Southern Maryland Oyster Festival

Seems like it was only a week ago we were reporting on our outreach activities at the Maryland Crab Festival (though really it was, like, half a year ago and that is posted here). But it wouldn't be Southern Maryland if there wasn't some festival or another every single weekend.  We have wine fests, boat fests, art fests, you name it. So inevitably an event came around that fit our interests as Fisheries scientists.  It would have been very easy to miss us, tucked away in the relative "boondocks" of the fairgrounds but we represented Chesapeake Biological Laboratory and our AFS Student Subunit proudly at the Maryland Oyster Festival in Leonardtown, MD, this last weekend October 17-18.

Despite the cold, we had a approximately 4,000 people visit our little booth!  In fact there were visitors from all over the country (mostly to participate in or watch the National Oyster Shucking Competition), but we were able to tempt over a few scientifically-inclined souls to marvel at our oyster demonstration and interactive watershed model.

Awwwww yeah.  Watershed model.

Oysters serve an important economic and ecological role in the Chesapeake.  We demonstrated the latter with a tank filled with juvenile oysters, growing on old discarded shells.  Throughout the day, the algae we provided which initially clouded the tank was consumed by these oysters, clearing out the water above.  In the environment, the same thing happens- Oysters help keep down harmful out-of-control "blooms," and make sure light can penetrate the water to plants and microbes below.

Nope, not an interested child.  Just our president, Brian Gallagher. But look at how comparatively clear that water is.

However, Oysters are also delicious. We've been harvesting them from the bay since the area was initially settled. This has been so thorough that today the biomass (total kg of oysters) is only 1% of what it was before we started fishing them. We were glad to talk about this and other local environmental issues to the thousands who stopped by our booth.

This event is hosted and sponsored by The Rotary Club of Lexington Park and this was the 50th anniversary. See below for some pictures of the booth and our members interacting with the public.

 

Upcoming Meeting: Impacts of Climate Change on Fisheries

Look forward to a summary of our discussion of Keith Brander's Impacts of Climate Change on Fisheries. Dr. Brander is a senior researcher at the Section for Ocean Ecology and Climate, National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU Aqua), Technical University of Denmark.  His interests also include "application of global climate models to regional marine productivity and fisheries," "development of ecosystem-based management," and "changes in marine biodiversity and distribution." We look forward to a thorough dissection of this paper, whose content is doubtfully still applicable now, 5 years later, as well as a conversation about how our work relates to this material.

We will also be welcoming new members to our subunit! Details TBA.

AFS Portland Roundup

Several of our members attended the American Fisheries Society national meeting in Portland Oregon on August 16-20.  We were impressed by the broad range of disciplines, studied species, and professionals attending.  The organizers planned several exciting opportunities for us to socialize with fellow scientists in industry or academia, attend presentations on a diversity of national and international research, and even present our own findings in talk and poster sessions. Here's a summary of our attendees and what we presented:

Posters
Aimee Hoover: Acoustic Tag Attachment Methods for Tracking Hatchling Sea Turtles

Gray Redding: An Otolith Stable Isotope Approach to Evaluate Northwest Atlantic Mackerel Contingent Structure

Presentations
Suzan Shahrestani: Understanding the Spatial Dynamics of Jellyfish in Chesapeake Bay (in the hall titled Population Studies in the Chesapeake Bay)

Cara Simpson: Brevoortia tyrannus Spawning Locations Inferred From Long-Term Ichthyoplankton Data (in the room titled Habitat and Species Interactions)

Hillary Lane: The Impacts of Acidification and Warming on Growth and Metabolism of Juvenile Blue Crab (Callinectes sapidus) from the Patuxent River, Chesapeake Bay (in the room titled Ocean Acidification Effects in Marine Fauna).

Brian Gallagher: Intergenerational Contingent Structure in White Perch (Morone americana) within the Hudson River Estuary (in the room titled Frontiers in Otolith Chemistry: Insights, Advances, and Future Directions).

We split our time at the conference between volunteering in the AV room (which in itself afforded the opportunity to interact with many fisheries people we would have otherwise not met and getting a fast recap of countless presentations), sitting in on talks ranging from environmental outreach, indigenous knowledge systems, species from around the globe, and spatial modeling, among many, many others, watching films at the first annual film festival, or just generally exploring the conference facilities, the grand Oregon Convention Center.  In the main hall, a trade show was set up and several organizations and businesses were advertising their products, their chapters of AFS, or just spreading awareness about key issues.  We received magnets and flashlights from representatives of the 7th annual World Fisheries Congress happening in Korea next year.  A few of us found some old friends at the table with the Alaska Chapter, and we learned a lot about possible post-graduate programs like Ecologists Without Boarders.

