2023 Research Progress Update

2023 Research Highlights

I. Leadership

Along with our new CEO and President Glenn Prickett, GMRI has a new Strategic Plan (FY23 – FY25), and through it we are addressing four global ocean challenges: climate change, healthy ecosystems, sustainable seafood, and the thriving blue economy. As one of the organization's foundational commitments, the research department connects to all four focal areas.

GMRI envisions one or more key organizational products associated with each challenge, and the research department leads work in two of the four major challenges.

• Gulf of Maine Warming Updates. Our warming updates, led by Dave Reidmiller (CLIM), Kathy Mills (RES), Adam Kemberling (RES), and Dave Berndtson (COMMS), are the premiere regional syntheses of the rapid warming occurring in the Gulf of Maine. The warming update effort leads local news headlines and brings critical attention to the status of the Gulf of Maine's physical environment.
• Ecosystem Impact Report. The Ecosystem Impact Report is a product associated with the healthy ecosystems challenge, led by Janet Duffy-Anderson (RES), Graham Sherwood (RES), Katie Lankowicz (RES), and the communications team. FY24 will be the inaugural year for this report.

Career Track Ladders: We renewed our effort to refine and establish clear career pathways, roles and responsibilities, and attributes of personnel in our research positions in FY23.

Ladders tracks include:

• Senior Research Scientists
• Postdoctoral Associates/Research Scientists
• Research Associates
• Product Development staff

II. Partnership Highlights

Academic Partnerships

GMRI has a robust ongoing partnership with the University of Maine, and collaborations with co-located faculty Drs. Lisa Kerr and Walt Golet have been extraordinarily productive. More information is provided in the lab specific updates below.

GMRI is also committed to building a new partnership with colleagues at Northeastern University and the NU Roux Institute. Discussions began last year to develop a formal partnership with Dr. Auroop Ganguly to advance the use of artificial intelligence in climate-ecosystems resilience work.

A partnership between Quahog Bay Conservancy, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, and the University of Maine builds on research facilitated by the Casco Bay Aquatic System Survey (CBASS), a 10-year time series of cross-trophic observations in southern Casco Bay.

This partnership:

• Expanded the survey scope and geographic location to more northerly reaches (Harpswell, Quahog Bay) to extend much-needed in situ observational monitoring.
• Catalyzed hands-on experiential learning for a new generation of ecosystem and marine scientists.

Programming includes:

• QBC summer undergraduate intern-led sampling and oversight of Quahog Bay ecosystem monitoring (physical, plankton, eDNA, seine, jig).
• Collaborative research opportunities with oversight from GMRI Principal Investigators and Postdoctoral Associates (on-site at QBC during summer).
• Independent research projects based on CBASS collections mentored through GMRI Principal Investigators and University of Maine faculty.
• Opportunity to co-author peer-reviewed papers and publications derived from CBASS research, including inclusion in the “Casco Bay Ecosystem Report."
• Undergraduate research credit awarded through the University of Maine (in years 2 and 3 of the partnership).
• Science communication workshops led by the GMRI communications team.

III. Supporting Early-Career Scientists and Expanding the Research Staff

A. GMRI Staffing

We made a number of exciting new hires and strategic promotions in the RES program to address climate-mediated ecosystem change in the GOM and associated impacts on marine-dependent communities.

• 1 new postdoc in Coastal Ecology (Fisheries Ecology)
• 1 Senior Research Associate in Coastal Ecology (Fisheries Ecology)
• 1 Senior Research Associate in Field Ecology (Fisheries Ecology)
• 1 new postdoc in Bioeconomic Modeling (Coastal and Marine Economics)
• 1 new Project Manager (FishSCORE) (Integrated Systems)
• 1 Senior Program Manager (Integrated Systems)
• 1 new postdoc in Functional Traits Ecology (Integrated Systems)

We plan on re-advertising a Biological Oceanographer PI position soon.

B. Early Career Scientists

Staff established the GMRI Early Career Research (ECR) Group in November 2022 to provide professional development and community-building opportunities for early career researchers from across the organization. There are three core objectives of the group:

• Enable learning and skill development in areas beyond discipline-specific expertise.
• Develop a sense of community among ECRs to encourage collaboration and communication.
• Provide a forum for ECRs to discuss needs, challenges, and successes to help inform the RES department’s (and wider organization’s) future work. This year the group has primarily focused on objectives 1 and 2. The group is open to all who identify as early career to joining from across the organization, given science is conducted beyond the RES department.

