Author: Abigail Archer

Message from SNEC President Aubrey Ellertson

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SNEC President’s Message

Dear Friends and Colleagues, I am humbled and privileged to assume the role of President of SNEC. I am grateful to my predecessor, Christopher McDowell for his leadership and contributions to SNEC during his presidency, and the members of the Executive Committee and Board. I have been inspired by their commitment to SNEC and all of their achievements and I look forward to continuing the chapter’s work by encouraging the exchange of information by members of the Society.

I recognize that times have been challenging on us all, as we continue to navigate a world surrounded by COVID and subvariants, and for some, adjusting to a return to office work policy. I hope you and your families continue to stay safe, well and healthy! This June provided a sense of relief and normalcy for our chapter, with our first SNEC in person summer meeting in over 2 years! This meeting had excellent presentations that highlighted current research being done throughout the region, and provided an opportunity to network and connect in person with each other. Thank you to those in attendance!

For many of us, spring and summer is an exciting time. It is the start of field season, and a chance for us to leave our homes and offices for more exciting work on the water or in the field! This spring, for me, involved leading a gillnet offshore wind fisheries monitoring survey south of Rhode Island. Working with commercial fishermen, we set large-mesh gillnets from April-June to capture monkfish and winter skate. This sampling is conducted to assess the seasonal abundance, and distribution of monkfish and winter skate for two years prior to construction and installation of offshore wind turbines. Living on Cape Cod is always a busy time especially during the summer! For most, summers on Cape Cod mean lots of beach days and sunshine, family vacations, boat rides, ferries to the Vineyard, looking for great white sharks, lobster rolls, and a whole heck of traffic! But for me, it means spending time with friends and family, kayak fishing for scup, seabass and striped bass, supporting local businesses, eating ice cream, and filling my belly with seasonal and local seafood! I hope you each have a wonderful and safe summer, and I encourage you to stop and enjoy the diversity of local seafood that is available this time of year.

In closing, I hope as President I will continue to support and encourage participation from fishery stakeholders at our meetings, and give them a space to share their wisdom and background on various fisheries related issues, so that as scientists we can work together towards more sustainable and effective solutions. In addition, I hope to continue DEI efforts currently underway by the chapter and national society to create a more inclusive community for our membership. Feel free to reach out to me, the Executive Committee, or Board of Directors if you have ideas or would like to get involved.

Aubrey Ellertson President, Southern New England Chapter of AFS

AFS SNEC DEI Discussion September 15 at 2PM

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Please join us for the next AFS/NED SNEC DEI Discussion – Thursday, September 15 at 2PM
For the link please check your emails from the SNEC listserv, or email [email protected]

Topic:  Allyship in fisheries science workspaces

Discussion Facilitator: Harvey Walsh, SNEC Board of Directors Member, and Lead for the Ecosystem Monitoring Program in the Oceans and Climate Branch of NOAA, NMFS, Northeast Fisheries Science Center

What is the difference between allyship and mentorship?

In the context of the workplace, allyship refers to support and advocacy for colleagues from underrepresented groups, including LGBTQ+, women, the differently-abled and people of color. Mentorship often focuses on strengthening workplace relationships centered on career progression, and allyship can function similarly.

Please watch and read the resources below:

3 Myths About Allyship—and What Research Says Instead

3 ways to be a better ally in the workplace

Ally-Up! Practice Effective Allyship https://snec.fisheries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Ally-up-Practice-Effective-Allyship.pdf

Sue, D. W., Alsaidi, S., Awad, M. N., Glaeser, E., Calle, C. Z., & Mendez, N. (2019). Disarming racial microaggressions: Microintervention strategies for targets, White allies, and bystanders.American Psychologist, 74(1), 128–142. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000296

Discussion Questions

– Did you find these resources helpful?

– Have you received training in allyship through your employer/ University?

– If you’re comfortable sharing with the group, have you acted as an ally to a colleague? Has a colleague acted as an ally to you? What was the setting? What worked and what did not work?

