In his nearly 40 years as a professional fisheries biologist – 35 of those with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources – Gary Whelan has touched and influenced fisheries management in many and long-lasting ways. Because of that body of work, the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies last month honored Whelan with a special recognition award.

AFWA’s prestigious awards program honors individuals and organizations for their exemplary commitment to conservation stewardship. Special recognition awards, like Whelan’s, are given to those with a distinguished record of accomplishment.

Whelan has held several positions in the DNR Fisheries Division and currently serves as the program manager responsible for the division’s research section and Fish Health Program. On any given day, he works on issues that run the gamut from understanding micron-scale pathogens and running the operations of a complex research system, to evaluating the aquatic landscape ecology of the United States with partners from across the state and country.

“Thanks to Gary Whelan’s curiosity, meticulous standards and professionalism, the health and longevity of fish and aquatic resources in Michigan and throughout the Great Lakes region are significantly better positioned for future challenges and changes,” said DNR Director Dan Eichinger. “It is not an overstatement to say that Gary’s passion for fisheries conservation has directly contributed to a more comprehensive understanding of fish health, and we are deeply grateful that he has done the bulk of his work on behalf of Michigan fisheries.”

Whelan is credited with helping to guide state, regional and national fisheries management efforts through a range of fish pathogen challenges, such as bacterial kidney disease, whirling disease (a trout parasitic disease) and viral hemorrhagic septicemia. He has strived to see that fish and aquatic health issues are elevated in recognition and understanding at those levels. Whelan also produces a one-of-a-kind, twice-yearly national summary of fish and aquatic animal health with the help of many colleagues across the country.

His efforts in analyzing and mitigating the effects of hydropower projects on Michigan rivers have resulted in large improvements in habitat conditions, as well as associated fisheries, and have become a model for other states. He continued his work in Michigan aquatic issues by overseeing the DNR Fisheries Division’s Habitat Management Section for seven years.

Whelan’s varied career includes helping to implement Consent Decrees with Native American Tribes, in particular the 2000 Consent Decree covering waters ceded through the 1836 Treaty of Washington. This agreement has governed allocation, management and regulation of state and tribal fisheries in these Great Lakes waters. 

“For decades, Gary has been a leader in bringing awareness to fish health and habitat on a local and national scale,” said DNR Fisheries Division Chief Jim Dexter. “His commitment to scientific and research-based decisions has benefited fisheries initiatives for current and future generations.”

Well-rounded commitment to conservation

Whelan’s dedication and passion for fish, wildlife and habitat conservation go beyond his daily job duties, as evidenced by numerous national leadership roles and work on many prominent projects aimed at protecting fish health. These include chairing the Great Lakes Fishery Commission’s Great Lakes Fish Health Committee, as well as working on conserving fish habitats on spatial scales ranging from individual fish and waters to the entire United States through the Instream Flow Council and the National Fish Habitat Partnership.

Whelan is recognized for forming and being one of the first leaders of the Instream Flow Council, which assists state, provincial and territorial fish and wildlife agencies in better fulfilling their public trust responsibility to protect aquatic resources. The council emerged out of the National Instream Program Assessment Project, an AFWA multistate grant project to which Whelan contributed.

Whelan also participated in Landscape Conservation Cooperatives steering committees and, most notably, his AFWA-related significant contributions and leadership roles in the inception, development and implementation of the National Fish Habitat Partnership. NFHP is a voluntary, nonregulatory effort that uses 20 unique partnerships to deliver fish habitat conservation, guided by national and partnership goals, to the highest-priority fish habitat issues and ensuring that projects either protect or improve fish habitat.

A part of the National Fish Habitat Partnership since 2004 (when serving as a member of the National Fish Habitat Initiative Core Work Group charged with writing the original National Fish Habitat Action Plan in 2004-2006), Whelan currently co-chairs the NFHP Board’s Science and Data Committee and serves as a member of the board staff – roles he has held since the inception of the partnership.

With NFHP’s codification by the America’s Conservation Enhancement Act Title II of Public Law 116-188 in October 2020, Whelan has focused on implementing the partnership through the ACE Act. His roles in the National Fish Habitat Partnership were paramount in developing, in 2010 and 2016, the first-ever national fish habitat assessments in the U.S., titled “Through a Fish’s Eye” (fishhabitat.org). This assessment provides the most detailed and actionable analysis of fish habitat using nationally consistent data for fish and habitat stressors, and, globally, is one of a kind.   

In addition to those roles, Whelan also provides key leadership as the second vice president of the American Fisheries Society; he will advance to president of the society in 2025-26, the first state fisheries biologist to hold that position since 2003. He also serves the society as current president of the Fisheries Administration Section and vice president of the Habitat Section.

“Receiving such national awards and recognition from one’s peers is always both an honor and humbling experience,” said Whelan. “I have been blessed in my career with so many opportunities to touch fisheries and aquatic conservation from the tiniest of scales to the largest, and hope my work has left our state’s and nation’s fisheries and aquatic resources in a bit better condition than when I started.”

Whelan received a bachelor's degree in fisheries science from the University of Wyoming and a master’s degree in fisheries management from the University of Missouri. Throughout his career, Whelan also has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers, making significant contributions to the collective fisheries science knowledge base.