Supporting Undergraduates:

This past summer, GMRI operated its fifth successful NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and its third successful NOAA IN FISH (Inclusive NOAA Fisheries InternShip Program) opportunity. We also hosted our first undergraduate internship partnership with the Quahog Bay Conservancy, collaborating on undergraduate projects and science communication training together. These programs advance our goals to train and build a more inclusive and diverse research community that conducts research and management in marine and environmental sciences. Students from diverse backgrounds bring a variety of perspectives and approaches to research, and GMRI is committed to building a diverse and inclusive marine science workforce to better address the complex issues facing the region.

Supporting Graduates:

GMRI partners with UMaine to train graduate students in marine science. Several students are active in Walt Golet and Lisa Kerr’s labs conducting research in stock structure, movement, and ecology of groundfishes and Highly Migratory Species. Senior Research Associate Aaron Whitman is pursuing a MS degree at UMaine in Fisheries Ecology to advance understanding of long-term climate-mediated ecosystem and fisheries changes on the GOM continental shelf. Finally, GMRI hosts a University of Southern Maine student, Samantha Bengs, who began an MS degree program to understand ecosystem shifts in nearshore, coastal habitats, with Graham Sherwood serving as a committee member.

IV. Lab Updates

Fisheries Ecology Research

Dr. Graham Sherwood’s Fisheries Ecology Lab continues to carry on the tradition of on-the-water, observational research at GMRI.

Projects in the Fisheries Ecology lab include:

• Casco Bay Aquatic Systems Survey (CBASS). CBASS launched in 2014 to monitor changes in the nearshore marine ecosystem in response to various drivers including warming, dam removals, and nutrient runoff. Consistent activities over the last 10 years have included a beach seine survey (728 seine hauls to date), river monitoring for alewife migrations, and temperature monitoring. This survey has also formed the basis for multiple REU research projects. In 2023, CBASS expanded to include the activities mentioned above plus a hook-and-line survey and an active acoustic survey. Both new activities, which take place further offshore (i.e., outer bay to edge of inner shelf), dovetail with another new project funded by NOAA and the ONR.
• Using telemetry and eDNA to quantify marine biodiversity. This project involves an acoustic receiver array (12 Vemco receivers) and 50 tagged cod to examine spatial/temporal overlap between cod and their prey (e.g., pelagic forage fish as quantified by active acoustics). This work is in collaboration with UNH and involves another study site with similar activities off of Isle of Shoals. CBASS provides cod samples for diet analysis as well as acoustic data.
• Environmental DNA validation. The Fisheries Ecology Lab is also engaged in research to validate environmental DNA as a fisheries assessment tool. Projects here include a NOAA Omics program-funded project to couple an acoustic survey for Atlantic herring with eDNA sampling, and an NSF EPSCoR-funded project (through the Maine-eDNA program at UMaine) to compare eDNA characterizations of inshore fish community patterns with those derived via seine surveys (i.e., CBASS). With new donor funding for CBASS we are also in the process of setting up our own lab to conduct qPCR analyses. This lab should be operational in the coming months.
• Reducing cod bycatch with new trawl nets. An exciting addition to the portfolio for this year is a return to gear work that was started by former GMRI research scientist Steve Eayrs and continued by Aaron Whitman. Aaron was successful in securing funds from the NOAA BREP program to work with industry to enhance uptake of a modified ULOT (Ultra Low Opening Trawl) for use in the groundfish fishery.
• Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). Graham leads our REU program, which introduces undergraduate students to an exciting diversity of marine and fisheries science opportunities. Students lead projects in fisheries ecosystem research, with a particular focus on the impacts of Gulf of Maine warming trends, and develop skills that prepare them for what to expect in graduate school or related research careers.

Other ongoing work in the Fisheries Ecology Lab includes partnering with the Department of Marine Resources to provide active acoustics capabilities for baseline monitoring of the pelagic ecosystem at the offshore wind research array. This also involves water collections for future eDNA analyses.

The Fisheries Ecology Lab is currently staffed by Senior Research Associates Aaron Whitman and Zach Whitener (newly moved into the lab), and Postdoctoral Researcher Katie Lankowicz.

Integrated Systems Ecology

Kathy Mills leads the Integrated Systems Ecology Lab with a mission to analyze and distill complex ocean data to understand social-ecological system dynamics and inform decisions that promote conservation planning and resilient fisheries in a changing ecosystem.

