How was AMRAT started?
Following the October 2002 meeting of the Gulf of Mexico Regional Panel on Aquatic Invasive Species in Tampa , panel members Harriet Perry and David Yeager brainstormed about how to get a clearer picture of the status of non-native species in northern Gulf of Mexico waters. They mapped out a plan for AMRAT, and the network of scientists concerned about invasive species mobilized resources to launch the first large-scale rapid assessment held in the Gulf of Mexico – the 2003 AMRAT survey of Mobile Bay . Perry is director of The University of Southern Mississippi Center for Fisheries and Development at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs and Yeager is director of the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program in Mobile .
