Category Archives: Staff

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 →

O’Keefe to Address AAAS

wp_cate_podium_320x240SMAST Research Associate Dr. Catherine O’Keefe has been invited to address the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in San Jose, California, in February. Cate’s presentation is entitled “An Incentive-Led, Dynamic Communication Program in the U.S. Atlantic Scallop Fishery.”

Cate is the principal architect of the SMAST Bycatch Avoidance Program, which since 2010 has helped prevent bycatch-related closures of New Bedford’s $600 million scallop fishery.

When the scallop fleet reaches their limit of flounder bycatch, areas are closed to the fleet, preventing full harvest of scallops. In fact, from 2006 to 2009, the scallop fishery was closed early because it approached the flounder bycatch limit, costing the industry approximately $60 million.

Cate and other SMAST researchers worked with scallop fishermen to develop an information sharing system that enables fishermen to avoid bycatch hotspots. The program was implemented in 2010, and the fleet was able to catch their entire scallop allocation, while only catching one third of their bycatch limit, thus making the program a conservation success as well as an economic success. The program has grown over the last five years to include over 70% of the scallop fleet, and the fishery has not exceeded their bycatch limits since the program was introduced.

During the past year, Cate has been working with a group of researchers from both the east and west coasts of the U.S. to advance real-time ocean management. Along with colleagues from the group, she’ll be presenting results from that work at the conference.

O’Keefe Receives Young Alumni Award

wp_cate_at_podium_croppedSMAST Research Associate Dr. Catherine ‘Cate’ O’Keefe was awarded the UMass Dartmouth Young Alumni Award last Thursday at a ceremony at the Carney Library.

Cate’s most noted accomplishment, based on her dissertation research, offers a solution to a major problem in fisheries: “bycatch.”

New Bedford’s $600 million scallop fishery inadvertently catches flounders, but the flounder stocks have been overfished and are strictly regulated. So, when the scallop fleet reaches the limit of flounder bycatch, the scallop season officially ends. And in fact, from 2006 to 2009, the scallop fishery was closed early because it approached the flounder bycatch limit, costing the fleet approximately $60 million.

In the words of SMAST Prof. Steve Cadrin, who introduced Cate at the ceremony, “Cate worked closely with scallop fishermen to develop an information sharing system which [enables] fishermen to avoid bycatch hotspots.”

“The program was implemented in 2010, and the scallop fleet was allowed to stay open the entire year to catch their entire scallop allocation, while only catching one third of their bycatch limit,” Cadrin reported. “So it was a conservation success as well as an economic success.”

Cate is now working locally and abroad to share her research with other fisheries to solve their bycatch problems.

SMAST Researchers Garner Fellowships

Two young SMAST scientists have been awarded competitive fellowships from top government science agencies.

wp_bourbonnaisSMAST researcher Annie Bourbonnais has been awarded a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The NSERC fellowships are to support “… the most promising Canadian researchers in the natural sciences or engineering at a pivotal time in their careers … .” A Canadian national, Annie earned her PhD from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, and is now working in Prof. Mark Altabet’s Biogeochemistry Laboratory.

 

wp_schmidtAndre Schmidt, a researcher in the Oceanographic Modeling and Analysis Lab of Prof. Avijit Gangopadhyay, has received a Research Associateship from the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies. Andre, a Brazilian national, will be working with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists to validate Mid-Atlantic Bight ocean bottom temperature, a crucial parameter for ocean circulation models.

Mass Marine Educators Award Kennedy

wp_mme_award_kennedy2_apr2012SMAST Aquaculture Technician W. Forrest Kennedy was honored Saturday by the Massachusetts Marine Educators at their Annual Meeting and Conference in Woods Hole. Kennedy was presented with the 2012 John Patrick Crowley Memorial Teacher Grant “for his work with NSF TEACH, Ocean Academy for Teachers, and mantis shrimp exhibits at SMAST and the Ocean Explorium in New Bedford.” The award was presented by Jack Crowley, Executive Director of MME. At the same event, Dr. John Farrington, former SMAST Dean and current UMassD Provost, received an MME Certificate of Appreciation for “his support of the High School Marine Science Symposium and for decades of support to MME and classroom teachers.”

Bethoney Cited in NSA Award Competition

wp_LargeLobsterSMAST technician David Bethoney’s research presentation has received honorable mention in the Thurlow C. Nelson award competition at the 2011 National Shellfisheries Association (NSA) meeting in Baltimore last month. A field of 44 presentations competed for the award. Dave presented his thesis research, “The impact of bait on the susceptibility of American lobsters (Homarus americanus) to shell disease investigated using nitrogen isotope ratios,” to what the award letter described as “resounding approval.” The Nelson Award is given for the outstanding oral presentation of research that represents a distinctive and valuable contribution to shellfish science. A shortened version of Dave’s thesis (read abstract here) will be published in the journal Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, with Profs. Kevin Stokesbury, Bradley Stevens, and Mark Altabet as co-authors.

NOAA Mag Features Monkfish Tagging

wp_changing_tides_logoThe March issue of Changing Tides, published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, includes an article featuring the work of SMAST Research Technician Crista Bank. Crista is at the point for SMAST in a government/academia/industry partnership studying monkfish, “the highest valued finfish in the northeastern U.S.” The project involves NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, and two commercial gillnetters. Since the December launch of the project, 150 monkfish have been fitted with data storage tags that can collect information on the fishes’ movements for up to five years. Read the full article here.

Countdown to Fiji

wp_fiji2SMAST Library Liaison Liz Winiarz is preparing to host an international conference in Fiji. For the past year, as president-elect of IAMSLIC, the International Association of Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers, Liz’s principal duty has been to organize the group’s annual conference. Next month, she’ll fly to Suva, Fiji, to see the fruits of her labor, and to assume the office of association president. Liz describes the conference participants registered so far as “a very international crowd. Most of these places, I have only seen in my stamp collection!”

Elizabeth Winiarz to Lead International Association

wp_winiarzSMAST library liaison Elizabeth Winiarz has been elected president (for 2008-2009) of the International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers (IAMSLIC). The election took place at the Association’s 33rd annual conference in Sarasota, FL, earlier this month. Winiarz is in heady company, as the last three IAMSLIC presidents represented the Alfred Wegener Institute, the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.