Projects in the Integrated Systems Ecology Lab include:

• Gulf of Maine Warming Updates. Led by Adam Kemberling, the lab (in partnership with the Climate Center and the communications team) continues to produce seasonal and annual updates on sea surface temperature patterns in the Gulf of Maine.
• Fisheries Strategies for Changing Oceans and Resilient Ecosystems by 2030 (FishSCORE2030). The UN Decade of Ocean Sciences Endorsed Program FishSCORE2030 will bring together scientists, resource managers, community practitioners, fishing sector participants and the wider fishing community, and policymakers to transition marine fisheries towards climate resilience. The lab will co-develop frameworks and assemble a database of resources to assess vulnerabilities and resilience attributes, determine actionable adaptation options, and identify resilience-enhancing measures for fishery systems. The program will build scientist-practitioner partnerships as they co-develop, apply, and improve these frameworks.
• Crossing Boundaries: Understanding and Projecting Species Distribution Shifts in U. S. and Canadian Waters. This project (led by Andrew Allyn) has developed species distribution models and climate projections that integrate US and Canadian bottom trawl survey data, and we are now integrating state surveys into the modeling framework. Results are being analyzed to determine how recent warming and ongoing climate change will affect species shifts across national jurisdictions, fishery management boundaries, and in port-specific fishing areas.
• Understanding Climate Impacts on the Maine Coastal Fish and Invertebrate Community. The lab is also studying the impacts of warming on fish and invertebrates in the Northeast Shelf marine ecosystem through empirical studies and model simulations of changes in spatial distribution, population productivity, size and growth, and predator-prey relationships.
• Atlantic Salmon in a Changing Northwest Atlantic Ecosystem. For this work, Kathy's lab is working to understand how changing ecosystem conditions affect Atlantic salmon energetics, growth, and population dynamics. They are also assessing future risks associated with climate and ecosystem change in the Northwest Atlantic, and will apply the results of this work to support Atlantic salmon conservation and management efforts.
• Arctic Warming and the Lobster Fishery. Arctic warming and melting sea ice are altering ocean circulation patterns in the Northwest Atlantic, affecting the distribution and abundance of lobster — an important fishery resource for many coastal communities. Working with multiple institutions in the US and Canada, this project will improve models of oceanographic conditions, the lobster population, and fishing fleets to provide information for the fishing industry and communities as they adapt to climate-driven changes.
• Climate Adaptation Strategies for Northeast U.S. Fishing Communities. Kathy's lab is leading several interdisciplinary projects to provide community-scale information that can be used to guide adaptation and planning for future ecosystem and fishery changes. Their research products include projections of future species changes under several climate scenarios, estimates of economic impacts to local fisheries, and evaluations of economic benefits associated with specific adaptation strategies.
• SNAPP: Climate Resilient Fisheries Working Group. This working group draws together experts from around the world to identify key features of resilience and approaches to operationalize them in a diverse range of fishery management systems.
• Resilience, Adaptation, and Transformation in Lobster Fishing Communities. Fishermen and fishing communities have adjusted to ecosystem changes in the past, and insights from these experiences may provide useful lessons for communities anticipating future changes. Using the American lobster fishery as a case study, Kathy's lab is drawing lessons from community experiences through a downturn in lobster populations in Southern New England that could help identify conditions and decisions that support resilient fishing communities in the Gulf of Maine as they face potential future changes.

Lab members include Postdoctoral Research Associate Katherine Maltby (Kat), Senior Research Manager Andrew Allyn, Project Manager and Research Associate Claire Enterline, and Research Associates Miguel Barajas, Adam Kemberling, and Carly Lovas.

Quantitative Fisheries Research

Lisa Kerr’s Quantitative Fisheries Research Lab develops scientific insights that contribute to the sustainability and resilience of marine fishery resources, ecosystems, fishing communities, and the seafood industry. A major goal of the lab is to integrate climate information into fishery stock assessment and management, employing tools like management strategy evaluation (MSE) to test management procedures that will be resilient to climate variability and change.

