Category Archives: Faculty

SMAST professors receive grant for “Sustainable Seafood Collaboratory”

Professor Cindy Pilskaln

Professor Cindy Pilskaln

A grant from UMass President Robert Caret’s 2015 Science and Technology Initiatives Fund has been awarded to SMAST Professors Cynthia Pilskaln, research leader, and Brian Howes, collaborator, for the “Sustainable Seafood Collaboratory” project.

With a focus on assessing and advancing opportunities for marine aquaculture in the Commonwealth, the Collaboratory integrates sustainable seafood research across the academic, non-profit, and industry sectors. The Collaboratory will facilitate the development of marine aquaculture research through design and testing of mariculture systems that support healthy, sustainable, and resilient fisheries in the Commonwealth.

“The project is focused on shellfish (primarily oysters) health and development–we would like to examine this relative to changing nutrient, dissolved oxygen and pH regimes,” says Pilskaln.

Portions of the grant totaling $125,000 will also be divided among UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, and the New England Aquarium to address issues in the state’s marine economy.

The SMAST grant amount, which will be distributed over an 18-month period, will provide partial salary support for the lead scientist, a technician, and graduate research assistants, as well as support costs of stakeholder workshops. Seed funding will be utilized for pilot research on monitoring and mitigation of seafood-borne illnesses.

Additionally, the grant will be leveraged to secure funding from federal agencies such as the USDA, NOAA, and NMFS; private foundations such as the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; and private sector partners, including Benchmark Holdings, PLC.

Stokesbury Keynotes International Workshop

umassd_photos_000051894Prof. Kevin Stokesbury, Chair of SMAST’s Department of Fisheries Oceanography, delivered the keynote address “Marine protected areas and the US sea scallop fishery” at the 20th International Pectinid Workshop in Galway City, Ireland, on April 25.

In the words of the workshop organizing committee, “We are very fortunate to have Dr. Kevin Stokesbury attend and be a keynote speaker at this year’s IPW. Dr. Stokesbury, from the UMass-Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) in New Bedford, USA, is well respected for his innovative work in surveying scallops and groundfish by developing the SMAST Scallop Video Survey. Continue reading

SMAST at NSA Annual Meeting

SMAST_and_Shumway_320x186SMAST faculty, staff, and students contributed to the scientific program of the National Shellfisheries Association’s 107th annual meeting in Monterey, California, last week.

Seven oral and poster presentations were authored by SMAST personnel from the Department of Fisheries Oceanography (DFO), reporting on research focused on scallops, lobsters, and surfclams. Prof. Kevin Stokesbury, chair of DFO, also moderated a session on commercial fishing. Continue reading

Stokesbury to Keynote Pectinid Workshop

seafood_fest_2014 016_320x240Prof. Kevin Stokesbury, Chair of SMAST’s Department of Fisheries Oceanography, has been chosen ‌to deliver a keynote address at the 20th International Pectinid Workshop in Galway City, Ireland, in April.

In the words of the workshop organizing committee, “We are very fortunate to have Dr. Kevin Stokesbury attend and be a keynote speaker at this year’s IPW. Dr. Stokesbury, from the UMass-Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) in New Bedford, USA, is well respected for his innovative work in surveying scallops and groundfish by developing the SMAST Scallop Video Survey. Continue reading

New Instrument Unveiled at AGU

wp_altabet_GTDSMAST Professor Mark Altabet is part of a multi-institutional team that introduced a novel oceanographic instrument to the scientific community at December’s fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Researchers from the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory and SMAST/UMassD developed the instrument to monitor the biogeochemistry of oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) in the ocean on time scales impractical for shipboard studies.

The new Teflon-membrane-based “gas tension device” (GTD) measures the excess nitrogen gas microbially generated in OMZs, with a depth range from the surface to 550 meters, a significant advancement over previous GTD models. Continue reading

Rothschild Named Hjort Scholar

wp_brian_rothschild_7sep1SMAST Prof. Emeritus Brian Rothschild has been appointed a Hjort Scholar by the Hjort Centre for Marine Ecosystem Dynamics, Bergen, Norway. According to the appointment letter, recipients of Hjort Scholarships are “… scientists whose research is deemed to promote scientific innovation and understanding of marine ecosystem dynamics.” The award includes a grant in the amount of 50.000 krone (~US$7000), which will be directed to research collaboration and proposal development with Centre scientists.

