conduct analytical and statistical review of procedures for collection and analysis of commercial data used for inseason management of fisheries resources in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska Survey Design and Analysis: Dr. Vølstad is Co-PI on a joint University of Maryland (UMD) and Versar project conducted for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to estimate effort in the Maryland commercial blue crab pot and trotline fisheries. He assisted DNR to develop a fisheries-dependent survey to estimate the characteristics of the blue crab landings in Chesapeake Bay (funded by NOAA). He is Co-PI on a UMD research program to develop and implement the Chesapeake Bay fishery-independent multispecies survey (CHESFIM) in support of ecosystem based fisheries management (funded by NOAA). Dr. Vølstad was PI for the 2002 Delaware River Creel Survey, a large-scale access-point and aerial survey of the recreational fishing activity that occurs on the Delaware River. He played an integral role in the development and implementation of the “National System for Statistics” for monitoring small-scale fisheries in Mozambique. Dr. Vølstad designed a winter dredge survey combined with gear efficiency studies for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to evaluate potential impact of Channel deepening projects on the blue crab in Delaware Bay. Dr. Vølstad was an invited member of the expert group at the workshop on survey design and data analysis held by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea from June 21-25, 2004, in Aberdeen, Scotland. Dr. Vølstad was a member of the review team selected by the American Fisheries Society’s Marine Fisheries Section to assess three potential programs for sampling for-hire fisheries (i.e., charter and party/head boats) on the Atlantic Coast. Following the panel’s recommendations, a new coastwide methodology for collecting catch and effort data from for-hire vessels were implemented by NMFS in the spring of 2003. Monitoring and Indicators: Dr. Vølstad was lead statistician in the development of a decision process for identification of estuarine benthic impairments in the Chesapeake Bay under the U.S. Clean Water Act. Dr. Vølstad was scientific advisor to the Maryland Water Quality Monitoring Council in their effort to develop and implement biocriteria for assessing and monitoring the ecological status and trends of freshwater streams in Maryland. He developed methods for assessing cumulative impacts of point and non-point sources on the biotic integrity of Maryland streams, and played an integral role in the design of the Maryland Biological Stream Survey (MBSS), a statewide survey with focus on effective assessment of the ecological status of biological resources in non-tidal watersheds of Maryland. Selected Publications And Reports: (Out of 78) Vølstad, J.H., M. Christman, and T. Miller. Comparing design efficiencies and combining spatially overlapping transect and stratified random trawl surveys of finfish abundance. [Fish. Bull. In Review] Vølstad, J.H, Pollock, K. H., and Richkus, W. Comparing and combining effort and catch estimates from aerial-access designs, with applications to a large-scale angler survey in the Delaware River [N. Am. J. Fish.Mgmt. In Review] Southerland, M.T., R.E. Jung, D.P. Baxter, I.C. Chellman, G. Mercurio, and J.H. Vølstad. 2004. Streamside salamanders as indicators of stream quality in Maryland. Applied Herpetology 2:1-24. Vølstad, J.H., N.E. Roth, G. Mercurio, M.T. Southerland, and D. Strebel 2003. Using environmental stressor information to predict the ecological status of Maryland non-tidal streams as measured by biological indicators. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 84 (3): 219-242. Vølstad, J.H., N.K. Neerchal, N.E. Roth and M.T. Southerland. 2003. Combining biological indicators of watershed condition from multiple sampling programs - A case study from Maryland, USA. Ecological Indicators 3: 13-25. Sharov, A.F., J.H. Vølstad, G.R. Davis, B.K. Davis, R.N. Lipcius, and M.M. Montane. 2003. Abundance and exploitation rate of the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) in Chesapeake Bay. Bulletin of Marine Science Bulletin of Marine Science 72 (2): 543–565. Llansó, R. J., D. M. Dauer, J. H. Vølstad, and L. C. Scott. 2003. Application of the benthic index of biotic integrity to environmental monitoring in Chesapeake Bay. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 81:163-174. Vølstad, J.H., N.E. Roth, M.T. Southerland, and G. Mercurio. 2003. Pilot Study for Montgomery County and Maryland DNR Data Integration: Comparison of Benthic Macroinvertebrate Sampling Protocols For Freshwater Streams. Prepared for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Information and Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment Program, Region 3, Ft. Meade, MD. [This document can be downloaded from EPA’s website for Biological Indicators and Watershed Health: http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators] Roth, N., J.H. Vølstad, G. Mercurio, and M.T. Southerland. 2002. Applying the Maryland Interim Biocriteria Framework to Maryland Biological Stream Survey Data Collected in 1995-97 and 2000. Prepared for Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Monitoring and Non-tidal Assessment Division. Roth, N.E., J.H. Vølstad, G. Mercurio, and M.T. Southerland. 2001. Biological Indicator Variability and Stream Monitoring Program Integration: A Maryland Case Study. EPA/903R-02/008. Vølstad, J.H., A.F. Sharov, G. Davis, and B. Daugherty. 2000. A method for estimating dredge sampling efficiency for the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) in Chesapeake Bay from removal experiments. Fisheries Bulletin 98 (2): 410-420. Heimbuch, D.G., H.T. Wilson, S.B. Weisberg, J.H. Vølstad, and P.F. Kazyak. 1997. Estimating fish abundance in stream surveys by using double-pass removal sampling. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 126: 795-803. Strand, Ø. and J.H. Vølstad. 1997. The Molluscan Fisheries and Culture of Norway, p. 7-24. In The history, present condition, and future of the molluscan fisheries of North and Central America and Europe, Volume 3, Europe. Edited by Clyde L. MacKenzie, Jr., Victor G. Burrell, Jr., Aaron Rosenfield, and Willis L. Hobart. NTIS number: PB97-164859. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS 129. Vølstad, J.H, W.R. Richkus, S. Gaurin, and R. Easton. 1997. Analytical and Statistical Review of Procedures for Collection and Analysis of Commercial Data Used for Management and Assessment of Groundfish Stocks in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska. Prepared for the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, Washington. 172 pp. Bogstad, B., Pennington, M. and J.H. Vølstad. 1995. Cost-efficient survey designs for estimating the food consumption by fish. Fisheries Research 23: 37-46. Pennington, M. and J.H. Vølstad. 1994. The effect of intra-haul correlation and variable density on estimates of population characteristics from trawl surveys. Biometrics 50: 725-732. Pennington, M. and J.H. Vølstad. 1994. Local homogeneity of marine populations and its implications for the design of sampling surveys. Invited paper for the Biometrics Society Conference on Sampling Issues in Ecology, Cleveland, April 1994. Polacheck, T. and J.H. Vølstad. 1993. Analysis of spatial variability of George Bank haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) from trawl survey data using a linear regression model with spatial interaction. ICES Journal of Marine Science 50: 1-8. Pennington, M. and J.H. Vølstad. 1991. Optimum size of sampling unit for estimating the density of marine populations. Biometrics 47: 717-723. Godø, O.R., M. Pennington and J.H. Vølstad.1990. Effect of tow duration on length composition of trawl catches. Fisheries Research 9: 165-179. OTHER ESM KEY STAFF & SENIOR SCIENTISTS William Burton Steve Harriott Roberto Llansó Bill Richkus Nancy Roth Steve Schreiner Mark Southerland ecological assessment | watershed managment | environmental compliance | power plant assessment | dredging/army corps | about versar | client showcase | publications | careers | site map | search | contact us home © 2001 by Versar, Inc.