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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 6
February 2006
Cadrin heads UMass-CMER program at SMAST
NEW BEDFORD, MA – Well known within industry for his years of work on yellowtail flounder, Steve Cadrin of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Northeast Fisheries Science Center has been selected to head up the center’s Cooperative Marine Education and Research (CMER) program with the University of Massachusetts (UMass).
Cadrin replaces Kevin Friedland, who assumed new NMFS responsibilities at the center’s Narragansett lab.
NMFS first started its CMER program with UMass in 1989 and based it at UMass Amherst. This fall, however, NMFS relocated the program to the Dartmouth campus and housed it within the UMass School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) in New Bedford.
According to science center Director John Boreman, the timing was right for the move. Once the center needed to pick a new CMER program director, it made sense to shift the program’s hub to New Bedford and take advantage of SMAST’s resources.
“The SMAST program has become the flagship marine science program for the UMass system and it now houses the intercampus graduate school of marine science,” said Boreman
Graduate student research is what the CMER program is all about.
It was created to promote training in marine science with the idea being to encourage highly skilled researchers to take on fisheries jobs within state and federal government and at academic institutions.
Many species covered
As of October 2004, cooperative research projects funded through the UMass CMER program totaled nearly $2.9 million. The projects, which involved 40 UMass faculty and staff, supported 110 undergraduate and graduate students and covered topics such as:
Fecundity and egg size variation of Atlantic cod on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine;
Herring stock identification;
Examination of sea scallop-starfish predator-prey interactions on Georges Bank; and
Flexibility of fresh groundfish processing to respond to variation in local landings.
While most projects fall under the fish biology and stock assessment categories, CMER supports many types of work, including bycatch, economic, and habitat studies.
“It can be anything that’s relevant to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s research and mission,” said Cadrin.
How it works
The Northeast Fisheries Science Center annually reviews its research priorities and determines which projects would benefit from additional study by students, and then the center – when new funding is available – sends out a request for proposals seeking candidates.
Boreman said the program benefits the center in several ways.
“It allows us to tap into the expertise and capabilities in academia that extend far beyond our internal capabilities to address very complex issues,” he said. “It also allows our scientists to take advantage of an academic environment to hone their skills and expand their knowledge base.”
Cadrin’s role
As program director, Cadrin remains a NMFS employee but now keeps his office at SMAST and serves as the liaison between the science center and the various UMass campuses.
He also became an adjunct professor at UMass when he accepted the post, and he’ll be teaching graduate courses in quantitative fish stock assessment through SMAST’s new Department of Fisheries Oceanography.
“We’re very excited to have Steve Cadrin here,” said SMAST Dean Brian Rothschild. “He’s helping us grow.”
And according to Boreman, Cadrin is the right person for the job.
“Steve was selected for the position because he is an outstanding educator,” said Boreman. “He also has been involved with major cooperative research projects specifically involving SMAST and Massachusetts in general.”
Yellowtail still a go
One project Cadrin did not give up by assuming the CMER directorship is his work with the region’s cooperative yellowtail flounder tagging program, which has been carried out by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and SMAST for several years now and has led to the tagging of over 30,000 yellowtails throughout New England.
“The yellowtail tagging work has been so rewarding and I feel committed to it,” said Cadrin. “I really enjoy working with industry.”
Continuing this partnership with industry was one of the reasons Cadrin was interested in the CMER program.
“SMAST has a good relationship with industry and they’re really on the cutting edge of technology,” he said.
As part of his job, Cadrin is now responsible for recruiting new students, and he has even received calls from fishermen who are interested in finding ways to enhance their education and contribute to scientific research through the CMER program.
The Northeast Fisheries Science Center sponsors three other CMER programs – at the University of Rhode Island, Rutgers University, and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. The program based at SMAST will continue to involve all five UMass campuses: Amherst, Boston, Lowell, Dartmouth, and Worcester.
Cadrin can be reached at SMAST at (508) 910-6358. His e-mail address is <steven.cadrin@noaa.gov>.
Janice M. Plante
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