AFS SNEC DEI Discussion August 11 at 2PM

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Please join us for the next AFS/NED SNEC DEI Discussion – Thursday, August 11 at 2PM
For the Zoom link please check your emails from the SNEC listserv, or email [email protected]

Topic:  Bystander Training in Fisheries Science: Promoting Respect and Equality in the Workplace

Discussion Facilitator: Aubrey Ellertson, SNEC President, and Research Biologist, Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation

Please watch and read the resources below:

  1. Module 1: Shipboard Civility- Fostering a Respectful Work Environment at Sea (10:27 min)
  • Module II: Approaches for Productive Interactions At Sea (11:28 min)
  • Clancy, K.B.H., Nelson, R., Rutherford, J.N., and Katie Hinde. 2014. Survey of Academic Field Experiences (SAFE): Trainees Report Harassment and Assault

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0102172

Abstract

Little is known about the climate of the scientific fieldwork setting as it relates to gendered experiences, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. We conducted an internet-based survey of field scientists (N = 666) to characterize these experiences. Codes of conduct and sexual harassment policies were not regularly encountered by respondents, while harassment and assault were commonly experienced by respondents during trainee career stages. Women trainees were the primary targets; their perpetrators were predominantly senior to them professionally within the research team. Male trainees were more often targeted by their peers at the research site. Few respondents were aware of mechanisms to report incidents; most who did report were unsatisfied with the outcome. These findings suggest that policies emphasizing safety, inclusivity, and collegiality have the potential to improve field experiences of a diversity of researchers, especially during early career stages. These include better awareness of mechanisms for direct and oblique reporting of harassment and assault and, the implementation of productive response mechanisms when such behaviors are reported. Principal investigators are particularly well positioned to influence workplace culture at their field sites.

Additional Resources:

http://psc.apl.washington.edu/HLD/REIF/RespectandEqualityinFieldwork_RecommendationsandReportUW_Jan2018.pdf

https://fieldworkfuture.ucsc.edu/resources.html#content1-19


Discussion Questions:

-If you’re comfortable sharing with the group, what is one thing you learned from these resources?

-What are some examples of bystander or conflict resolution trainings you have been a part of either through employment or other work?

-What can we learn from the above and apply to our own professional spaces to give individuals access to a fisheries profession-relevant bystander training that applies more closely to their work or field work? 

-Are there scenarios that you think are important to be discussed and included in a training?

-What are ways that SNEC/AFS help develop a bystander training that will be applicable and relevant in today’s society?

Building an abstract

Abstracts are due Oct 21

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The Northeastern Division and Southern New England Chapter of the American Fisheries Society are hosting a joint meeting in Boston at the Boston Hyatt Regency from January 8th to 10th, 2023.

The meeting will consist of a full day of workshops and two days of presentations, including keynote speakers and student awards.

Three research talk sessions will run concurrently throughout the meeting, including a special session titled Diadromous Fishes: New Tools, New Findings, New Hope. 

Abstracts are now OPEN at this link. Deadline is October 21, 2022.

AFS SNEC Diversity Equity & Inclusion Discussion July 21 at 2PM

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Please join us for the next AFS/NED SNEC DEI Discussion – Thursday, July 21 at 2PM
For the Zoom link please check your emails from the SNEC listserv, or email [email protected]

Topic: Unpaid Internships, Financial Disparity, and Barriers to Entry and Diversity in Marine and Fisheries Science
Discussion Facilitator: Owen Nichols, SNEC Past-President, and Director, Marine Fisheries Research at Center for Coastal Studies


Please listen to the podcast and read the resources below:

https://fisheriespodcast.podbean.com/e/di-podcast-ep-12-financial-disparity-in-fisheries-science/

https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fsh.10312

Early-Career Scientists Face a Wall of Unpaid Positions

https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/71/7/757/6213241

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02758-8


Discussion Questions:

-If you’re comfortable sharing with the group, what is one thing you learned from these resources?
-What are some examples of paid internships and other early career opportunities that address financial disparity and diversity? 
-What can we learn from the above and apply to our own professional spaces? To SNEC/AFS activities?
—

AFS SNEC DEI Monthly Discussion Group June 16 at 2PM Pride Month!

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Check the AFS SNEC Listserv emails for the Zoom link, or email [email protected]

June is Pride Month! This month is set aside to bring awareness of and celebrate the experiences of people who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex. Please read and watch the resources below. The discussion on June 16 at 2PM will focus on the first 3 resources.

Discussion Questions

-If comfortable sharing with the group, what is one thing you learned from these resources?

-Based on the information in the first 2 articles and the video, what are some things that AFS SNEC can do to make in-person meetings and the Chapter as a whole more of a safe and welcoming space for folks who identify as LGBTQIA+?

-Are there efforts within your workplace to make that space more safe and welcoming for folks who identify as LGBTQIA+?

