Today in the Gulf of Maine

Collecting zooplankton samples aboard the research vessel the Lawrence M. Gould

Karen Stamieszkin, a graduate student who has worked in the Ecosystem Modeling lab at GMRI, is on a two-month National Science Foundation-sponsored research cruise to Antarctica. She is part of the zooplankton sampling team associated with the Palmer Station Long Term Ecological Research site – and she’s blogging to keep in touch. Check out her latest post on the Ecosystem Modeling lab blog.

By Justine Glynn, Gayle Bodge, and Susan Pienta, GMRI Education Team

On December 3rd, thirty-eight educators gathered at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) for an Unconference — no agenda or prepared presentations, just a blank schedule and a shared goal of advancing science literacy in Maine. Over coffee, croissants, and conversation, the participants generated the day’s sessions based on their collective interests and expertise, and they became the presenters.

This diverse group of educators (representing classrooms, administration, informal settings, and others) generated a dynamic mix of sessions. Participants could join any of the wide-ranging discussions, including “Mobilizing and Training Citizen Scientists,” “Improving Writing using Social Networking,” and “The Next Generation of Science Standards.” Or participants could explore “Using Theater to Teach Science,” “Nature Journaling,” and “Google Tools for Educators.” This is just a small sample of the 23 sessions participants offered throughout the day.

Participants reflected on the experience:

“Everyone has valuable information to share, or can lead the discussion around an issue or question, so I think everyone should consider presenting.”

“I realized we all work and have expertise in unique areas. Presenting gave me an opportunity to both provide information but also get wonderful input.”

“The tone of the conference is low key and collegial. We are learning about ideas that we want to know about.”

“I had a great time and spoke with people I probably wouldn’t have had the chance to. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of being able to make choices.”

“This was my first unconference and I didn’t know what to expect. I found it very educational and informative. I would attend another conference without hesitation.”

Not all of the unconference took place through personal conversations. There was also some high-tech “back-chatter” through Twitter and posts to a shared website. To view the networking and resource and idea sharing that this unconference sparked, please check out our Science Literacy Unconference website.

By Rebecca Jones, Research Associate, Biological Oceanography

After working with zooplankton in our coastal region for at least nine years, I don’t see many new things anymore…that is until yesterday!  I pulled out a sample that we took in October (yes, I’m a little behind in processing the samples) from within 6 miles of Monhegan. After dumping the sample out on a tray to sift through all the animals in search of the fish larvae, I see this huge pair of eyes staring back at me (dead and preserved but staring none the less). Cool! What’s that?! It reminded me of the large crystal clear Spiny Lobster larvae that we would get in samples on Georges Bank.

The animal turned out to be a larva of the Mantis shrimp, Squilla empusa. These shrimp have claws that are folded up and very similar to the Praying Mantis insect. They are a burrowing shrimp that lay in wait to ambush passing prey to snatch with those sharp powerful claws. They can get big, on the order of several inches and the larger ones are powerful enough to break the glass in aquariums with their claws. Their range is normally from Cape Cod and South, not this Northern region. It is possible that the larva was swept in to the Gulf of Maine during a storm event, and then caught up in the Maine Coastal Current that runs east to west along the coast. However it may be, it eventually was swept into the path of the UME Darling Marine Center boat, R/V Ira C, and into my net… or…maybe the species is marching north…we would need more animals to confirm that though.

Science learning in Maine has reached a breakthrough moment due to the recent release of A Framework for K-12 Science Education that will guide the development of more effective and rigorous standards nationwide. Maine has been selected as a lead partner in a state-led, national collaboration that will put this plan into action. As one of Maine’s leading science education innovators, GMRI has been invited by Maine’s Department of Education to participate in disseminating the framework.

Sarah Kirn, GMRI’s Vital Signs Program Manager, shares how GMRI is internalizing and acting on the ideas and vision of the new framework.

“From my first read of the Executive Summary I’ve been excited about the direction in which the Framework for K-12 Science Education is driving science education.

So much of the vision resonates with my own thinking – that students of all ages can (and must) engage in the practices of science and engineering, that students need more opportunity to make connections across disciplines (within science and without), and that K-12 science education must be built on a progression of core ides. It is welcome news that the education establishment, (including Maine DOE) is supporting new standards (and one day new assessments!) that will incentivize the shift in school priorities and teachers’ practice towards these ideas.”

Read more on the MDOE SciTech Framework blog.

Taylor Strout, Fellow in Interactive Science Learning, GMRI

Ever wanted to dive into the live tank at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute? Here’s your (virtual) chance. I created a short film clip that gives a close-up view of the tank’s inhabitants from inside the tank.

The tank is one of the four interactive learning stations where 5th and 6th grade students from across Maine do hands-on science during our LabVenture! program.

