This week flew by for me! Monday was spent at the library
digging up information on artificial reefs. I’m learning so much about the
specific needs of these reef fish, and how artificial reefs can actually
increase fishing pressure if they are not placed in the proper locations. Jon
was also able to go visit a potential coastal restoration project site at a Wildlife Management Area in Texas to get an idea of whether or not it would be worth the time and money to do the project. This information gets sent to a board of people at NFWF who ultimately decide what projects get funded. On Tuesday we
discussed what I found on the reefs, and I began to look into a new proposal we just got in
from Mississippi on researching and expanding their oyster reefs. Wednesday I got to listen in on the project
presentations from the NFWF interns at UVA! They are all assigned to a mentor
and pick a NFWF program or project to do research on. Most of them had to do
with the progress and future outcomes of the projects. These presentations were
just to show the progress they’ve made so far, and they will have final updates
when the summer is over. However, this gave Jon and Tanner the grand idea to try
and convince me do a project. Thankfully they were kidding…I think! Thursday
morning, we grabbed breakfast at Louie’s with Jean Cowan, who works for NOAA. I
was so excited to meet her and ask questions. She works a lot with the natural
resources affected by the oil spill so she’s been extremely busy with the
recent settlement that BP made. She gave me a lot of great advice for my
future. She attended the Southern University of Alabama for graduate school,
and they have a marine mammal research program that I’m extremely interested
in, so I got to talk to her all about that, as well.
My week has also been full of conference calls. On
Tuesday we went over updates on current projects throughout the Gulf, most which
are on track and successful, but also few here and there that are causing some
stress. We also had a call about the artificial reefs proposal mostly to communicate
between NOAA and NFWF, to discuss any problems to make note of, and to discuss what
comments need to be sent back. This week I've learned a lot that science isn't alway the only motive behind decisions. There is a lot of politics and other factors that need to be considered to keep stakeholders happy, and it's interesting to see how to balance all of these things.
Finally, I’m coordinating with Michelle Pico, NFWF’s
program director for marine conservation projects (specifically marine mammals
and turtles) to ask her some questions. I’m extremely interested to research
mammals or turtles in grad school and as a career so I’m super excited to get
to talk with her! I’m looking forward to asking her how she got her job and
what advice and direction she could give to me. These past two days I've been looking a lot into what I want to do in the future and what graduate programs I want to apply too. It's so exciting...and scary. But mostly really cool, especially when I get to consult with people who can give me guidance!
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