The center is named for Johan Hjort, widely considered to be the father of fisheries science.

In October, Dr. Rothschild delivered an invited address at the Johan Hjort Symposium on Recruitment Dynamics and Stock Variability in Bergen. The occasion for the symposium was the 100th anniversary of the publication of Hjort’s seminal book, Fluctuations in the Great Fisheries of Northern Europe. According to the symposium organizers, “The importance of [Hjort’s] volume cannot be overstated, particularly Hjort’s new conceptual ideas about the formation of strong year classes based on age determination from fish scales.”

Dr. Rothschild is Professor Emeritus and founding Dean of the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology. He is currently President and CEO of the Center for Sustainable Fisheries (CSF), a science-based, non-profit organization “devoted to the onservation of our fisheries resources and the economic development of our fishing communities.”

NOAA Economist to be SMAST Visiting Scholar

wp_john_walden1_newsJohn Walden, an economist with NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) in Woods Hole, has been appointed to the Social Sciences Visiting Scholar position at SMAST. He is replacing Min-Yang Lee, who has returned full-time to his duties in Woods Hole. John has been on staff with the NEFSC since 1987.

For the past 15 years, John’s research has focused on measuring technical efficiency, capacity and productivity in commercial fisheries. During that time he has built an internationally recognized research program in this area. He has developed research collaborations with faculty at a number of universities, as well as with the USDA Economic Research Service and the Environmental Protection Agency.

This summer, John organized fishery sessions at both the North American Productivity Workshop, and the Asia-Pacific Productivity Conference. Additionally, he led the national effort by NMFS to measure capacity in commercial fisheries in response to a request from Congress, and more recently developed productivity metrics which were applied to U.S. catch share fisheries.

John will be co-teaching a class with Prof. Dan Georgianna in the spring semester. He also plans to develop a fully on-line course, offered through SMAST, to be centered on fisheries economics for policy decisions.

Rothschild to Address Hjort Symposium

wp_brian_rothschild_7sep1_007SMAST Prof. Emeritus Brian Rothschild has been invited to deliver the summary address at the Johan Hjort Symposium on Recruitment Dynamics and Stock Variability next week in Bergen, Norway.

Hjort is widely considered to be the father of fisheries science. The occasion for the symposium is the 100th anniversary of the publication of Hjort’s seminal book, Fluctuations in the Great Fisheries of Northern Europe.

According to the symposium organizers, “The importance of [Hjort’s] volume cannot be overstated, particularly Hjort’s new conceptual ideas about the formation of strong year classes based on age determination from fish scales.”

Dr. Rothschild is Professor Emeritus and former Dean of the School for Marine Science and Technology. He has edited five books and is the author of 100+ research papers.

Dr. Rothschild has worked in several capacities for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and has consulted for the United Nations and several national governments on various aspects of oceanography and fishery management. He has served on numerous national and international committees and working groups, and has led international scientific programs.

Dr. Rothschild is currently President and CEO of the Center for Sustainable Fisheries (CSF), a science-based, non-profit organization “devoted to the conservation of our fisheries resources and the economic development of our fishing communities.”

Awards to Support Gear Design/Eddy Research

wp_pingguoSMAST Professor Pingguo He has received a $205K award from NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service for “Avoiding Overfished Flounders: Testing of Low Seabed Impact of Semi-Pelagic Trawling Technology for Groundfish on the Georges Bank.” The project will design and test trawling gear innovations to reduce seabed impact for the New England groundfish fishery, while significantly reducing the catch of the so-called “choke” species of flounder: yellowtail, winter and windowpane. Similar technology is successfully used in the North Pacific for Alaskan pollock and in Norway for Atlantic cod. The project is a collaborative initiative involving university and state scientists and contributors from the gear technology and fishing industries.

wp_amitIn a separate award, UMass Dartmouth Professor Amit Tandon (Mech. Eng./SMAST) has received $324K from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his part in collaborative research on the “Role of Mixed Layer Eddies on Phytoplankton Productivity in Seasonally Variable Regimes.” The total award is for $1.1 million over four years, with the remainder supporting the research of collaborator Dr. Amala Mahadevan of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The investigators will contribute to outreach efforts, including teacher training and ocean literacy workshops through the Ocean Academy at the Ocean Explorium in New Bedford.