Announcing 2018-2019 MASNA Aquarist of the Year and MASNA Award Recipients

Every year MASNA announces the aquarist of the year and this year they are honoring two recipients Fran Baensch, for his research contributions and successes in larval cultural captive breeding efforts and Jamie Craggs for his work in coral larval research and for his work with SECORE International. Keep reading to see the official MASNA press release.

MASNA ®, is proud to announce Frank Baensch, 2018 MASNA Award, and Jamie Craggs, 2018 MASNA Aquarist of the Year recipients. Frank Baensch is honored for his research contributions and early success in larval cultural and rearing of captive-bred species, and Jamie Craggs for his extensive work in coral larval research as well as his work with SECORE International.

MASNA will be awarding its annual MASNA Aquarist of the Year and MASNA Award to the recipients at the MACNA Saturday Night Banquet on Saturday, September 8th, 2018 at the Westgate Resort and Convention Center.

Annually, MASNA awards the prestigious MASNA Award and Aquarist of the Year Award to deserving individuals for their work in helping shape and influence the marine aquarium hobby in a way that positively contributes to the ongoing sustainability of the hobby to the future marine environment. Together with MASNA, previous winners of the Aquarist of the Year award confer to decide who has given the most to the hobby and industry to be deserving of receiving the annual award.

Jamie Craggs, the MASNA 2018 Aquarist of the Year will be speaking at MACNA 2018 at 9:30 AM in the Trident Speaker Room at the Westgate Resort on Sunday, September 9th, 2018.

Read full biographies on each of our award recipients at masna.org/masna-programs/aquarist-of-the-year

MASNA 2018-2019 Aquarist of the Year Recipient Jamie Craggs

Jamie Craggs is currently the aquarium curator at the Horniman Museum & Gardens, London, UK. In addition, he is a science associate at the Natural History Museum, London and in 2016 was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society of London, the world’s oldest active biological society.

2018-2019 MASNA Award Recipient Frank Baensch

Frank operates Reef Culture Technologies (RCT). RCT produces a number of rare, higher-valued pygmy angelfish species to fund its aquaculture research. He also started the Hawaii Larval Fish Project (HLFP) that uses eggs collected from the ocean for the rearing of larval fish. Most of this research on captive breeding and larval reproduction has been published.

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