Kirk R. Gastrich

Kirk's work takes him around the world to study community ecology and predator/prey interactions of marine and estuarine megafauna including elasmobranchs, marine mammals and aquatic reptiles. He organizes and leads expeditions for Global FinPrint in the Western Atlantic and Pacific Ocean regions, for the FCE LTER in South Florida and for the Shark Bay Ecosystem Research Project in Western Australia. He is also an active collaborator on shark research projects in the Dutch West Indies and French Polynesia and on sea turtle and large cetacean research projects in the French West Indies.

Past research includes deep-sea communities in the Gulf of Mexico, estuarine and seagrass communities in Tanzania, coral reef communities in New Caledonia and lab studies of muscle biochemistry, physiology and swimming performance of fishes. He is a PADI advanced open water and AAUS scientific diver, a DOI MOCC instructor and a USCG licensed captain (100GRT).