Responsibilities

• Assist the Life History and Behavior Group on various projects, including, but not limited to, age and growth of tropical tunas, reproductive biology of tunas, and analyses of conventional and archival tuna tagging data.
• Participate in at sea field work primarily consisting of tuna tagging cruises.

Education

• M.Sc. in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, 2021.
• B.Sc. in Professional Biology, University of North Alabama, 2017.

Biography

Mitchel Lovel joined the staff in 2022 in the role of Research Biologist with the Life History and Behavior Group, Biology Program. Before joining IATTC, Mitchell worked as a research assistant at Louisiana State University in the Fisheries and Movement Ecology Lab for Dr. Michael Dance. There, he led the field efforts for the Louisiana Tarpon Initiative, where fine and broad-scale movements of Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) were monitored via acoustic and satellite telemetry. Before working as a research assistant, Mitchell examined seasonal feeding patterns of a tropical tuna species (Thunnus albacares) in the northern Gulf of Mexico for his thesis research. Additionally, Mitchell has extensive experience collecting otoliths and analyzing age and growth data of several marine fishes.