Max Lee

Biography:

Max joined the Center for Electronic Monitoring at Mote (CFEMM) in 2018 after 8 years as a NOAA fisheries observer in the Southeast region where he collected data and biological samples aboard commercial fishing vessels from Louisiana to North Carolina. Taking a similar role on land to a fisheries observer, he assists as a Center Coordinator to monitor catch, bycatch, and fishing effort by employing camera systems on 18 commercial reef fish vessels fishing out of ports along Florida’s West Coast, as well as out of the port of Galveston, TX. As of 2021, the CFEMM staff, dedicated volunteers, and interns have been able to record over 130,000 catch events from over 350 commercial fishing trips. This valuable data is provided to management and industry, with a focus on reducing bycatch interactions and catch depredation. The CFEMM team continues to take a cutting edge approach to fisheries data collection, and is now in the process of automating the video imagery review process using artificial intelligence.