Microcredentials on Hurricane Island

Microcredentials on Hurricane:

Training for Maine’s Marine Economy Future

Chloe Finger is a bonafide marine engineer. Borrowing from her growing up on the schooner J&E Riggin and her expertise from working last year on Hurricane Island’s Facilities team, this week she completed an oyster grader on island to efficiently sort the oysters that we grow on the Hurricane Island aquaculture farm. She’ll begin using this tool with Micah Conkling, her fellow Aquaculture Farm Assistant this season who brought oyster-farming and aquaculture-development research experience to the farm, but only after he finishes removing the encrusting organisms that foul the nets that we use to grow our scallops.

While Chloe and Micah’s tasks this season varied weekly—from boat handling to animal husbandry to SCUBA diving on our farm’s moorings—their duties for the season overlapped with the hands-on aquaculture curricula that we designed with the Hurricane Island Education team for this year’s two cohorts of high-school aquaculture workshop participants. In all, the skill-building Micah, Chloe, and our aquaculture students experienced is part of innovative occupational-development programming in vocational education: namely, that of “microcredentials.”

Microcredentials are certifications of proficiency awarded once a learner of any kind completes a training that an established institution recognizes as sufficiently rigorous. In our case, Hurricane Island has been building a curricular pathway with UMaine’s Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research (CCAR) and Aquaculture Research Institute (ARI) and other partners to teach the basics of saltwater aquaculture such that Chloe, Micah, or our high-school students may receive official, résumé-ready certifications of their skills without needing to enroll in a traditional school. As a college student completes credit hours in a classroom to show they know their stuff, so can a student learning maritime skills outside the classroom, as long as an education authority approves their learning path.

While they also award official certifications, microcredentialing programs are often much shorter than conventional college courses (weeks instead of months) because they are aimed at making skill-certification more broadly attainable. Says CCAR’s Melissa Malmsteadt, “microcredentials are kind of brilliant—you can get a baseline level of interest in a topic to see if it interests you without needing to commit to a four-year college.” Microcredentials differ for youth and adult learners, and microcredential development accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic as educators foresaw future impediments for traditional learning systems. However, professionalization programs for marine aquaculture are especially new because ocean-farming industries are still maturing in Maine and nation-wide (shout-out to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s 2020 strategy report on aquaculture workforce development in the state).

Thus are Hurricane Island’s adult and high-school aquaculture microcredentials still pilot programs while Chloe and Micah provide feedback on their skill-development, and as we field-test lesson plans to guide youth students through at least the first of three levels of ocean-farming proficiency. This season, however, we are proud that our youth participants completed Level 2 of UMaine’s youth Aquaculture Microcredential through our workshops; these students are on their way to receiving the first stage of UMaine’s adult Aquaculture Microcredential.

We are thoroughly excited to continue to integrate our marine research with Hurricane Island’s education initiatives. In the meanwhile, Chloe will fix the bilge pump on the skiff, and Micah will keep monitoring the saltwater aquarium he built to develop sugar kelp spores. Fortunately, they are comfortably accustomed to the range of competencies required for marine work.

Welcome Research Director Anya Hopple Ph.D.!

By Essie Martin

You may have met Dr. Anya Hopple at our Field Research Station Opening, or perhaps you know her through her most recent work as a scientist at the Smithsonian Ecological Research Center, where she was leading an effort to understand the effects of extreme weather events on forest systems. Here is a link to her most recent publication exploring carbon fluxes in microbial systems as they respond to a changing climate. She brings with her a wealth of ecological, climate and collaborative knowledge and we are so excited that she’s finally here.

We are getting to know Anya through the lens of island work and living, which is generally a little muddier and a little saltier. Anya has joined us on island the last two weeks getting to know our systems and habits on the island while acquainting us with her own organization tools, which are helping us become even more efficient and focused on our research efforts. 

Anya has taken to island life with ease; she joins us with a smiling face for daily morning meetings, she offers solutions for the riddles and crosswords we puzzle out over breakfast, and has forged her own island routines. Anya is also acclimating to island research after dissecting a scallop perfectly on her third try, taking a turn behind the wheel of our skiff, and grappling our longline to collect scallops. She has transitioned into a directing role beautifully, challenging and questioning the way and the why of how we do things, creating new organizational setups, and encouraging us with high fives. 

