Robert L. Shipp, a marine scientist who had a huge impact on public understanding of Gulf of Mexico fisheries, and who bridged the gap between the scientific community and the recreational fishing community, has died.
Shipp’s death was confirmed Wednesday by the University of South Alabama, where he had spent much of his career as a teacher and researcher. A university statement described Shipp as a professor emeritus of marine sciences and said he had passed away in Tampa, Fla., surrounded by his children, after a brief illness. he was 81.
“Few professors have had the impact on the University and the region that he had,” said Sean Powers, director of USA’s Stokes School of Marine and Environmental Sciences. “It is rare that a day goes by when someone doesn’t come up to me and ask about Dr. Bob and relay a story of the impact of a class they took from him, his role as a mentor, a conversation they had with him about fish or another accolade.
“His impact on students, colleagues and the community is truly inspiring,” said Powers.
“Dr. Bob,” as many knew him, was well known both inside and outside the halls of academia. He was the author of “Dr. Bob Shipp’s Guide to Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, a guide used by countless anglers and others as a handy, richly detailed reference on the natural diversity found in Gulf waters. He also was a popular figure at the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo, where he established efforts to use the fish brought in as a source of solid scientific data.
“He saw it as this 70-year data set, documenting the biggest fish people can catch around here,” said Ben Raines, a journalist and author who often relied on Shipp as a source on marine matters, and who fished with him.
Shipp, who served for many years as the rodeo’s head judge, made a special visit to the 2023 edition after an absence of several years. He clearly enjoyed being back in the rodeo’s chaotic but familiar surroundings, where he was embraced by a steady stream of well-wishers.
“It’s fun, having a little insight into some of this stuff,” he said. “When we first got started, the first year I was involved was ‘82. It was nothing but a good little fishing rodeo with a half-dozen species categories, and when we decided to try to use the information to help support a masters program at the university, it just swelled after that.”
“One of the things he always said was the rodeo proves one thing: Fish grow bigger off the Alabama coast than off Texas and Florida,” said Raines. Raines said that Shipp drew a lot of attention to the biological diversity fueled by the outflow of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta and the Mississippi River. “I remember him saying to me that the Mobile Bay area, the fertile fisheries crescent, is one of the richest marine environments on the Earth. It is the richest part of the Gulf of Mexico, which is itself one of the richest marine environments on the Earth. That was how he always characterized it.”
According to information provided by USA, Shipp was originally from New Orleans and joined the Department of Biology at South in 1972 after completing his Ph.D. in biology at Florida State University. He spent 40 years at USA, retiring in 2013 as chair of the Department of Marine Sciences, which he’d helped found.
“Dr. Bob literally wrote the book on introducing the importance of marine and environmental science to the people who are fortunate enough to call the Gulf Coast their home,” said University President Jo Bonner. “He was highly respected as a scholarly man who could explain his work to members of Congress, the media and the general public in a way that made everyone feel like he was talking to them, not lecturing at them.
Raines said Shipp can be credited as a major proponent of something that has become a commonplace attraction for Gulf anglers: artificial reefs designed to provide habitat for red snapper and other popular game species.
“Part of Bob’s signature research was, he was a key figure in the idea of the state putting out all these artificial reefs,” Raines said. “He was a key figure in Alabama, having the largest artificial reef network in, in American waters, more than 30,000 reefs out there. And Bob’s research in that field, which went on for several decades, showed how the reefs actually produced red snapper biomass versus just attracting it. That was always the big debate.”
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