Stéphane Thanassekos
Department of Fisheries Science – Virginia Institute of Marine Science
P.O. Box 1346, Gloucester Point, VA, 23062
thanassekos@vims.edu | Ph: (804) 684-7317 | Fax: (804) 684-7327
Professional Appointments:
 Assistant Research Scientist, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of
William and Mary, USA (Aug 2014 – present).
 Fisheries and Ecosystems Analyst, CCAMLR Secretariat, Hobart, Australia (Feb
2012 – Jun 2014).
 Data support provider (ASPECT Ice-core database), Antarctic Climate &
Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, Hobart, Australia (Aug 2011–Jan 2012)
 Volunteer Fellow, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Hobart, Australia (Apr
2011– Aug 2011)
Education:
 Doctor of Philosophy, Oceanography, Laval University, Québec, Canada (Sept 2005
– Mar 2011). Individual-based modelling of the growth and survival of Boreogadus
saida (Arctic cod) larvae in two polynyas (Supervisor: Dr. Louis Fortier).
 Master of Science II, Marine Environmental Modelling, Université de Liège, Liège,
Belgium (2003-2004). Modelling larval population dynamics of Pleuragramma
antarcticum (Supervisor: Dr. Jean-Henri Hecq).
 Master of Science I, Population and Ecosystem Biology, Université Pierre et Marie
Curie, Paris, France (2002-2003). Phylogeny and Biogeography of Brycinus
macrolepidotus populations from lower Guinea (Supervisor: Dr. Didier Paugy).
 Bachelor of Science, Biology and Life Sciences, Université Pierre et Marie Curie,
Paris, France (1999-2002).
Peer-reviewed publications:
Thanassekos, S., Cox, M., Reid, K. (2014). Investigating the effect of recruitment variability
on length-based recruitment indices for Antarctic krill using an individual-based
population dynamics model. PLoS ONE 9(12): e114378.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0114378
Thanassekos, S., Fortier, L. (2012). An Individual Based Model of Arctic cod (Boreogadus
saida) early life in Arctic polynyas: I. Simulated growth in relation to hatch date in the
Northeast Water (Greenland Sea) and the North Water (Baffin Bay). J. Marine Syst. 93,
25-38. doi:10.1016/j.marsys.2011.08.003.
Thanassekos, S., Robert, D., Fortier, L. (2012). An Individual Based Model of Arctic cod
(Boreogadus saida) early life in Arctic polynyas: II. Length-dependent and growthdependent mortality. J. Marine Syst. 93, 39-46. doi: 10.1016/j.marsys.2001.08.01.
Meiners, K. M., Vancoppenolle, M., Thanassekos, S., et al. (2012). Chlorophyll a in
Antarctic sea ice from historical ice core data, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L21602,
doi:10.1029/2012GL053478.
Other publications:
Thanassekos, S., Reid, K. (2013). A sensitivity analysis of a simple krill individual-based
model designed to investigate length-based recruitment indices. In: Report of the Working
Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management (WG-EMM-13/23).
Mormede, S., Thanassekos, S. (2013). Steps carried out to check the data inputs to the stock
assessment of the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. In: Report of the Working Group on Fish
stock Assessment (WG-FSA-13/56).
Thanassekos, S. Candy, S., Appleyard, E., Kawaguchi, S., Reid, K., (2012). An initial
analysis of data provided from the deployment of scientific observers in the krill fishery
2012. In: Report of the Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management (WGEMM-12/60).
Software development:
CCAMLRGIS R Package: A package to be used within R, built to translate geo-referenced
data from a simple ".csv" (comma-separated) file into "shapefiles", the ESRI file format
used in Geographic Information Software.
(http://www.ccamlr.org/en/document/data/ccamlrgis-r-package).
Observer Logbook Checker: Development of an algorithm designed to assess observer data
quality and performance. In: Report of the Working Group on Statistics, Assessments and
Modelling (WG-SAM-13/40).
Field Experience:
 I9 – Voyage 3 (Jan.2010 to Feb. 2011) Hobart - Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica Fremantle.
 Circumpolar Flaw Lead System Study Project (Canadian IPY, Sept. 2007 to Aug.
2008) Canadian Arctic Archipelago, South-eastern Beaufort Sea.
 ArcticNet (Sept. - Oct. 2008) Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Baffin Bay.
 ArcticNet (Sept. - Oct. 2006) Baffin Bay and Labrador Sea.
 STARESO station (2004) Calvi, France.
Skills and Training:
 Programming: R, MatLab, Fortran, Systat, GIS.
 Zooplankton sampling: vertical (Tucker), oblique (Rectangular Mid-water Trawl), and
stratified multiple net tows (Hydrobios) from the ship, and vertical net tows from a
hole on the ice.
 Laboratory analysis of zooplankton: sorting, size fractioning and preservation,
identification using taxonomic keys.
 Larval fish sorting and length measurements under binocular microscope.
 CTD and Rosette operator: preparation of the rosette, use of control software, and
post-processing of raw data.
Teaching Experience:
 Substitute lecturer for Ecosystem Modelling (Université de Liège, 2004): course on
modelling population dynamics (MSc students).
 Substitute lecturer for Physical Oceanography (Laval University, 2009 and 2010):
course on biological modelling (4th yr undergraduate students).
Seminars and Presentations at Scientific Meetings:
 VIMS seminar, Gloucester Point, Virginia US (Sept. 2013)
 Australian Antarctic Division Seminar, Kingston, Australia (Jun. 2011)
 Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, U. Tasmania, Australia (May 2011)
 CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Seminar, Hobart, Australia (Apr. 2011)
 Workshop on understanding and quantifying mortality in pelagic, early life stages of
marine organisms: experiments, observations and models (WKMOR), Aberdeen,
Scotland (Mar. 2010)
 Arctic Frontiers, The Age of the Arctic, Tromso, Norway (Jan. 2009) (Poster)
 Arctic Change 2008, Québec, Canada (2008) (Poster)
 Youth forum on climatic changes in the Arctic (FJCCA, Québec, Canada (2008).
Presentation of a workshop (including, slideshow, videos and zooplankton samples) to
secondary school students.
 Annual General Assembly of Québec-Océan, Rivière-du-loup, Canada (Nov 2008)
 ArcticNet Science Meeting, Collingwood, Canada (Dec. 2007)
 ArcticNet Science Meeting, Victoria, Canada (Dec. 2006) (Poster)
 Status, control and role of the pelagic diversity of the Austral Ocean (PELAGANT),
Liège, Belgium (2003)
Additional information:
Born in Athens, Greece, French nationality.
Fluent in French, Modern Greek and English, with good knowledge of Italian and Spanish.
FFESSM scuba-diver since 1990, CMAS **.