Yesterday, after a long season of spawning attempts, our Lead Scientist Phoebe Jekielek convinced our scallops to spawn and we were able to deploy a trial fertilization experiment. Anya sprung to action and hopped on the boat to be our surface support for our SCUBA team! Anya tackled surface support with the same attitude she has joined the rest of island life– with enthusiasm, a method-minded brain, and a knack for anticipating the needs of those around her. 

We are delighted to have Anya as the newest member of our team, we can’t wait to see where her vivacity and zeal take us in the future! 

Head in the Clouds... In the Best Way

By Essie Martin

As a new member of the hurricane island crew, I had no way to picture, before coming to the island, how intertwined our lives would be with weather. Days of fog and sun have a great impact on not only the mood of the island, but also how much (and what kind of) work we can get done in a day. 

I often bemoan the fact that I have no way to predict rain, and harbor a certain envy for those in sync with the atmosphere. Without a trick knee, I am sorely reliant on my phone’s weather app. More than just predicting precipitation, I want to learn to read the sky. One of the things that has struck me most about this place are the clouds. On the island’s aquaculture site we have a clear view of clouds that catch over the Camden Hills and spill out into Penobscot Bay. They bloom in great stacks, long wisps, checkerboard expanses, or fluffy pillars with flat bottoms. 

Cumulus clouds underneath cirrus

Clouds in Maine play an important role in local folklore: Most people have heard the phrase “red sky at morning, sailors take warning, red sky at night, sailors delight.” A red sunrise results from dust particles of a storm system passing from the west (typically in the form of cirrus clouds), indicating that a storm system may be moving from the east, and rain is on its way. This phenomenon has been recognized for many centuries: in the Bible Jesus told a fisherman “When in evening, ye say, it will be fair weather: For the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today; for the sky is red and lowering.” (Matthew XVI: 2-3,)

Mackerel sky

Another cloud formation attributed with predictive power on the Maine Coast is the mackerel sky– an expanse of dotted or waved clouds said to indicate a change in the weather. Propagation of high altitude atmospheric waves creates this pattern of clouds to represent the scales on a mackerel. While the fish itself is common, and generally only used as a bait fish, its zebra pattern has become infamous along the working waterfront for predicting changes in pressure systems. 

Mare’s tails

Fishermen are also quick to point out mare’s tails: high-altitude-cirrus clouds shaped like lackluster check marks. These are said to point to an approaching storm. Cirrus clouds trap warm air close to earth, hampering the cycling of warm and cool air currents, and creating a positive warming feedback loop. On the aquaculture site we often see these whisps pointing out thunderheads rising over the Camden hills. 

Sometimes, the island is stuck in a whole cloud bank as thick fog settles in. Our weather-dependent life on the island dictates indoor work during these times: splicing line, puttering around the lab, writing blog posts. I can’t say I have ever lived so much at the mercy of the atmosphere. So, with our lives so tangled in salt and weather, what meaning can we seek from the clouds? Where will storms settle in over our little island? Will mares tails mark days of fog and rain? Will I start to feel this place not in my joints, but in my bones? 

Cumulus clouds underneath cirrus

Spat Color Variation

Over my time at Hurricane this summer, I’ve developed a very curious question about our baby sea scallops that inhabit our coastal waters. Also referred to when they’re young as spat, these little guys show great diversity in their shell patterns and colors, and I’ve been very interested as to why they have so much diversity when they’re small, but lose that as they grow older.

According to the Oxford University Press, these variations have been typically associated with differences in growth, survival and other characteristics. As far as shell color goes, most sources say it's often been associated with environmental effects, but in other circumstances have been said to be more genetically controlled (Winkler, 2001). With the Gulf of Maine slowly warming, I wonder if that will make an impact on the variance? A study published on the NOAA Fisheries website in March of this year has already found that juvenile growth is hindered due to ocean acidification and warming, but would that suck the color out of them, too?