But probably the most enticing attraction in the hall was the famed "Salmon Cannon."  Known to fisheries scientists for years as a viable method for transporting migrating salmon over insurmountable dams, the Salmon Cannon, made by Whooshh Innovations in Bellevue, Wash, was popularized by the HBO program "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" in this segment and has gained almost cult status ever since.

                       

Your humble subunit blogger, Emily Liljestrand. Who didn't present at AFS, but tried to regularly tweet from there.

Living near the center of the Chesapeake Bay, we don't often think about issues of damming and their effects on migrating species (though we are certainly not without).  Being in Portland, in the American Northwest made us confront these issues that are so endemic to the region.  Holding the event in this location also let us explore the splendor of the city and the region.  We had several opportunities to taste the exotic, artisan, and experimental food Portland had to offer.  Thai restaurants, Vietnamese restaurants, and even several Vegan options were all made available.  As Aimee said "everyone can find their own favorite spots in Portland, because all people and views are represented."  Or arguably more importantly, Brian pointed out "Portland has tons of breweries (58 in the city!) as well as the best public transit system."  On the second to last night of the conference, the organizers hosted a lovely social event downtown, with our name up in lights!

           
                                       
At some point in the trip, all of us made our way up north, to the Bonneville Dam to be exact.  There, we got to see migration in action, watching fish traverse the expertly placed fish ladder, designed to guide in their upstream swim (thought not nearly as dramatic as a CANNON!)  In the nearby hatchery, we watched cultivated sturgeon and rainbow trout.  Subsequent trips to Multnomah Falls and the Portland Zoo really rounded out the trip and made for some stellar photos:

                 
                    

So if representatives of AFS are reading this, we'd like to give a resounding thank you for all the hard work that must have gone into organizing such an awesome event. We cannot wait to see what Kansas City, Missouri will bring next year, and even Tampa the year after.

Congratulations to our Future Knauss Fellow!

The University of Maryland AFS Student Subunit wants to highlight and congratulate one of our members, Alexandra Atkinson, one of the four 2016 Maryland Sea Grant Knauss Fellows!  Next year she will be moving to D.C. and working in a executive branch office for one year.  But before she left, I sat down with her for a chat about this exciting opportunity, her future after that, and her fond memories of UMCES and the Chesapeake Biological Lab.

From Facebook: The happy announcement!

Emily Liljestrand: Can you describe in your own words, what is the Knauss Fellowship?

Alexandra Atkinson: Sure. It’s a Fellowship that gives graduate students an opportunity to explore the path of science in marine policy and management. Typically Knauss Fellows come from a variety of backgrounds, including the “hard” sciences, such as myself, at the Masters or PhD level. But there are also law students and those studying scientific policies.  So we come from a variety of backgrounds, but the idea is to learn where these fields meet- how science effects policy and vice versa, where science is used to shape and implement policy, and the logistics of how all this occurs.  Knauss Fellows are placed in a legislative or executive branch “host” office for a one year paid Fellowship.  You work with them for a year and your experience is partially designed by you, your interests, your goals, and partially by the available projects that have been designated for Knauss Fellows.

Emily: So is this for University of Maryland students alone?

Alex: No, it’s a national Fellowship.  Typically they take a few students from each Sea Grant program.  This does not necessarily mean each state is represented though.  For example, because Illinois and Indiana have a joint Sea Grant program, there might be two students from Illinois and none from Indiana.  Nonetheless, because students are chosen this way, there’s representation from across the country.  You have to be a student to apply for this Fellowship, and you apply to your local Sea Grant program, which is why I was chosen among all the applicants in Maryland colleges and universities.

Emily: Are the projects you work on solely related to fisheries?

Alex: It’s not just fisheries.  For example, do you remember Jess [Foley], a student here who is a current fellow?  She’s mostly interested in seagrass, modeling, and wetland restoration.  So no, it is not just fisheries.  But there are plenty of opportunities to work with departments that do emphasize fisheries and pursue projects therein.  I will probably look to interview with a couple offices that focus their efforts in fisheries.  That’s includes NOAA’s Office of Highly Migratory Species that deals with tuna and other fish species.  There’s also the Office of Sustainable Fisheries that has plenty of projects currently ongoing.  But there are departments doing things not remotely fishery related, and I might find those interesting too. There’s a whole process of just learning about all the opportunities for Knauss Fellows. It’s a marathon of presentations where a few representatives from each department pitch you on what they do and what they’d want their Fellow to do, giving you a lot of information in a short amount of time.  Based on those you can say “oh! This one really stuck out to me” and go from there.

