Kerr awarded CINAR Fellowship to study integration of climate change impacts to improve fisheries decision making
NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center and the Cooperative Institute for the North Atlantic Region (CINAR) have named Lisa Kerr, associate professor at the University of Maine School of Marine Sciences, as one of four 2023 CINAR Fellows in Quantitative Fisheries and Ecosystems Science.
Kerr’s research aims to bring climate information to bear on fishery stock assessment and management processes in order to inform progress toward sustainable management of marine fisheries and ecosystems. She regularly advises on regional, national and international fisheries management issues.
The CINAR fellowship program engages scientists in research that supports the training and education of the next generation of stock assessment scientists, ecosystem scientists and economists. The two-year program pairs fellows with scientists at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center to further strengthen the links between research, assessments and management in order to improve the assessment and management of living marine resources in the Northeast.
During her CINAR Fellowship, Kerr will collaborate with NOAA Fisheries stock assessment scientist Larry Alade to research the integration of climate information into aspects of stock assessments for groundfish stocks. The work will expand on recent climate-integrated modeling conducted through the American Plaice Research Track stock assessment process and new research on yellowtail flounder. The proposed work will also contribute to the collaborative Northeast Climate Integrated Modeling (NCLIM) initiative and Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s ongoing efforts to implement climate-enhanced stock assessments that support an ecosystem approach to fisheries management.
“It is exciting to be advancing science to support climate-informed fisheries decision-making for important fish stocks in the Northeast U.S.,” Kerr says.
Contact: Sam Schipani, samantha.schipani@maine.edu