An online lecture, “Searching for Smelt: Citizen Science & Maine’s Sea Run Fishes,” will feature Claire Enterline and Danielle Frechette, research biologists with Maine’s Department of Marine Resources. It will take place online at 7 p.m. Feb. 10.
The talk is part of Friends of Merrymeeting Bay’s Winter Speaker Series and will be conducted over Zoom, via a link at www.fomb.org.
The Nature Conservancy, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Downeast Salmon Federation and Maine Department of Marine Resources are collaborating on a project to train and motivate volunteers to help determine where rainbow smelt are spawning each year.
Enterline provides technical leadership regarding sampling methodology, data analysis and development of scientific papers, and also works with coastal managers at the local, state, regional, and federal level to translate scientific analysis into best management practices and management plans.
From 2007-2015, Enterline’s research focused on the abundance, population dynamics, habitat, and behavior of rainbow smelt. As part of this work, she was the lead author on the Regional Conservation Plan for Rainbow Smelt, and carried out the first smelt population assessments in Maine since the 1970s.
Frechette serves as the Department of Marine Resources’ liaison for a new citizen science effort tracking the presence and absence of sea run fish in Maine’s coastal streams and rivers to inform restoration and management actions. Frechette is also lead biologist for the Salmon for Maine’s Rivers program, designed to jumpstart recovery for federally endangered Atlantic salmon in Maine. She is a salmon biologist by training and worked on endangered Coho salmon and threatened steelhead in California and Atlantic salmon in Quebec before landing at DMR in 2019.
The March 10 presentation, “The Sonic Sea – Voices of the Deep” features an award-winning film on this followed by a presentation from Chris Clark, a senior scientist and researcher in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University. This event takes place at 7 p.m. with the Zoom access link available at www.fomb.org a week or so prior to the presentation.
The series is free and open to the public. Visit www.fomb.org for more information, or call 207-666-3372 or email edfomb@comcast.net.
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