2024 ALI Summit

November 20, 2023

ALI Regional Research & Outreach Summit

Monday, February 12, 2024

8:00 am                       Breakfast & Registration Table Open

9:00-9:30 am               Welcome

  • Gayle Zydlewski, Director, Maine Sea Grant
  • Remarks by U.S. Senator for Maine, Susan Collins (pre-recorded)
  • Amalia Harrington, Marine Extension Associate, Maine Sea Grant

9:30-10:30 am             Plenary: Overview of Change in the Region

  • James Ammerman, New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission – Long Island Sound: Hypoxia, climate change, and the loss of lobsters
  • Nick Record, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences – Gulf of Maine climate update: Knowns and unknowns in a changing gulf

10:30-10:45 am           Break

10:45-12:00 pm           Panel Discussion: Industry Observations of Ecosystem Change

Panelists:

  • Lanny Dellinger, Lobsterman, Newport, RI
  • Beth Casoni, Executive Director, Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association
  • Scout Wuerthner, Sales Manager, Lobster Division, Inland Seafood
  • Curt Brown, Lobsterman & Biologist, F/V Lil More Tail, Ready Seafood, Cape Elizabeth, ME

12:00-1:00 pm             Lunch

1:00-2:30 pm               Panel Discussion: Collaborative Science – Challenges & Benefits

Panelists

  • Damon Frampton, Lobsterman, F/V Vivian Mae, Portsmouth Lobster Company LLC, Portsmouth, NH
  • Al Eagles, Lobsterman, F/V Catherine Ann, Newport, RI
  • Lanny Dellinger, Lobsterman, Newport, RI
  • Curt Brown, Lobsterman & Biologist, F/V Lil More Tail, Ready Seafood, Cape Elizabeth, ME
  • Kevin Staples, Marine Resource Scientist, Maine Department of Marine Resources
  • Megan Amico, Gear Researcher, NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center

2:30-2:45 pm               Break

2:45-4:15 pm               ALI Research Updates: Social Science & the Lobster Industry

  • Joshua Stoll, University of Maine – Assessing spatial, temporal, and socio-demographic characteristics of the Maine lobster fishery (2008-2022)
    • Co-authors: Theresa L.U. Burnham, Joelle Kilchenmann, Tracy MacKeracher, Christina M. McCosker, & Erin Summers
  • Jonathan Grabowski, Northeastern University – The lobster industry’s observations and perceptions of black seabass and blue crabs in the Gulf of Maine
  • Adrian Jordaan, University of Massachusetts Amherst – Bait alternative development and future visioning in the New England lobster fishery

4:15-5:00 pm               Break/Set-up

5:00-7:00 pm               Poster & Networking Session

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

8:00 am                       Breakfast & Registration Table Open

9:00-10:30 am             ALI Research Updates: (Re)Assessing Growth & Development in a Changing Environment

  • Alexander Ascher, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution – A review of the lobster larval diet: Strengths and weaknesses of alternative approaches
    • Co-authors: Carolyn Tepolt, Jesús Pineda, Richard Wahle, David Fields, Pete Countway, Curtis Morris, Emily Patrick, Caitlin Haley, Evelyn Layland, Jess Capista, & Tessa McCarthy
  • Benjamin Gutzler, Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve – Thermal impacts on behavior and physiology throughout lobster life history
  • Jesús Pineda & Carolyn Tepolt, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution – Abundance and biology of lobster larvae in coastal convergences
    • Co-authors: Sarah Zuidema, Victoria Starczak, Phil Alatalo, & Sara Shapiro
  • Jesica Waller, Maine Department of Marine Resources – Testing and developing non-invasive female maturity assessment methods and protocols for the American lobster

10:30-10:45 am           Break

10:45-12:00 pm           ALI Research Updates: Impacts of Ecosystem Change on Ecological Interactions

  • Andrew Goode & Everett Rzeszowski, University of Maine – Climate impacts on ovigerous lobster behavior and the downstream effects on larval dispersal and settlement
  • Rebecca Peters, Maine Department of Marine Resources – Who’s eating juvenile lobsters? An evaluation of lobster predation in the Gulf of Maine using stomach content analysis
  • Xiangyan Yang, Stony Brook University – Updates from the Chen Lab
    • Part 1: Using and individual-based model to test alternative management measures under multiple climate regimes for American lobster stocks
    • Part 2: Could sea surface temperature (SST) replace bottom temperature (BT) in lobster habitat suitability index models?
    • Co-authors: Cameron Hodgdon, Noah Hunt, Robyn Linner, & Yong Chen