Photo Credit: Arturo Aguirre-Velarde

However, because the effects of environmental stressors, genetics, and other characteristics impacting color and shell patterning vary depending on species, I wanted to share some other information I found on the scallop of northern Chile and southern Peru- the Peruvian scallop. In hatchery production of these scallops as juveniles, other characteristics relating to shell colorations have been observed. On many of the juveniles, researchers noticed a white marking appearing on the center of the upper valve (See photo to the right). Researchers were able to make a reasonable assumption that hereditary mechanisms control color patterns more than environmental conditions (Winkler, 2001).

So, a lot isn’t known about this question specifically towards our native Atlantic sea scallop, but some generalizations can be made based on what we know concerning the Peruvian sea scallop!

I hope you all found this information interesting!

Yours in scallops,

Olivia

Sources

F. M. Winkler, et al. “Inheritance of the General Shell Color in the Scallop Argopecten purpuratus (Bivalvia: Pectinidae).” Journal of Heredity, https://academic.oup.com/jhered/article/92/6/521/2187385. 

NOAA Fisheries (2023, March 1). New study finds ocean acidification and warming hinder juvenile atlantic sea scallop growth | NOAA Fisheries. NOAA. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/new-study-finds-ocean-acidification-and-warming-hinder-juvenile-atlantic-sea-scallop

Pousse, Emilien, et al. “Juvenile Atlantic Sea Scallop, Placopecten Magellanicus, Energetic Response to Increased Carbon Dioxide and Temperature Changes.” PLOS Climate, journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pclm.0000142.

Introduction to Stable Isotopes

Like everyone who works on Hurricane Island, I spend a decent amount of time interacting with students. As researchers we are often called upon to answer questions about our aquaculture farm, spat bags, and general scallop facts. One question I get a lot (and a question I ask myself) is if there is a difference between our farmed scallops and the adjacent wild populations. Genetically the scallops are homogenous– we seed our farm with wild spat. But the two grow in different conditions; different depth, different proximity to other scallops, different temperature, etc.… So is there a chemical difference brought on by their divergent growing habitats? What might that indicate? Thanks to a grant from the Davis Conservation Foundation I am pursuing answers to these questions using stable isotopes this season. 

Perhaps you’ve heard of radioactive isotopes — the kind used to date dinosaur bones; but most people haven’t heard of stable isotopes. When I first signed up for a stable isotopes class in college, my dad made fun of me, saying I’d just put two big words together to sound impressive. So what are stable isotopes for all you curious minds in the audience? (Yes, even you, Dad.) 

Isotopes are any atom of an element with an atypical number of neutrons. For example, a normal carbon atom has 12 neutrons, and a carbon isotope has more or less neutrons than the normal 12. Some forms of isotopes are unstable– they will eventually return (“decay”) to the “normal” number of neutrons for their element. For our carbon example, an unstable form of carbon is carbon 14 (a carbon atom with 14 neutrons). Overtime those carbon 14 atoms will decay to carbon 12, and the ratio of carbon 14 to carbon 12 allows us to date artifacts. Other forms of isotopes are stable and can exist indefinitely in their state. Carbon 13 is a stable isotope form of carbon. 

Stable isotopes are used in geochemistry to detect source materials (such as food and water), recreate paleo climates, and even in forensics. The way we measure stable isotopes is by taking the ratio of normal atoms of an element to the corresponding target isotope. Depending on the situation we measure different elements. For the purposes of identifying differences between farmed and wild scallops, we chose to use organic isotopes: Nitrogen 15 and Carbon 13. Organic stable isotope analysis can help us differentiate energy fluxes from local primary production, nutrient gradients at depth, and general food sources. This information may help to inform shellfish closures, best farming practices, and possible impacts of ocean acidification and warming on scallop physiology.  Nitrogen isotopes may also indicate possible anthropogenic influence close to scallop growth due to signature isotopic composition of human waste and fertilizer. 

We plan to sample scallops for isotope analysis in the middle of each month from June-October (with an additional sample at the end of August during scallop spawning) from aquaculture nets, aquaculture cages, and adjacent wild beds. We will sample 5 female and 5 male scallops from each source. Thanks to our continued collaboration with Bates College, we will analyze scallop samples on the Bates campus using their Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (IRMS). 

Stay tuned for results soon!  

Science Communication: A Day at the Darling Marine Center

The sun shimmers across the water, creating a beautiful, iridescent dance through the waves that lap at the boat on the dock. A few laughing gulls fly overhead, proclaiming their excitement for a sunny day of crab-hunting.

