The coast of Maine is blessed with a wealth of marine science institutions
that help track the annual movements and mysteries of Maine’s marine
resources. Scientists at the University of Maine’s Darling Center, at the Bigelow
Laboratory and at Maine’s Department of Marine resources all support significant
marine research programs. By sharing their information and collaborating with
fishermen, they are beginning to assemble pieces of the puzzle to understand
the patterns and distributions of valuable commercial species.
Although lobstermen, for instance, have been increasingly generous in
recent years in lending their boats as platforms to sample lobster populations,
other marine fisheries research has been hampered by the cost and difficulty of
scheduling research vessels. Even the smallest research vessels cost between
$2,500 and $4,000 per day to charter and are often booked months, if not years,
in advance of a summer field season. It should come as no surprise, then, that
routine information on the status of some of Maine’s most valuable fisheries is
often hard to come by.
More and more fishermen are offering the use of their boats as research
platforms as regulations limiting their fishing days become increasingly severe. A
web-based electronic bulletin board,
Gulf of Maine Aquarium, helps connect researchers looking for a boat with
captains and their vessels for hire. These efforts should help increase our
understanding of the yearly fluctuations in marine species abundance.
In recent years another vessel, the ALICE SIEGMUND, captained by Corrie
Roberts of the Island Institute, has become a valuable support for a variety of
inshore marine research programs. Corrie, who fished commercially for many
years aboard urchin, shrimp and groundfish boats, came to work at the Institute
five years ago. Soon she was in charge of the Institute vessel operations. An
experienced diver, Corrie began providing support for lobster settlement and
urchin population studies conducted by Bob Steneck and Bob Vadas of the
University of Maine, using teams of divers to sample these creatures in their
natural habitats aboard the Institute’s boat, FISH HAWK.
Corrie sensed an opportunity to increase her time on the water doing what
she loved. She decided to invest in a 32-foot research vessel, the first ALICE
SIEGMUND. As part of the Penobscot Bay Collaborative, the Institute was able
to guarantee enough charter days to satisfy Corrie’s loan officer and four years
ago she went into the research business.
A year and a half ago, Corrie upgraded to her present 37-foot boat, the
second ALICE SIEGMUND. Corrie currently supports ongoing lobster larval
survey work under the direction of Lew Incze as well as Bob Steneck’s
settlement surveys and Rick Wahle’s lobster tagging project off Vinalhaven. This
spring she was awarded a contract to support DMR’s spring survey of urchin
populations between Small Point and Mount Desert Island.
Occasionally, when emergencies arise, fishermen and scientists alike know
they can rely on Corrie. Last summer when a valuable ocean buoy broke loose
off Monhegan, Neil Pettigrew, Chief Scientist for the Gulf of Maine Marine
Observing System (GoMOOS), turned to Corrie for a quick response to retrieve it
and get it back in operation more quickly than any other vessel could have. At an
attractive charter fee of $750 per day, a great deal more research gets done —
85 days worth in 2001 — than would otherwise be the case.
In a larger sense, Corrie’s work demonstrates an approach characteristic of
the Institute throughout our history. By staying close to the pulse of community
work — whether it’s the marine research community or an island community —
we become aware of gaps or niches that need to be filled to achieve a
community objective. Our role is not always to fill those gaps ourselves.
Sometimes it’s a matter of bringing new resources to the table, or helping to
create new incentives, or locating new partners to focus on an important
objective, such as increasing the amount of information on the status of
commercial fish stocks. The circumstances are always different and challenging,
but no one organization or institution can perform all the roles or fill all the niches
to accomplish a complex task. Corrie Roberts, a true water-woman, has
demonstrated the fine points of becoming useful by collaborating with many
partners.