Professor Emeritus

Scientific Research

Dr. Ault’s scientific research focuses on theory and application of quantitative methods for assessment and management of the sustainability risks to marine fish populations from exploitation and environmental changes.

Biography

Jerald S. Ault, Ph.D. has led a distinguished career at the University of Miami as a tenured full Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy. Dr. Ault is an internationally recognized fisheries scientist whose quantitative research specializes in fish population dynamics, operations research, statistical learning, predictive analytics, risk analysis, computer simulation modeling, fishery management science, ecosystem modeling, multispecies fish stock assessments, and decision-making under uncertainty.

Dr. Ault has published more than 115 peer-reviewed scientific articles, and hundreds more technical documents, on the population biology, survey sampling design, statistical assessment, mathematical modeling, and the management and conservation of marine fishery resources. His research portfolio includes novel length-based risk assessment methods and dynamic spatial biophysical ocean ecosystem simulation models to assess sustainability risks of marine fishery and forage fish resources from exploitation and environmental changes. His fishery systems science approach is the national standard for monitoring and assessment of coral reef fishes by NOAA’s U.S. Coral Reef Conservation Program in the reef ecosystems of Florida, U.S. Caribbean, Hawaii and the U.S. Trust Territories of the Pacific.

Dr. Ault regularly provides expert advice and testimony to NOAA Fisheries, International Council for Exploration of the Seas (ICES), Florida Governor & Cabinet, U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, National Park Service, International Union for Conservation of Nature, and International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-like Species in the North Pacific Ocean. He has long provided distinguished service to numerous regional U.S. Fishery Management Councils (Caribbean, Atlantic States, South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, Western Pacific). His research has been featured on CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, NBC Nightly News, Today Show, National Geographic, CNN, CBS Sunday Morning, CNBC Squawk, Animal Planet, Outdoor Life Channel, Florida Sportsman TV, PBS Waterways, BBC, NPR, Voice of America TV, AMHQ; and, print media including the Miami Herald, LA Times, London Financial Times, Chicago Tribune, Reuters International, Huffington Post and New York Times. He was named a Hero of Conservation by Field & Stream Magazine, and has received numerous other awards for his body of work from Coastal Conservation Association, Bob Lewis Memorial Fisheries Conservation, International Game Fish Association, and Distinguished Service by the American Institute of Fisheries Research Biologists. He was featured on PBS’s Emmy® award winning “Changing Seas”, and “Silver Kings”. An avid recreational fisherman, Dr. Ault is the world’s foremost authority on Atlantic tarpon and bonefish, and frequently lectures to fishing and conservation organizations.