That’s what we all wish this past week would have been like! Here on the island there seems to have been a consistent fog, and an occasional mist here and there. As I sit here on my computer, entering data from our sea scallop spat bags, I hear fog horns blaring in the distance from the lobstermen going to do their routine trap checks, rain or shine.

On Monday of last week, I had a nice change of scenery- taking off on the Vinalhaven Ferry to Rockland the night before, and then off in the morning to the University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center in Walpole. It was a brief back-road drive to the center, and I passed through a few cute cities which I hadn’t visited yet. The weather was slightly gloomy, but the wildflowers clinging to one another in their roadside clusters warmed my heart a bit. 

Once I arrived at the center, I joined interns from the AquEOUS program at the University of Maine, along with the rest of my Aquaculture Research Institute Externs for an awesome day learning about strategic and inclusive science communication. Throughout the day, we had a few sessions where we were led through engaging scenarios, which were facilitated by Sunshine Menezes and Katharine McDuffie from the Metcalf Institute. Later we were joined by two stellar panelists, Bill Trotter of Bangor Daily News and John Bear Mitchell of the University of Maine. They both discussed with us their perspectives of storytelling, and I came to realize how unique it was that even though they may work in different professions, their goals and audiences differ but can also overlap.

The three concepts that Sunshine and Katharine both emphasized to us to use in our science communication was intentionality, reciprocity, and reflexivity- and encouraged us to reflect on which we could better use on a daily basis, and which we felt were our strengths. One of my biggest takeaways from this workshop was that science communication happens for all of us- in lots of different ways. Especially as someone in a role that encompasses both educational and research aspects, it’s especially important that I’m able to explain my research in a way that makes sense to everyone. 
Coming back to the island Tuesday afternoon, I fell right back into my favorite place like I had never left. Being on the mainland made me realize how much I craved the simplicity of my quaint cabin by the sea, where it almost always felt as though the waves rocked me to sleep every night, somehow, through the dirt. Upon my return, it was a computer day from what the weather said to me. I worked on my tunicate species ID sheet, which will be helpful for me during my research to ensure thorough data collection. 

Throughout the rest of my week, I entered my first few columns of data into my tunicate-specific spat bag data sheet, enabling me to keep every number I could possibly need in one place. I’ve also been working on a fun blog post that’ll be coming sometime soon about the color variation on the shells of our baby scallops. It was an only natural question that popped into my mind after completing many-a-bag of spat, haha. I also spent a significant amount of time out on the aquaculture site, continuing with our deep clean and also grabbing some spat bags to bring back to the island for our education team. 

Also…I’ve finalized my research question! I’ll be working to find differences in tunicate species richness in our spat bags from different areas in the bay, as well as different positions in the water column. Super exciting stuff! In my research so far, I’ve identified five tunicate species, three of which are invasive to northern waters. They compete with our native species for natural resources, and take up lots of space on the seafloor that is important to native settler species. Invasive tunicate species are of special concern for the Gulf of Maine as it slowly has been warming. These little guys are broadcast spawners- so the warmer the water, the more they’re inclined to reproduce (See sources one and two). I’m hoping that the results of my project will help the Hurricane Island community and greater Maine coast better understand tunicate populations and their impact on our native species. 

Talk soon,

Olivia

(P.S., let me know in the comments if you have any questions about scallops, research on Hurricane, tunicates, or anything else!)

Sources: 

So you want to know: The terrible trouble with tunicates – Maine lobstermen’s community alliance. (2013, February 7). https://mlcalliance.org/2013/02/07/so-you-want-to-know-the-terrible-trouble-with-tunicates/

NY Sea Grant | NYSG: Research News—Invasive species a worry for scallop fisheries. (2017, September 7) https://seagrant.sunysb.edu/articles/t/invasive-species-a-worry-for-scallop-fisheries-aquatic-invasive-species-research-news

2023 Research Intern: Olivia Trahan

Hey everybody! My name is Olivia Trahan, and I’m the 2023 research intern! I’m here for the summer season all the way from Raleigh, North Carolina. Fun fact - I’ve never been up North, so I took a big jump coming all the way up to Maine! I’ve loved my time here so far and I’ve already had so many wonderful experiences, both on and off the island.