Tuna, Shark, Swordfish, and Billfish, the four highly migratory species studied by the aforementioned NOAA office

Emily: And you just tell them what you’re interested in and-?

Alex: There’s a placement week.  Right now [in August] I’m not doing anything.  “Placement Week” is in November which is when you watch those presentations and coordinate interviews with those departments that you feel would make the best fit.  You go through these, you interview them, they interview you, at the end of the week, Fellows are matched with their host offices. It’s a complicated and stressful system, but it’s the best way for them to find everyone a placement.

Emily: So, does it start in November?

Alex: Nope, it doesn’t start in November.  It starts February 1 of next year. So I am a class of 2016 fellow. Don’t let that confuse you.  Jess Foley just started her Fellowship this January and the application process takes a while.  I applied in January of this year and then I found out I was a finalist among the applicants from Maryland in March, and got the ultimate acceptance at the national level at the end of April.  So you have 10 months to get ready for the Fellowship.  Which is fantastic because it gives me time to finish writing my thesis. Many Fellows start out with unfinished work, either a masters or PhD work. This program is great because the departments understand that and will say “hey, if you need a day or week to go work on your thesis, that’s fine,” and they provide a flexible, rearranging schedule for Fellows.

Emily: So you’re planning to still work for David [Secor] right up until you move to D.C. next year?

Alex: Yup! I hope to finish up my thesis and defend by the end of the fall semester. Then Dave has some funding for me to stay on and help out with Brian [Gallagher]’s project, so I’ll be helping Brian with white perch otoliths.  And after that I have some flex time.  I’ll have some time between September and January when hopefully I can get part time work around CBL, either as a lab tech for somebody or a lab manager, or just helping out with a project somewhere. It’d be nice to have a month off before everything got too crazy. In the meantime, I’ll move to DC, probably right around the New Year.  All the potential host offices are in the DC metropolitan area, so I’m trying to look for somewhere near a metrostop and commute into work. 

White perch otolith.  Source: Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS)

Emily: Do you already have an idea of what specific work you want to do as a Knauss Fellow?

Alex: Not really.  It depends so much on where I end up wanting to be placed, which all depends on placement week.  I find that I’m very passionate about the applied side of fisheries.  I’ve been doing the science-y side for a few years now, and I’m more interested in where that science is applied to lead to more sustainable fisheries. I’d be very interesting to get that new perspective.  Now I want to learn about policy and management and expand on what I’ve learned in classes here.

Emily: And are you leaning towards that kind of work in the long term?

Alex: That’s an area I want to be in. I’m not really the type of person that has that one “dream job” necessarily. For me, I feel like there’s still so much to learn in the field of policy and management, including what kinds of positions there are and the roles people play.  I’ll figure out what I’m qualified to do, what I’m not qualified to do.

Emily: So the future is a bit of a “known unknown”?

Alex: Right! Knauss will help me learn about the kinds of job options out there and then I’ll have a better idea of what I want to do within this field.  It’s not uncommon that Knauss Fellows get hired in their respective host offices after their Fellowship.  In these cases, it’s like you’re getting a test run of the office and they’re giving you a test run.  At the end of the year, you get to ask yourself, “is this something I want to continue doing or do I want to explore a different office?”

Emily: Would you say finding out what you don’t want to do is just as valuable?

Alex: Definitely.  There have been Fellows that go into this right after doing their Masters degree who realize they want back into science and go on to do their PhD.  In the end, it’s helping them figure something out, even if ultimately they’re not interested in what they’d done for the past year.  It’s a really cool opportunity in that way.

Emily: You nervous?

Alex: Mostly just so excited! The class has people from all over, so obviously they’re not regionally close, but maybe I’ll meet them along the way (before November).  Some of the current Fellows attended the D.C. networking event on Thursday [June 18^th], so I got to meet with a variety of people in various offices and learn about what projects they’re doing.

Emily:  I’m sure you’re going to do great.  UMCES does a good job in prepping its students for whatever they do afterwards.  Is there something specific you did here at CBL or during your time here that got you ready?  Did you get at least some exposure to policy?

