Joe
Gileo
Joe started fishing at the age of three in Putman lake, New York.
The lure of fresh and salt waters have been ingrained ever since. Joe’s high school athletic career featured him as the slowest miler but fastest wrestling pin. Following a B.S. in chemistry at Fordham University and National Chemical Honor Society, he attended Cornell earning an M.S. in Zoology.
A 5-year break ensued as a high school biology teacher, when he met his bride of 51 years and entered the University of Miami’s Marine Institute. Joe’s dissertation — Biogeochemistry of Trace Transition Elements in Card Sound introduced melding element concentration with biological production. Joe taught a decade at FIT in Jensen Beach leaving to found Wetlands Management, Inc. in 1981, which he sold in 2006.
At WMI, Joe pioneered creating “naturalized” lake ecosystems from retention lakes. These lakes feature the introduction and maintenance of native submergent aquatic vegetation (SAV). These lakes have proven time- stable ecosystems of good water quality and fisheries. Joe’s retirement is developing practical solutions to reintroduce SAVs as environmental restoration activists to Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie and Indian River Lagoon. Joe is the proud father of three daughters and eight grandchildren.
The lure of fresh and salt waters have been ingrained ever since. Joe’s high school athletic career featured him as the slowest miler but fastest wrestling pin. Following a B.S. in chemistry at Fordham University and National Chemical Honor Society, he attended Cornell earning an M.S. in Zoology.
A 5-year break ensued as a high school biology teacher, when he met his bride of 51 years and entered the University of Miami’s Marine Institute. Joe’s dissertation — Biogeochemistry of Trace Transition Elements in Card Sound introduced melding element concentration with biological production. Joe taught a decade at FIT in Jensen Beach leaving to found Wetlands Management, Inc. in 1981, which he sold in 2006.
At WMI, Joe pioneered creating “naturalized” lake ecosystems from retention lakes. These lakes feature the introduction and maintenance of native submergent aquatic vegetation (SAV). These lakes have proven time- stable ecosystems of good water quality and fisheries. Joe’s retirement is developing practical solutions to reintroduce SAVs as environmental restoration activists to Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie and Indian River Lagoon. Joe is the proud father of three daughters and eight grandchildren.