12:00-1:00 pm             Lunch

1:00-2:45 pm               Revisiting Research Priorities

Presenters & facilitators:

  • Heather Glon, Lobster Research Biologist, Maine Department of Marine Resources
  • Amalia Harrington, Marine Extension Associate, Maine Sea Grant
  • Gabriela Bradt, Aquaculture & Fisheries Extension Specialist, New Hampshire Sea Grant

Panelists:

  • Joshua Stoll, Associate Professor of Marine Policy, University of Maine
  • Kathleen Reardon, Lobster Fishery Biologist, Maine Department of Marine Resources
  • Jason Goldstein, Research Director, Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve
  • Marissa McMahan, Senior Director of Fisheries, Manomet
  • Everett Rzeszowski, Graduate Student, University of Maine

2:45-3:00 pm               Break

3:00-4:00 pm               The Future of Collaboration in Lobster Science

  • Christina Cash, Interim Director, University of Maine’s Lobster Institute
  • Amalia Harrington, Marine Extension Associate, Maine Sea Grant

List of Poster Titles and Presenters:

Building confidence: Developing a method to reduce barriers to entry and incorporate fishermen in data collection

Everett J. Rzeszowski1, Damian Brady1, Kathleen M. Reardon2, Heidi Henninger3, and Joshua T. Carloni4

1University of Maine, Darling Marine Center; 2Maine Department of Marine Resources; 3NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center; 4New Hampshire Fish and Game

Do lobster larvae released over the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank subsidize the lobster stock off southern New England?

James Churchill1, George Cowles2, Robert Glenn3, Richard Wahle4, Tracy Pugh3, and Burton Shank5

1Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; 2University of Massachusetts Dartmouth; 3Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries; 4University of Maine; 5NOAA National Marine Fisheries Center

Determining the impacts of windfarm-associated noise pollution on stress in the American lobster (Homarus americanus)

Andria K. Salas1, Julien Bonnel1, T. Aran Mooney1, N. David Bethoney2, and Michael Long2

1Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; 2Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation

Exploring economic insecurity and wellbeing in Nova Scotia’s lobster fishery

Tracy MacKeracher1,2, Joshua Stoll1, and M. Aaron MacNeil2

1University of Maine; 2Dalhousie University 

In hot water? Investigating how temperature, molting, and lobster stocks affect current and future risk of epizootic shell disease in American lobster

Melissa M. Rocker1, Reyn M. Yoshioka1, Kirsten E. Johnston1, Nick R. Record1, Heather E. Glon2, Kathleen M. Reardon2, and Maya L. Groner1

1Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences; 2Maine Department of Marine Resources 

Navigating the New Arctic Lobster Network: Rapid Arctic change and its implications for fishing communities of the wester North Atlantic

Chris Brehme1, Christine Beitl1, Damian Brady1, Eric Chassignet2, Amanda Dickes3, Joaquim Goes4, Helga Gomes4, Katherine Mills2, Joshua Stoll1, Michael Stukel2, Marco Tedesco4, Kanae Tokunaga2, and Xiaobiao Xu2 

1University of Maine; 2Florida State University; 3Gulf of Maine Research Institute; 4Columbia University 

Overview of on-demand fishing progress in the U.S. Northwest Atlantic lobster fishery: A collaboration

Megan Amico1, Eric Matzen2, Henry O. Milliken2, Heidi Henninger1, Brian A. Galvez2, Vincent Artigues1, Rob Martin1, and Marc Palombo1

1Integrated Statistics in support of NOAA Fisheries; 2NOAA Fisheries, Northeast Fisheries Science Center

StoryMap Collection: A fishery in a sea of change

Stephanie Murphy1, Jennie Rheuban1, and Simonne Dodge2

1Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Sea Grant; 2University of Miami

The CFRF Lobster-Jonah Crab Research Fleet: Addressing data needs through collaboration

Noelle Olsen1, Linus Stoltz1, and David Bethoney1

1Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation