Monthly Archives: November 2011

Scholars update: Ian Heller (2010)

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Summer Scholar at CERF2010 Summer Scholar Ian Heller presented a poster earlier this month at the Biennial meeting of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Foundation in Daytona Beach, FL.

Ian was co-author with Chelsea Woodworth (Clemson University, a US Environmental Protection Agency intern in 2011), Tedd Dewitt and David Young (EPA scientists who were Ian’s mentors during his Summer Scholars assignment).

The poster, “Nekton Species Distribution Within and Among Four Oregon Estuaries,” presented a first look at field data collected as part of a large project to measure how different different estuarine wetland habitats contribute to the production of Dungeness crabs and fishes. Ian helped collect and analyze the data as an Oregon Sea Grant Summer Scholar in 2010 and returned to the project as an EPA intern this summer. In the process, he learned different hypotheses about how habitat might affect the distribution of crabs and fishes, trawled  for nekton, and synthesized the data into the results presented in the poster.

At the CERF meeting, Ian had a chance to present the research and field questions from scientists and students. “I was able to see the scientific method to the end, and it was satisfying to see a product come out of my summer work,” he wrote.

Besides flying to exotic places to talk about crabs, Ian is back at Vassar College working on his senior thesis on sea anemone development and fretting about life post-graduation. He hopes to spend the next year assisting with biological research and applying to graduate schools. Perhaps he’ll once again find himself on the Oregon Coast!

Howdy!

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I’m Chris Eardley, a Natural Resources Policy Fellow for Oregon SeaGrant. I’ve been paired up with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Marine Reserves program, and I’m excited to be gaining agency experience in management of marine resources. I’ll be putting the inter-disciplinary training I received from OSU’s Marine Resource Management to work on both the biological and social sides of management. On the social side, I’ll be developing a socio-cultural profile of a local fishing community that will seek to inform future ocean management discussions (not just marine reserves).

With the biological side, I’ll be contributing to the development of pre-reserves baselines by analyzing footage gathered using a variety of underwater video survey techniques. This includes supporting field deployment of video equipment such as ROVS and video sleds, reviewing video footage, and helping to develop protocols. I’ll focus largely on invertebrates and I’ll also be supporting GIS work. Hopefully, I’ll even get one of those cool ODFW winter hats.

In a nutshell, I’m going to be busy and I’m learning a ton–including what sideways rain looks like and how many types of precipitation are possible in the span of an hour on the Oregon coast.

Should make for an interesting winter!

Cheers,

Chris

Hello from Newport, OR….

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Hello OSG Community,

I wanted to introduce myself and give you a brief summary of what I’ll be up to.

So…hello and nice to meet you!  I am one of the two new Natural Resource Policy Fellows.  I joined the ranks in October and  I am now working with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW) Marine Resource Program (MRP) in Newport, Oregon.

Generally speaking, over the next year I will provide support for the current statewide marine spatial planning effort.  More specifically, I will assist with the development of the “Nearshore Ecological Data Atlas” (NEDA), a GIS-based resource that will be displayed on Oregon MarineMap. NEDA will feature a collection of ecological data sets (biological, oceanographic, habitat, etc.) and will be an important resource for current and future planning and management efforts.  I will also help with public outreach efforts and serve as MRP’s primary coordinator between NEDA and Oregon MarineMap project partners.

That is a general overview of what I will be up to.  But, if I’ve learned anything over the last month or so….everyday is a new day, and everyday brings something different and exciting.  My fellowship is just beginning to pick up steam and I look forward to keeping you abreast of exciting highlights and accomplishments over the next year!

Cheers to all,

Ben