Projects in the Quantitative Fisheries Research Lab include:

• Northeast Climate Integrated Modeling (NCLIM). Lisa's lab is leading the Northeast Climate Integrated Modeling Initiative (NCLIM), which includes management strategy evaluation to evaluate the performance of climate-informed stock assessment and management strategies.
• Simulating Cod Management Alternatives. Lisa's lab is contributing leadership and research to the Atlantic cod research track stock assessment process with a focus on integration of climate and ecosystem information. They are also integrating some of the best available science on cod stock structure into assessment and management.
• Evaluation of the performance of Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management (EBFM) compared to single species management strategies.
• Integrating Climate Impacts into Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Stock Assessment. Lisa's lab is focused on Atlantic bluefin tuna stock structure and climate-integrated modeling work as well as efforts to improve the ICCAT stock assessment process. The lab also continues to lead work applying otolith chemistry methods to Atlantic bluefin tuna in the Gulf of Maine to evaluate the mixed stock composition of fish. They now have over a decade of mixed stock composition information for bluefin in the Gulf of Maine and are embarking on a synthesis of this information.
• Groundfish Management Strategy Evaluation. Lisa's lab is providing a comprehensive view of alternative groundfish management strategies in the face of climate change. The lab held a series stakeholder workshops to educate on management strategy evaluation using an interactive experience in the Cohen Center where fishery stakeholders learned how to use models to make decisions about the future of fisheries management in a changing climate.
• Evaluating Alternative Harvest Control Rules for New England Groundfish. The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) initiated a groundfish harvest control rule review so that fishery management can be sure they are prescribing the actions that are best suited for their respective fisheries and stocks, with the goal of improving groundfish management. We suggest the use of a management strategy evaluation (MSE) model framework to simulation test the performance of a range of alternative harvest control rules for the groundfish fishery and identify best practices in support of the NEFMC effort.

The lab team currently includes three Postdoctoral Associates (Amanda Hart, Roger Brothers, and Katie Lankowicz, who is co-mentored with Graham Sherwood), one Research Associate (Jamie Behan), and three new Graduate Students (Kailee Berge, Julia Barron, and Jerelle Jesse). Lisa is a UMaine professor located at GMRI.

Coastal and Marine Economics

The Coastal and Marine Economics Lab, led by Kanae Tokunaga, investigates coastal and marine resource use and conservation challenges and seeks to understand how economic and socio-cognitive factors influence such decisions to shape the sustainability and equity of coastal and marine social-ecological systems.

Dr. Kanae Tokunaga’s Coastal & Marine Economics Lab has a number of collaborative projects with other GMRI programs and external partners.

• Understanding the Aquaculture Supply Chain. With the Maine Aquaculture Association, University of Maine, and Island Institute, this project investigates challenges and opportunities for expanding the market for seafood from Maine.
• Supporting the Development of Socioecological Literacy. Kanae's lab is contributing to the GMRI Learning Sciences Lab (led by Dr. Amanda Dickes) to build a learning tool to support development of economic reasoning among Maine’s elementary students.
• Re-evaluating the Cultural Value of Fisheries and Working Waterfronts. Kanae led a paper that synthesized various community science efforts at GMRI to develop a set of community science design principles to foster relational values of ecosystem services.
• Arctic Warming and the Lobster Fishery. Kanae's lab also contributes to a multi-institutional research collaboration. Her lab will lead the development of agent-based bioeconomic modeling of American lobster fisheries in the US and Canada.
• Assessing Maximum Economic Yield Efforts for Maine's Lobster Fishery. This project investigated the economic diversity of Maine’s American lobster fishing fleet by using a technique called latent class stochastic frontier analysis. Using economic and operational data collected from the 2010 fishing year, the research examined diverse business models and economic performance in the pre-warming period. Kanae's lab wrapped this work up this year.
• Assessing Allocation Strategies for Fisheries Affected by Climate Change. Kanae's lab is continuing work on fisheries allocation for other fisheries.

New work will begin this winter with the hire of Postdoctoral Associate Dr. Sezgin Tunca, who will lead the development of an agent-based bioeconomic model of the American lobster fishery.

Ocean Data Products

Riley Young Morse leads the Ocean Data Products Lab (ODP), which specializes in integrating and transforming complex ocean data into simplified, accessible information streams and visuals for a diverse range of stakeholders.