Alex: Good question. I would say things like being able to go to ASMFC [Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission] meetings have been great exposure.  There was the trip to the Omega Protein menhaden processing plant in Reedville, VA we did with the AFS student subunit, which was definitely something that got the wheels turning towards my interest in management by allowing me to meet people that are directly affected by changes in regulation of the fishery.  Those were the kinds of experiences that gave me a much better perspective of the industry.  I’ve been pursuing a very specific menhaden project that sometimes blinds me to the bigger picture.  But those ASMFC meetings also expose you to a different side of things, not just number crunching, models, and data.  You realize there’s a whole other set of interests that substantially complicate things.

Most important picture of Reedville, VA. Source: Alexandra Atkinson

Emily: What about around here at CBL?  Any lectures or classes you particularly loved or you felt helped prepare you for the Knauss?

Alex: The Fisheries Science and Management course is great.  It was certainly one of the first times I’d been exposed to the management and policy side of it. We had a guest lecture you might have had as well, from Toni Kerns and Jessica Coakley-

Emily: I don’t think I took that course yet.  Who taught it?

Alex: Oh! It’s Dave [Secor]’s course. You’ll love it.  He will have a guest lecture to introduce policy and management. It will be someone from the mid-Atlantic council, like Jessica and someone from the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission, like Toni. They give you a really broad run through of “this is what fisheries management is. This is how it works.” So that was valuable exposure.

Emily: That’s great. Any last words for our theoretical blog readers?

Alex: There’re still a lot of unknowns.  I’ll keep you updated when I know more about what’s going on, something more tangible. But at this point, just know I’m happy and excited.

Congrats again Alex!

Subunit Meeting 7/23/15, "Don't Be Such a Scientist"

Last week, our student subunit met and discussed a chapter from Dr. Randy Olson's "Don't be Such a Scientist." Several members had read the book in its entirety or were familiar with its teachings through exposure during undergraduate.  Some of our subunit members had even met Dr. Olson and seen his documentary "Flock of Dodos" when it was presented at William and Mary. It has been praised by science and news outlets alike for pointing out the similarities between the film narrative and the story scientists need to be telling to lay audiences in order to engage and educate most effectively.  The chapter we read was titled "Don't be So Unlikable" which specifically addressed how to toe the line between optimism and pessimism, and how to stay positive in such a critical field.  Negativity gets attention, gets press.  Bloggers who rant and curse and condemn something will get much more web traffic than the equivalent blogger who promotes and lauds.  Conflict and anger is inherently interesting, and it is our jobs as young scientists to find a way to communicate our messages while still staying upbeat.

We started by discussing how best to "tell a story" with your research.  The the story's conflict in any research project is trying to puzzle together some inherent truth and either confirm or refute your hypothesis.  The story's progression in detailing how you go about isolating this "truth" from all the "untruth," and any pitfalls along the way to your conclusion.  And the reward, the happy or sad ending of the tale, is some new piece of information that benefits humanity or forwards the progress of science.  So our progress as researchers is much the same as any story in a book or movie- there is an introduction, a conflict, and through struggle, an eventual resolution.

But even structuring our research in such a way does not necessarily mean it will be inherently interesting to the public, especially if it isn't conveyed in a way that others can understand.  It is critical to know how much or how little "jargon" to include.  Though it is essential to simplify our language, we shouldn't "dumb down" our material.  Matt Siskey noted that as science communicators, we should "start broad, not dumb" by describing our work in big sweeping terms but not treat the audience like they are infantile or stupid.  If the people are still interested, you can gradually narrow the focus until you get at the heart and details of your work.  As long as you explain what each of the "jargon" terms are in a simple and respectful way, and don't throw them out willy-nilly to display your knowledge and ability and charge right through with your description, people will be more receptive to the message.  Suzan Shahrestani pointed out that she had the opposite problem when working in Jordan because of a language barrier.  She was having to mentally translate her research in an unfamiliar language, so she didn't necessarily have the vocabulary to increase the complexity of her communication!

The discussion then shifted into a consideration for the optimism/pessimism spectrum and when each of these attitudes is important in the scientific process.  Assistant Research Scientist Andre Buchheister described how he fluctuates between these approaches throughout his research.  When brainstorming, keep an open mind and don't strike any ideas from the ledger.  But when it comes down to brass tax and putting those ideas into practice, it's important to be critical, practical, and a little pessimistic.  After all, it's a scientists job to question and doubt.

Source: Fast Company

But more important than that, we need to extend this positivity to our fellow scientists.  Hillary Lane pointed to a section in the book chapter where Dr. Olson describes the unfortunate outcome of a real graduate student who prematurely ended her degree because she was so disheartened by the repeated scathing criticism of a notoriously harsh senior scientist.  Being a jerk in a field as small  as Fisheries Sciences will solidify your reputation as such, and will ultimately result in fewer collaborations and engagements.  Establish rapport, said the subunit's newest member, Matt Damiano.  Don't passively attend meetings and conferences, try to engage, promote, praise, and ultimately be genuinely likable.