Back home, I go to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where I’m majoring in Environmental Science with a concentration in Conservation, and have two minors- one in Digital Art, the other in Coastal and Environmental Writing.

My journey to Hurricane started when I flew into the Knox County Regional Airport on Saturday, June 3rd and then hopped right over to the island the next day. Starting June 5th, the entire staff came on island and we had staff training for a week. Big thanks to our galley staff for keeping us well-fed.

Earlier in June the research team was finally able to get into the swing of things as the island filled with the hustle and bustle that comes with having our awesome school groups. I had a full first day of work! I got to do some knot tying and boat driving practice with Fern, one of our captains. It was my first time learning to drive a boat and it was so much fun. I do have to admit, I was kinda nervous learning how to navigate and understand how boats reverse, as well as how to idle and switch gears. After that, I then went out with Phoebe, Chloe, Esther and Lucy on the skiff to the aquaculture farm to do some much needed cleaning. We took a few cages out of the water, and spent a while sexing and sorting scallops- most of which were for Esther’s stable isotope project (more on that in the next blog)! We deployed some cages that we had re-filled with scallops, and then I accidentally dropped one off of the float at the farm… good thing we’ve got a grappling hook. We’ve been having a lot of fun getting to know each other during our hours spent cleaning on the farm.

I’ve also started brainstorming my summer research project that I would like to complete this season. Since I’m employed by the University of Maine’s Aquaculture Research Institute, I’ll get to travel off-island in August to participate in the Student Research Symposium, held on campus, where I’ll present the findings of my project. Phoebe and I have brainstormed some potential research ideas and questions, and I’m particularly interested in why there’s such a high number of encrusting and stocked tunicate species that settle on our spat bags. From every lantern net filled with spat bags, I’m processing the top and bottom bags- so there’s some super exciting factors there that could be used for comparison. For example, is there a difference in tunicate numbers in the bags closer to the top of the water column, or the bottom?

Either way, it’s gonna be really hard to choose something that isn’t too niche of a research question, and will bring tangible results while also not having a research question that would be too broad and have too many factors that need to be assessed. Either way, I’m very excited about having a project that will be all my own hard work!

Enjoy the photos from the week of cool and funny things we’ve been up to. I plan to make our research blogs a weekly thing, so these will be up as regularly as we can manage. Have a great rest of your week, y’all!

Back in the Water

By Essie Martin

As we get into the 2023 season, we are looking forward to getting back in the chilly Maine waters!

Earlier this season we had our second (my first) dive of the season to collect wild scallops in our mooring field. During the summer season the research team spends several days a week SCUBA diving in Penobscot Bay. We do everything from population surveys, to wild scallop collections, to setting up gear on our aquaculture site.

Needless to say, diving is a big part of our jobs, and for me it is a major highlight of working with Hurricane Island. Many people have asked me what we see on the bottom in Penobscot Bay since most underwater media portrays colorful coral scenes with clear crystal blue waters.

While this is not exactly our reality, we are still privy to the kind of beauty only seen underwater.  This time of year is especially beautiful – the clear cold waters make all the life we see seem so purposeful. Kelps and irish moss are stunning shades of pink and orange while the shells of tiny hermit crabs are bright white. On almost all our dives we see lobsters that scuttle and hide under whatever they can find: rocks, abandoned traps, pieces of kelp.

We often see big jonah crabs burrowing into the mud to hide with just their eyes poking out. On our shallow dives when we survey for kelp, we see more fish than on our deeper scallop collection dives. Sometimes we’ll see schools of pollock in the distance, but often it's the smaller cunner we get to see up close in the kelp. When we are lucky, we’ve seen small bright lumpfish tucked between blades of kelp on ledges, or along a mooring line.

On my first dive off Hurricane Island, Phoebe and I saw a giant sea robin, lethargic in a hole just off our main pier. On sandy dives we see flounder, some the length of my pinky, some as big as my forearm, rushing off from place to place just above the sea floor. 

One of my favorite locations to dive is in Gaston Cove on the south end of the island. The sea floor there is completely covered in sand dollars and pastel colored seaweeds that sway with the water. As you get deeper away from the island there are ledges dotted with scallops on the sea floor around them.