While a kid growing up 60 miles from the coast in southeast Texas, Kevin Rhodes was surrounded by deciduous forest, rivers and lakes, but every Sunday evening, he immersed himself in tropical marine life through the television show “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.” That fascination led him to attend the University of Texas at Austin where he dabbled in phycology, range ecology and freshwater fishes before heading to Moss Landing Marine Labs to work on Yellow Sea (China) demersal fishes.

He received his BS degree in Aquatic Biology in 1988 followed by a Masters in Marine Science (1995) from Cal State University at Hayward and doctorate at the University of Hong Kong in 2002. His first real chance at coral reef fish ecology began with a connection through a (The) Nature Conservancy article on the Southeast Asia-based live reef food fish trade written by Prof. Yvonne Sadovy de Micheson who would become his future mentor. This article also led Kevin to the Coral Triangle and surrounding environs where he has been focused ever since.

Today, as MarAlliance’s Coastal Fisheries Coordinator Kevin shares his knowledge and experience to empower local fishing communities to control their future and their resources