Widener University – B.Sc. Biology
I grew up in Woodlyn, PA, a suburban town outside Philadelphia. I graduated from Widener University with a Bachelor’s in biology. Almost all my undergraduate research was on terrestrial animals and environments including research on the environment in the Amazonian Rainforest and the change of jumping ability of the giant jumping sticks through the instar stages.
My thesis includes two subjects, and the title is “Assessment of the Weathervane Scallop (Patinopecten caurinus) Population and Fishing Effects in the Gulf of Alaska, East of Kodiak Island “. The first part of my thesis assesses video imagery of the scallop beds obtained by Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G). Currently, the stock is monitored by catch per unit effort (CPUE); however, CPUE from the same location over the years has fluctuated greatly. In the scallop fishery, CPUE can be influenced greatly by skippers’ technique and scallops’ patchy distributions. I am analyzing video footage to predict the density and biomass of scallops in the area. The second part of my thesis assesses fishing disturbance off Kodiak Island using the same ADF&G seabed imagery and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s fishing effects (FE) model, which estimates habitat disturbance from fishing. I will be identifying areas where fishing and imagery collection occurred. From the fishing and non-fishing areas, I will be assessing fishing disturbance using analysis on sea whip size and orientation (down vs. up). Finally, I will compare that to the FE model’s estimation of disturbance in that area.
Funding for this work is provided by the Pollock Conservation Cooperative via the Alaska Education Tax Credit Program.
