Go Blue Friday
2017-10-22, 2017-10-23, 2017-10-24, 2017-10-25, 2017-10-26, 2017-10-27, 2017-10-28 | ME
The following days have been designated as UMaine’s Go Blue Fridays, a chance to show your UMaine spirit and campus pride by wearing blue and/or UMaine clothing: Feb. 10 and 24; March 24; April 7 and 14; and May 12.

Use of stable isotopes to investigate the dietary responses of bears to a changing environment
2017-10-23 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | 204 Nutting Hall, Orono, ME, United States
Dr. Jack Hopkins
Unity College

From Bankers’ Hours to Bankruptcy: A Recent History of the Assessmenet and Management of the Gulf of Maine Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua) Stock.
2017-10-27 11:00 - 12:00 | 354 Aubert Hall, 354 Aubert Hall, Orono, ME, United States
The School of Marine Sciences presents
Dr. Michael Palmer
Northeast Fisheries Science Center
By the mid to late 1990s the biomass of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in the Gulf of Maine had declined by over 50% from the early 1980s. These declines, along with those of other regional groundfish stocks, led to severe fishery management measures throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s which were intended to reduce overall fishing mortality and rebuild fish stocks. In 2008, an updated stock assessment suggested that the Gulf of Maine cod spawning stock biomass had dramatically increased to 58% of the target biomass levels with the stock projected to be fully rebuilt by 2010. Around the same time, the fishing industry was reporting large aggregations of cod just a short distance from the primary fishing ports in the western Gulf of Maine and catch per unit effort was increasing – seemingly confirming the results from the 2008 stock assessment. The recovery of Gulf of Maine cod appeared imminent.
A 2011 stock assessment revised the spawning stock biomass estimates downward by more than 70%. Since then, three subsequent assessments have shown continued declines, with the most recent estimating the Gulf of Maine cod stock at less than 6% of the target biomass. The low stock size coincides with other concerning indicators of stock health: truncation in the size and age structure, a decade of poor recruitment, and a sever contraction of the spatial range. Instead of a recovery, the fishery is facing an economical and biological collapse. What happened? Through a detailed post-mortem examination of the recent science and management of Gulf of Maine cod, this paper provides important lessons for the future assessment and management of this resource.
Host: Yong Chen
All School of Marine Science seminars are in Room 354, Aubert Hall at 11:00 a.m. on Fridays. Refreshments are available at 10:45 a.m. A voluntary brown bag lunch involving the speaker will follow the seminar to generate interdisciplinary discussions around the presented marine science topic.
For more information, contact Susan Brawley at brawley@maine.edu.

Seabirds, Seals, and Seaweed: Over 50 years of Research and Undergraduate Education at the Shoals Marine Laboratory
2017-10-27 15:00 - 17:00 | 107 Norman Smith Hall, orono, ME, United States
Dr. Liz Craig
Shoals Marine Laboratory
Dr. Liz Craig is the Tern Conservation Program Manager and Academic Coordinator at Shoals Marine Laboratory (SML). She joined SML in 2016 after completing her Ph.D. in Zoology and Wildlife Conservation and Postdoc in Natural Resources at Cornell University. Dr. Craig is an ornithologist and colonial waterbird biologist who specializes in conservation management, population dynamics, and foraging ecology of seabirds. At SML, her primary focus is the conservation of New Hampshire’s threatened and endangered terns through research-based management action.
All are welcome! Refreshments served at 3:00 PM
For information : Dr. Kate Ruskin, Katharine.ruskin@maine.edu
Sponsored by the School of Biology & Ecology as part of the 2017 Fall Seminar Series