Enjoy!

By Jen Levin, Sustainable Seafood Program Manager

Here at GMRI, we keep busy doing what we can to promote sustainable seafood. And we are definitely not alone. Sam Grimley and I recently returned from a meeting with other non-governmental organizations working on sustainable seafood initiatives. The Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions provides a fabulous opportunity to see what efforts are happening across North America, learn about issues facing sustainable seafood across the globe, and explore how we can work together for even greater effect. As a collaborator of the Conservation Alliance, we work with folks from organizations such as Ecology Action Centre, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, and Blue Ocean Institute to discover synergies. It’s great to see how our different approaches work together to advance sustainability in seafood.

By Christine Voyer, Vital Signs Community Specialist

The Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s Vital Signs team recently spent a day in Belgrade, Maine, where we held a Vital Signs workshop for professors and undergrads from Colby College, local middle school teachers, and members of the Maine Congress of Lake Association and the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance. The workshop was centered on understanding the impact of invasive species on freshwater and upland habitats in the Belgrade Lakes region. Check out the Vital Signs blog for details, including a video and a great collection of data.

By Michelle Loquine, Communications Coordinator, Fisheries Technical Assistance Program, GMRI

This month, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) hosted the “Innovative Strategies for Success Under Catch Shares” conference at the Portland Company on the Portland waterfront. One of the main objectives was to celebrate and foster ingenuity in the commercial fishing and seafood industry, particularly for those fisheries under a catch share management scheme like the New England groundfish sector system. Although catch shares can be a contentious topic, we hoped that this conference would invigorate attendees and inspire them to think creatively about ways that their fishing businesses and communities could transform and ultimately succeed under this type of management system. Part of the draw was the advances that have emerged as New England’s groundfish industry transitions to the sector system. The region is becoming a global model for innovative approaches to fisheries management.

Over the course of two days, the Portland Company’s 165 year-old brick walls, once home to prewar locomotive production, hummed again with an unmistakable, palpable energy generated from the eclectic cross-section of fishing industry and stakeholders that ranged from fishermen to seafood processors, gear engineers, scientists, managers, regulators, and community development representatives. By bringing together a refreshing mix of the creative minds from the seafood marketplace, the water, the community, and the management arena, participants were easily inspired to start exchanging ideas— and they certainly did!

The culmination of the conference came on the second day, when participants, panelists, and speakers created a “Marketplace” generated from small discussion groups. Everyone was encouraged to write down an idea or action that they could bring home with them and then hang them up onto the “Marketplace” wall to share with the rest of the group. It didn’t take long for the wall to fill up with slips of paper. Even more exciting was watching as participants read each other’s ideas — some even signed their names on  ideas that they wanted to act on.

Needless to say, GMRI’s Community team was thrilled to watch the results of months of careful planning come together so seamlessly. We look forward to hearing the stories of how the conference translates into innovation in fisheries here and in other regions, and we are already looking forward to the potential for future conferences.

To learn more about the conference , visit www.gmri.org/conference.

View more photos of the conference.

By Christine Voyer, Vital Signs Community Specialist

The fall field season has been a busy one for the Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s Vital Signs program. Students and citizen scientists have added valuable found and not found data to the Vital Signs database on invasive and native species across the state, playing an essential role in statewide efforts to document and respond to invasive species. According to Paul Gregory of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, most of the 34 cases of invasive freshwater aquatic organisms have been documented by individuals (not professional scientists)! Paul finds Vital Signs data especially useful, because Vital Signs participants have worked hard to peer review and quality check their data. A recent event reinforced just how important Vital Signs data is while also reminding us that science is like a detective story. It took the hard work of students in Dedham, Maine, as well as the Maine DEP to solve this invasive species mystery.

Read more on the Vital Signs blog.

By Kathy Mills, Postdoctoral Research Associate, GMRI/UMaine

Carrie Byron and I, both postdocs in the ecosystem modeling lab at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, just returned from the “Salmon Summit” in La Rochelle, France. Despite the grandiose name assigned to this conference, it was actually a small symposium that brought together about 130 scientists and managers working on Atlantic salmon from across North America and Europe (as well as a few West Coast folks with stories to relate based on their Pacific salmon work). The core intent of this meeting was to learn about recent research related to Atlantic salmon while they are at sea — a life stage that received remarkably little attention for this species until major declines in returns were observed for salmon runs across their range in the mid-1990s. The spatial extent and coherent timing of these declines indicated that something must be happening to salmon while they were at sea, and new studies and surveys were designed to understand the major contributing factors. Most of this work has been done since 2008, when the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization funded new surveys and analyses addressing a variety of factors affecting Atlantic salmon while they are migrating and feeding in the ocean.

Read more on the Seascape Modeling blog.