Craig Heberer

Born and raised in San Pedro, California. Proud member of Croatian commercial tuna fishing family operating out of Port of San Pedro since the days of Galapagos and 3-pole tunas. Have 3 watermen brothers who love to fish, dive, and surf. My younger brother Chris and my Uncle Carl Antonovich will be fishing with us on First String.

I sport wood on live bait fishing for pelagics, kayak fishing for nearshore critters, and beach fishing for flatties. Double-wood on lobster night-diving. Kryptonite on fishing-camping Baja with buddies.

Education

1985: B.S. Fisheries Science - HSU. Minor in surf fishing, clam digging, and steelhead stalking.

1997: M.S. Biological Oceanography - Univ. Puerto Rico, Mayaguez. Thesis: Bycatch and Discards in Foreign Tuna Longline Fishery of Micronesia. Minor in rum drinking, spearfishing, and hub-cap stealing.

1985-1988: Supervisor of Interamerican Tropical Tuna Commission's Manta, Ecuador Field Office. Supervised Marine Mammal Observer and Port Sampling Programs. Conducted research on feeding ecology of juvenile yellowfin tuna.

1989-1992: Supervisor of Interamerican Tropical Tuna Commission's Mayaguez, Puerto Rico Field Office. Supervised Marine Mammal Observer and Port Sampling Programs.

1992-1995: Senior Scientist for the Micronesian Fishing Authority, Pohnpei Island, Federated States of Micronesia. Trained and supervised 10 Micronesian fisheries observers as part of graduate thesis work. Coordinated port sampling and fisheries statistics program.

1995-1997: Completed graduate program at Caribbean Marine Science Center, UPR. Received PADI grant to collect CPUE data on the commercial fish and invertebrate aquarium fishery and UPR-Sea Grant grant on distribution and abundance of larval reef fish using trawl gear.

1997-present: Fisheries biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Long Beach, CA. Management of ESA listed anadromous salmonids and Southwest Regional recreational fisheries coordinator.