Reading and Watching Resources

  1. 3 Simple Steps to Create a More Inclusive Work Space for our LGBTQ+ Community
    https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fsh.10677

    https://snec.fisheries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Fisheries-2021-Miles-3-Simple-Steps-to-Create-a-More-Inclusive-Work-Space-for-Our-LGBTQ-Community.pdf
  2. Interview with Cassidy Miles for Flylords magazine. Outdoors is for Everyone by Dan Zazworsky
    https://flylordsmag.com/the-outdoors-is-for-everyone/

AFS Diversity Equity and Inclusion Day 2020 – Learn Portion Videos

3. Being an Out Queer Field Biologist: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7537077/video/456671555
Dr. Christopher Schmitt (Dr./He/Him/His) of Boston University’s Department of Anthropology and Biology

4. Pronouns & Gendered Language: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7537077
Lucas Johansen (He/Him/His) with the NOAA Pride Employee Resource Group

5. A Guide to Gender Identity Terms

6. White House Proclamation about Pride Month

How to purchase Outdoors is for Everyone merchandise
https://society6.com/product/diversity-and-inclusion-fish_bag?sku=s6-16538907p29a26v196

Spring 2022 – Message from the SNEC President

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Happy spring fellow fisheries folks! I hope this message finds you all healthy and well.

As I look out my window and contemplate this message, I am inspired by the sights I can see that signal spring is upon us. The trees have buds, the daffodils are blooming and the male gold finches at my feeder are shedding their winter plumage for the brilliant yellow breeding colors that are getting brighter and brighter each day. It is a time of new beginnings. After another long and stressful winter surrounded by SARS-CoV2 we may hopefully be entering a phase where we can safely manage our interactions with people with less fear. One sign of this potential shift towards normalcy is SNEC is planning its first in person meeting in over 2 years! The Summer 2022 Science Meeting is being held IN PERSON on June 21, 2022, at the URI Bay Campus. Abstract submissions are now open and you can submit your abstract here. Abstract submission will close on Friday, June 3 so please consider presenting. We will continue to closely monitor the developing regional and state medical news surrounding SARS-CoV2 and the various states’ responses to it in our region and will utilize that information to inform us should we need to adjust our conference planning.

With our new spring beginning, field sampling for many of us has started or is starting, and we are getting to work closely with colleagues once again. For me this has been a very busy spring as we try to play catch-up. Recently the inland fisheries group of the Connecticut DEEP Fisheries Division completed a relative abundance sample for northern pike on Bantam Lake is Litchfield/Morris, CT. We used only trap nets set in early March through early April to try to capture pre-spawn northern pike as they made their way to the spawning marshes around Bantam Lake. Though ice conditions hampered some of our sampling, we were able to catch some northern pike and we should be able to compare these recent catch results with historical catch results. This sampling is being done to assess a new stocking strategy at this lake. We have been purchasing and stocking 4-6 inch fingerling northern pike from a vendor in Minnesota for a few years to see if we can obtain a stable annual number of fingerlings for stocking to supplement our varied production from our own Connecticut managed spawning marshes. All of the stocking efforts will ensure that we can continue to provide Connecticut’s anglers with trophy northern pike fisheries.


At the same time the inland fisheries group of the Connecticut DEEP Fisheries Division is performing a multi-gear population estimate (trap nets and nighttime boat electrofishing) on Mashapaug Lake in Union, CT. This sampling is being carried out to determine if our multi-year stocking strategy where we have been stocking larger (6-8 inch) walleye fingerlings, as opposed to our usual stocking strategy of smaller (4-6 inch) fingerlings, is going to pay off and create a more robust fishable population of Walleye in this lake. Water temperatures have just recently reached the point where we are starting to capture decent numbers of walleye with both gear types. As you’ll see as you peruse this newsletter there are many other professionals in SNEC that are doing some interesting things; there are links to some great work on alewives, sand lance, green crabs, and right whales.


In closing, I encourage everyone to enjoy the time they get to be out sampling with fellow colleagues this spring doing great science. Additionally, I would like to encourage you to take some time for yourself and your family. The outdoors has proven to be vitally important to people’s physical and especially mental health during the pandemic. Get outdoors and do something that energizes you. Something that fosters strong lasting memories with you, your family and your friends. I hope each of you are able to find such an outlet. Spring is a beautiful time of year.

Best wishes as we move forward into 2022!

Chris McDowell
President, Southern New England Chapter of AFS