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Explore Maine's Fisheries with MEM Rachel Strader

Rachel Strader, now a second-year student in the MEM program, spent her summer as an intern at the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA) in Saco, Maine. During her time in Maine, Rachel kept the Nicholas School community updated on her day-to-day activities by sending journal entries and photos to a special Web site on her internship that was created to give first-year and prospective students a better idea of what an internship experience is like. Below are excerpts, but you can read the entire journal online and then follow Rachel through this year as she completes her master’s project in the Coastal Environmental Management program at the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort. Check out her site at www.nicholas.duke.edu/maine.

Beginnings—June 11, 2003
I started work last week at NAMA, and it has been a great learning experience. There are four other people in the office who come at the issues of fisheries management from diverse backgrounds and viewpoints. They all have been ready and willing to help me out with any questions. For the first week, I mainly focused on a database of groundfish permits made available by National Marine Fisheries Service. I’ve been looking at the number of permits in New England by type and port, and comparing them to data from 2002. I have not finished my analysis yet, but it is very striking to see the marked decrease in permits in Maine just within the span of one year. In the next week or so, I’ll continue to look at the trends for other states….

Tomorrow I’ll be making the drive to Orono, Maine, to speak with Jim Wilson and Yong Chen at the University of Maine’s School of Marine Science. They have worked with NAMA on issues involving the Gulf of Maine Plan, particularly the existence of local cod stocks. I’ll be taking a look at a data set of vessels and landings with regard to that issue. It should keep me busy for a while!

The Saga Continues— June 20, 2003
Luckily, I had a beautiful day for my drive up to Orono last week. It was about a three-hour drive north on the Maine Turnpike to the University of Maine, where I met with Jim Wilson and Yong Chen. After a discussion, they decided that they did not actually have the data to answer their question. They would like me to look at cod landings by vessel and statistical block (areas that NMFS uses for vessel trip reports). What they would like to do is quantify the relationship between the catch of cod per unit effort and the number of vessels in an area. Though it seems like common sense—that the boats moved where the catch was greatest—they would like to be able to actually show the relationship…. This all sounded like a great area to investigate (and the start of a potential MP?), but once I got back down to Saco, I hit a few obstacles. It seems that NMFS does not release landings by vessel, for confidentiality reasons (at least on their Web site). After consulting with Rosanne Mizzoni here at the office, I’ve sent out a few e-mails to check out the feasibility of getting this data. We’ll see if I get any positive responses!

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