Graduate STudenTs

We are currently NOT accepting Graduate students into the Pelagic Fisheries Lab at this time. However, opportunities can ebb and flow depending on available resources, so if you are interested we encourage you to reach out to Dr. Walter Golet at walter.golet@maine.edu

Current Graduate Students

Pelagic Fisheries Lab Doctoral student, Kay, smiling & relaxing on a boat in the Gulf of Maine.

Kay joined the Pelagic Fisheries Lab in 2022 as a Doctoral student! Her dissertation centers around stock identification methods, population structure, and spatial distributions using various data science techniques, including machine learning and pop-off satellite tags. In addition to her Doctoral work, Kay has assisted in conducting stock assessment work with ICCAT, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. Kay’s favorite part of the lab is having the opportunity to get dirty collecting samples with on-the-ground knowledge of how things are done while also having the ability to collaborate with other stock assessment-focused scientists to process the data and fulfill supranational fisheries management needs.

Originally from New York, Kay likes to say she has chased fish across the country, living in Texas, West Virginia, and now Maine. She completed her undergraduate degree in environmental science with a watershed concentration at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry (SUNY ESF) in 2014, where she was first introduced to otoliths and otolith chemistry. Kay continued her education at West Virginia University, completing her master’s thesis on the “Integration of fisheries ecology with the assessment of microplastic consumption in black bass in the upper Ohio River drainage.” Kay was the first to study microplastic consumption in black bass species in West Virginia’s large navigable rivers, the Kanawha and Monongahela.

State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry (SUNY ESF), BS
West Virginia University, MSc

email kay

Joe joined the Pelagic Fisheries Lab in 2022 as a Doctoral student. Joe is specializing in the application and analysis of satellite telemetry for Atlantic tunas, specifically yellowfin and bluefin, with a scope on its implications for international management and involvement of the fishing community in research. Powerful tracking technologies for marine animals are being used by research groups globally, and their outputs can be persuasive to management and conservation. Joe is interested in how research groups analyze telemetry data with proprietary and/or open source geolocation models and how these findings are then reported to management agencies. Joe’s research prioritizes movement and behavioral ecology, conservation biology, impacts of catch and release, and the partnerships that drive sustainable commercial and recreational fisheries. Joe has joined prominent Atlantic bluefin tuna captains in their pursuit of giants and presented his research at internationally attended conferences; opportunities made possible by his doctoral studies at the University of Maine. While working in the lab, Joe has developed a real appreciation for the goal-oriented mindset of his peers and the lab culture of working through complex and sometimes novel challenges.

University of Massachusetts Amherst, BS

email joe

Blaise joined the Pelagic Fisheries Lab in 2022 as a Graduate student. Blaise’s thesis research is focused on the foraging ecology of Atlantic bluefin tuna in the Gulf of Maine, which is a collaborative long term monitoring program between the Maine Department of Marine Resources and the Pelagic Fisheries Lab. The goal of this research is to determine if recently documented shifts in Atlantic bluefin tuna diet have persisted especially when considering the recent decreasing abundance of Atlantic herring and increasing abundance of Atlantic menhaden in the Gulf of Maine. Preliminary results from stomach content analysis have shown a shift in the diet of bluefin tuna that is reflective of the change in the predominant forage fish species in the Gulf of Maine. Blaise’s favorite aspect of working in the Pelagic Fisheries Lab is being able to share the knowledge that is being gained on highly migratory species, particularly Atlantic bluefin tuna, not only with the scientific community but also the commercial fishing industry, without whom this research would not be possible.

FUN FACT! Before pursuing a Graduate degree, Blaise was a Field Technician during the 2017 Atlantic bluefin tuna season!

University of New England, BS

Email blaise

Brian joined the Pelagic Fisheries Lab in 2025 as a Graduate student – project details coming soon!

FUN FACT! Before pursuing a Graduate degree, Brian was a Field Technician during the 2022 Atlantic bluefin tuna season!

University of New England, BS

email brian

Past Graduate Students

Riley Austin, previous Graduate student, holding a Yellowfin tuna on a pelagic long liner.

Riley Austin, MSc

University of Maine Class of 2022
riley.austin@maine.edu
Riley joined the Pelagic Fisheries Lab in 2017 as a Graduate student. He defended his Masters Thesis in 2022 on the “Age, Growth, Foraging, and Trophic Ecology of Bigeye (Thunnus obesus) and Yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) Tuna in Continental Shelf and Slope Regions of the Northeast U.S.” and graduated with a Masters Degree in Marine Biology. Riley can now be found lobstering in the Gulf of Maine and pays the lab a visit every now and then just to say hello, and maybe even get some lobster bait.

Sammi Nadeau, past Graduate student and now Lab Manager of the Pelagic fisheries lab, holding an Atlantic bluefin tuna that was caught in the Gulf of Maine.

Sammi Nadeau, MSc

University of Maine Class of 2022
samantha.b.nadeau@maine.edu

Sammi joined the Pelagic Fisheries Lab in 2018 as a Graduate student. She defended her Masters Thesis in 2021 on the “Evaluating the Foraging Ecology and Energetics of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the Gulf of Maine” and graduated with a Masters Degree in Marine Biology. Sammi continued her work with the Pelagic Fisheries Lab expanding her knowledge of Atlantic bluefin tuna & billfishes, eventually becoming our Lab Manager today.

Questions? Email us!

pelagicfisherieslab@gmail.com