So we finished up the meeting with some take-home nuggets of wisdom: be sensitive and considerate of other people's ideas and research.  Don't yell over others or try to get your message heard by drowning others out.  Engage, discuss, educate.  Those will be the keys to disseminating our findings to fellow researchers, the wider public, and critics alike.  By doing this, we might do Dr. Olson proud and not be quite such scientists.

A sample of the book can be found here, courtesy of NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113832764

We're still thinking about what we'll be reading/discussing in two months time.  But we'll likely go back to a primary scientific article.  Please don't hesitate to leave suggestions in the message section below.

The CBL Seine Survey

            Working at Chesapeake Biological Lab (CBL), near the mouth of the Patuxent River, a lot of us tend to look out onto the water and wonder what kinds of animals are hanging out in our backyard. Luckily, some of us get the opportunity to regularly wade into the water to catch, count and measure the fish and invertebrates that inhabit the shallows around CBL’s research pier. For the past 16 years, Dr. Dave Secor’s lab has been conducting a seine survey in these waters once a week from May through October, where they document the abundance and size distributions of almost every species they catch. When the survey begins in early May, the water is typically just starting to warm up and fish and invertebrates are waking up after a long winter. The shallow habitat usually remains productive until mid-October, when the temperature begins to drop and many species move to deeper waters to overwinter. The survey is designed to include this period of warm temperature and peak abundance in the summer and fall, with the hope that the collection of species (also called an assemblage) that we observe over this time period can tell us something about how environmental conditions influence this assemblage each year.

Matt Siskey and Alex Atikinson of the Secor lab hauling in a big school of thrashing Atlantic menhaden caught in the seine survey

            Typically, many people expect that environmental conditions in the summer and fall, particularly the temperature, freshwater flow, salinity and wind will have the biggest influence on our summer-fall fish assemblage. Interestingly, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Winter conditions, especially temperature and flow, largely determine the species composition and abundance of the assemblage that we see in the subsequent summer and fall. In years with cool, wet winters (low temperature, high flow), we will typically see higher abundances of Atlantic silversides, Atlantic needlefish, juvenile striped bass and my personal favorite (see my earlier post), juvenile white perch. Conversely, in years with warmer and drier winters, we observe relatively high numbers of bluefish, spot, bay anchovy and northern pufferfish. The importance of winter conditions suggests that the productivity of the Patuxent River may be “preconditioned” during this time period, which would indirectly affect our fish assemblage. In addition, winter conditions can influence the timing of migration and reproduction in many fishes and invertebrates. These phenomena have been documented in other fish assemblages in other estuaries. However, these effects would have remained hidden in the Patuxent River if it weren’t for the CBL seine survey, started on a whim in the spring of 1999 and continued through the present day. It just goes to show how valuable this type of continuous monitoring can be for gaining insight, however small, into the processes affecting the animals in our backyard.

Dr. Dave Secor showing off some of our catch from the seine survey to passers-by.

            If you’re curious about the Secor Lab’s seine survey, you can find more information in this paper by Dr. Secor and his former technician, Becca Wingate. Or, you can follow us on twitter (@SecorLab), and look up some of our previous posts by searching #inseine!

This pretty fish, a young-of-the-year spotted seatrout is a rare find in the seine survey. We’ve only caught 13 individuals over the entire 16-year period!

A Night at a Brewery

On June 18th, 2015, the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory student subunit of AFS- Tidewater, among other faculty members, attended a networking event at Denizens Brewing Company in Silver Springs, MD, generously sponsored by the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists, and the Potomac Chapter of the American Fisheries Society.

Students got to mingle with local professionals, including about 20 minutes with Dr. Richard Merrick, chief scientist for NOAA fisheries!  We were exposed to many different departments, companies, and research fields, and collected several business cards that might come in handy further down the line.  One of our students, Alex Atkinson, got to meet previous Knauss Fellows, which is great considering her recent decision to become a 2016 fellow herself (more on this later this month).  We'd like to thank all the organizers and representatives, with particular gratitude to Andre Buchheister, Pat Lynch, and Abby Lynch. 

We look forward to future interactions with both the sponsoring organizations and further chances to meet those who might soon become our coworkers (if we are so very lucky).  See below for photos from that event:

Stephen "Grey" Redding

Alex Atkinson, Emily Liljestrand, Aimee Hoover