The U.S. Aquaculture Society (USAS) has recognized National Sea Grant Aquaculture Liaison LaDon Swann with its Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award.
According to USAS website, the award recognizes an individual who has made contributions and broad impacts throughout their career to aquaculture in the United States through research, education, extension and/or industry development. It honors a long-time commitment of service to aquaculture that is deemed highly significant and enduring.
Swann is a USAS past president and former Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant director with decades of service to the aquaculture industry spanning national aquaculture strategy planning, workforce development, aquaculture growth, resilience planning and much more. He is credited with being ahead of his time in developing web-based tools for Extension work, one of many firsts in his visionary leadership that helped transform access to aquaculture knowledge and became a model for digital extension, according to the website.
A thriving and resilient industry requires research, the website says, and Swann has consistently worked to bring research funding to bear on critical issues facing the industry. Given the small amount of money typically available to Sea Grant, it is remarkable that he has been able to remain strategic in decision-making and nimble in leveraging the available funds to benefit the industry.
While he has had great success in developing aquaculture and facilitating research, his contribution to education, outreach and extension is probably his defining achievement. He had the misfortune of leading a Sea Grant program during some of the Gulf coast’s most trying times, the site says. However, he saw those obstacles as opportunities. His service on the Gulf Ecosystem Restoration Task Force and in the National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program helped lay the foundation for a strong recovery and a resilient, sustainable future. He brought that commitment to sustainability and Gulf Coast communities to the national level through his service as the national Sea Grant aquaculture liaison and to the development of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s vision for US aquaculture, according to the website.