Projects in the Ocean Data Products Lab include:

• Ocean Observing in the Northeast (NERACOOS). Since the early 2000s, the Ocean Data Products team at GMRI has led the data management and cyberinfrastructure (DMAC) efforts for ocean observing in the Northeast region as a key partner in NERACOOS. This role includes development and maintenance of the back-end data management system, integration of buoy and sensor data in near-real time, and the development of data access tools for stakeholders.
• Casco Bay Aquatic Systems Survey (CBASS). CBASS launched in 2014 to monitor changes in the nearshore marine ecosystem in response to various drivers including warming, dam removals, and nutrient runoff. The ODP team supports the development of data infrastructure for CBASS datasets.
• Assessing Coastal Flood Risk with Maine Communities. The Gulf of Maine Research Institute is partnering with the coastal Maine communities of Machias, Saint George, Boothbay Harbor, and Portland to collect local water level and flood impact data. To support this effort, the ODP team supports the integration of water level data from low-cost sensors and gauges, and creates data products from water level data.
• Ecosystem Investigation Network (EIN). The ODP team continues to support and develop new projects on the EIN, which promotes field-based, collaborative research into the climate-driven changes happening in the Gulf of Maine and its watershed.
• Integrated Sentinel Monitoring Network (ISMN). The ODP team supports the Integrated Sentinel Monitoring Network (ISMN) in partnership with NERACOOS, the Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC), and other partners in the region. The network enables the extension of observations into the Gulf of Maine with a focus on filling gaps in understanding regarding pelagic habitat biodiversity and ecosystem health.

In addition to Riley, ODP lab members include Developer Dylan Pugh and Senior Developer Alex Kerney.

Pelagic Fisheries Lab

Walt Golet leads the Pelagic Fisheries Lab, which provides critical life history information for highly migratory species (e.g., tunas, billfish, sharks) in the Atlantic. The objective of this research is to fill in life history gaps for fish that are inherently difficult to study due to their highly migratory nature and the basin wide fisheries and multitude of countries that pursue them.

The Pelagic Fisheries Lab is engaged in several long-term and novel research projects dedicated to further our understanding of HMS life history:

• Atlantic bluefin tuna: The Pelagic Fisheries Lab has a long-term biological sampling program for Atlantic bluefin tuna (2010 – present) that continues to collect biological tissue (muscle, otoliths, gonads) to estimate age structure and stock of origin assignment. These efforts have focused on the commercial fishery, but this year we launched “Genetics for Giants” a genetics-based sampling program directed at assisting NOAA with a novel close-kin mark recapture project. This project aims to provide absolute abundance estimates for western Atlantic bluefin tuna, a first for this species. The first estimates of absolute abundance should be coming out this fall. Conventional and electronic tagging continued in 2022 and is ongoing in 2023. This includes the deployment of electronic tags deployed in the Gulf of Maine, the Gulf of St Lawrence, and along the mid-Atlantic Bight for bluefin tuna from 100 – 300+cm curved fork length. One of our projects in collaboration with Community at GMRI is currently examining how to build demand for Atlantic bluefin tuna and improve the quality of the catch after landing.
• Tropical Tunas (Bigeye, Yellowfin, Skipjack, Albacore): The Pelagic Fisheries Lab is engaged in conventional and electronic tagging of these tuna species in collaboration with the Southeast Fisheries Science Center and ICCAT to better understand the movement, migration, age, growth, habitat use, and stock structure of these species. Ongoing research continues for yellowfin reproductive biology in the western Atlantic through the histological analysis of gonadal tissues.
• Billfish (Marlins, Swordfish): The Pelagic Fisheries Lab has ongoing tagging, foraging ecology, and aging work with broadbill swordfish, blue and while marlin, and round-scale spearfish. This includes age validation work for several billfish species in order to improve age and growth estimates from otoliths which, historically, have not been the tissue used to age these species.
• Offshore wind: Walt is involved with the Maine Department of Marine Resources on a collaborative offshore wind HMS monitoring/tagging research program. This involves the application of acoustic and pop-up satellite tags on sharks and tunas in and around the proposed offshore wind research array to better understand HMS habitat use in this area prior to, during, and post construction.

UMaine: In addition to the research and responsibilities at GMRI, Walt teaches at UMaine Orono as a guest lecturer in the fall and teaches two classes at UMaine in the spring semester that focus on fisheries and marine vertebrates as part of his teaching and research split. As a professor, Walt serves on the undergraduate curriculum committee to improve the undergraduate classes within the School of Marine Sciences, serves on UMaine hiring committees, and several graduate student committees.

Since last year there have been substantial changes to personnel in the Pelagic Fisheries Lab. The lab onboarded two full-time employees including a Lab Manager and a Quantitative Fisheries Scientist. As has been the case since 2011, several employees in the lab are seasonal. This includes three technicians and four to seven interns from various institutions including a GMRI REU student. The lab also employs two Ph.D. students who began last year, Kay Zipp and Joe Dello Russo. Blaise Jenner, a Department of Marine Resources scientist, is the newest master’s student in the lab while he works for the department full-time. This past year the Pelagic Fisheries lab supported one NSF REU intern, one Bates intern, and three UMaine interns.

V. Recognition and Awards

Janet Duffy-Anderson:

• NERACOOS Board of Directors
• National Academy of Sciences Standing Committee on Offshore Wind and Fisheries
• ARCUS
• International Flatfish Symposium, Steering Committee Chair
• Dept of Commerce Administrator’s Award – Service to the Nation
• Dept of Commerce Bronze Medal – Scientific Achievement

Media (selected):

• Boston Globe: 2023. Gulf of Maine sees second-hottest year on record, report shows, ‘getting to the edge of habitability’.
• Maine Public Radio. 2022. Maine Calling. Why trust in science has declined.
• Portland Press Herald. 2022. Commentary: Our nation’s fisheries face a common enemy: climate change.
• Maine Monitor. 2022. Lessons for Maine Lobster from Alaska crab collapse.

Kanae Tokunaga:

During FY2023, Kanae Tokunaga contributed to three publications. Tokunaga, Kerr, and Pershing (2023, Marine Policy) developed a typology of fisheries allocation policies and discussed climate change implications on rights-based fisheries management (funded by Lenfest Ocean Program). Dayton and Tokunaga (2023, CJFAS) conducted latent class stochastic profit frontier analysis to examine the economic performance of Maine’s diverse fishing fleet during pre-warming period (funded by NOAA ALRP). Zheng, Nayga, Yang, and Tokunaga (2023, Food Quality & Preference) examined the US consumers’ valuations for GM salmon.

Kanae serves in a variety of advisory and leadership roles including as a:

• Member of the Maine Climate Council's Science and Technical Subcommittee
• Lead author for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Transformative Change Assessment
• Member of the NEFMC Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management Plan Development Team

Kathy Mills:

Kathy Mills has been credited in a number of media stories related to exceptionally warm ocean temperatures and marine heatwaves in the North Atlantic, particularly during summer 2023. These stories generally cover temperature conditions, drivers of warm temperatures, and implications for marine ecosystems and fisheries. In addition, Kathy was appointed as a member of the Maine Climate Council's Science and Technology Subcommittee and the UN Ocean Decade Vision 2030 Expert Working Group on sustainably feeding the global population.

Graham Sherwood:

• Served on Maine's Offshore Wind Roadmap Environment and Wildlife working group (Governor’s Energy Board)
• Serves on Offshore Wind Research Advisory Board (Governor’s Energy Office)

Lisa Kerr:

Lisa Kerr’s lab is committed to translating research into management by participating in regional and international fisheries management discussions. Lisa participates in the following advisory roles in support of this goal:

• Carl Sullivan Award for Fisheries Science (AFS)
• Chair of the NEFMC Science and Statistical Committee
• Chair of the Atlantic Cod Research Track Stock Assessment
• Member of the NEFSC Assessment Oversight Committee
• Member of the NRCC Research Track Steering Committee
• Member of the NEFMC Risk Policy Review Working Group
• Member of NOAA’s HMS Advisory Panel
• Member of the ICES Stock Identification Methods Working Group
• US Delegate to the ICCAT Climate Experts Meeting
• Member of the HMS Vulnerability Analysis working group
• Co-author on the Northeast Chapter of the National Climate Assessment

Walt Golet:

Since 2011, Walt has been involved in the assessment and management of HMS species in the Atlantic serving on both domestic and international committees. Currently he holds a position on the NOAA HMS Advisory Panel. In this capacity Walt assists NOAA and advise on domestic issues related to HMS. This includes developing fishery management plans for our commercial and recreational fleets. Walt is currently serving in his first term as the Chair of the US ICCAT Advisory Committee. In this role he leads our US Commissioners, committee members, and technical advisors who represent the stakeholders of HMS fisheries in the US. Walt arranges the meetings and oversees the species working groups that develop the research and management recommendations for the various HMS species during our spring meeting. In the fall meeting he lead our commissioners and committee members to set US positions for negotiations at the annual ICCAT Commission meeting. Walt leads the US team at the commission meeting at the end of each day to summarize each ICCAT species panel and to facilitate communications between the various stakeholders, the US government representatives and other ICCAT countries. During the year he attended or chaired several inter-sessional meetings on ICCAT species. In 2023, this has concentrated on the implementation of management strategy evaluation for north Atlantic swordfish.