Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland

Hailing from Cleethorpes, England, Kate Barley was working on a doctor of philosophy in St. John's. She has a bachelor of science in marine zoology from Bangor University in Wales, and a master of science in marine biodiversity from University of Hull in England.

Kate's research has a global focus on fishery closures/marine reserves in ecosystem based management, including how fish harvesters are involved in their design and management, community managed closures in the tropics, and the Hawke Channel closed area in Labrador. She is a scuba dive instructor and photographer and has worked and traveled on land and at sea worldwide.

Kate loves to network, learn new things and enjoys keeping fit by hiking, running and practicing yoga.

Laura Carmanico was a master of biology student with CFER. She is originally from Ottawa, Ontario, where she completed her undergraduate degree in health sciences and biology.

The goal of Laura's study was to determine if parasite abundance has increased in Atlantic cod and if the parasite load has an effect on fish condition and investment in reproduction.

Carissa Currie was a master of biology student with CFER. Originally from Moncton, New Brunswick, she recently completed her undergraduate degree at Memorial University. The main goal of Carissa's study was to determine the diet of different larval stages of Atlantic herring and explore relationships between prey production and recruitment of both spring and autumn spawning populations. She enjoys scuba diving, volunteering with Beagle Paws and being outdoors, particularly by or on the ocean.

Genevieve d'Avignon grew up on the southern shore of Montréal. She completed a double major bachelor degree in Environment & Wildlife Biology at McGill University. For her masters thesis she studied otoliths as natural tags to look at stock structure and connectivity of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in Newfoundland and Labrador waters. In the future she would like to study aquatic and marine Canadian ecosystems to improve conservation and management strategies. 

Brynn Devine was a doctor of philosophy candidate in biology at Memorial University. Originally from Texas, she completed her bachelor of science in marine biology at Texas A&M University at Galveston.

She then received her master of science in marine biology at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia where she studied the effects of ocean acidification on habitat selection in coral reef fishes.

Timothee Govare was a master of science student with CFER. While obtaining his bachelor of science degree at the University of Montreal, he developed a significant interest in microbes and their interactions with other living organisms. His research seeks to assess the contribution of unicellular eukaryotes (such as protists) to the diet of first-feeding capelin larvae. Tim enjoys living in Newfoundland for its highly accessible nature, of which he includes glorious sunrises, impressive cliffs and the ever-present ocean. 

Victoria Howse was a master of science student with CFER. Born and raised in Newfoundland, she attended Memorial University where she completed an undergraduate honors degree in biology. Her research focused on colour polymorphism in larval lobster.

Victoria completed an internship through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in Iloilo City, Philippines. Here she gained exposure to marine conservation while working in a Marine Protected Area (MPA) for seagrass monitoring and environmental education projects.  This experience helped Victoria to focus her graduate work on assessing the efficacy of MPAs to enhance Newfoundland lobster fisheries. 

Victoria accepted a lobster biologist position with BIO in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Originally from Nova Scotia, Dr. Craig Knickle grew up in Prince Edward Island where his interest in marine life was fostered. He has been involved in fisheries research in different parts of the world including the Bering Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the South Eastern US, the Indian Ocean and Newfoundland's Grand Banks. He is particularly interested in the behavioural ecology of commercially exploited marine fishes. Craig's PhD research focused on fine-scale behavioural patterns of juvenile gadids in coastal Newfoundland. Craig graduated in 2014 and currently works at the PEI Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Zakiyah Mohammed is a master of applied science student in statistics under the guidance of Dr. Noel Cadigan. She received her bachelor's degree in statistics and computer science from University of Ghana, Ghana and master's degree in mathematics from Youngstown State University, Ohio. Her current research involves modelling the growth of fish.

Darrell Mullowney is a biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada who primarily focuses on snow crab stocks throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. He has a bachelor of science in biology from Dalhousie University and a master's degree in fisheries resource management from the Marine Institute.

Darrell is pursuing a doctorate of philosophy focusing on cod and crab interactions along the Newfoundland shelf. In his ten years' experience in fisheries sciences he has worked on the Great Lakes, in Alaska, and in Nova Scotia in various capacities.

Darrell is a Newfoundlander who grew up in various parts of the province and most of his spare time is devoted to looking after his baby girl and dog, playing sports and enjoying the great Newfoundland outdoors.

Tharshanna Nadarajah was working as a Research Assistant with Dr. Noel Cadigan. A PhD candidate in statistics at Memorial University, he holds a master of science in statistics from Memorial, a master of science in applied statistics from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and a bachelor's degree in statistics and computer science from Eastern University, Sri Lanka. Tharshanna’s research at CFER involved modelling the growth of fish.

Originally from the Badlands of Drumheller, Alberta, Riley Pollom obtained two B.Sc. degrees in 2008 from the University of Calgary in Ecology and Geography. He has worked across Canada in the field monitoring biodiversity and practicing conservation biology in a wide range of ecosystems. Riley received his M.Sc. studying freshwater ecosystems in Manitoba with hydroacoustics technology. His project is part of the NSERC strategic network HydroNet which has ongoing projects across Canada and aims to promote sustainable hydropower and healthy aquatic ecosystems. Currently, Riley is a Syngnathid Research Assistant at Project Seahorse within the UBC Fisheries Centre. He studies seahorses, seadragons, pipefish and sticklebacks to assess their threat status in the wild. He also supports citizen science programs to collect and analyze data on seahorse distribution worldwide. 

Hilary Rockwood is a St. John’s, Newfoundland native who completed her bachelor of science in marine biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz with a focus on predator-prey interactions in rocky intertidal ecosystems. She also spent a portion of her undergraduate career in Queensland, Australia studying ecology and paleontology.

Hilary's masters work involved the diets and spatial distributions of gadoids in southern Newfoundland waters under changing ocean conditions driven by both global climate change and climate cycles.

Originally from Portugal Cove-St. Phillips, Bob Rogers completed his bachelor of science (Honours) degree in biology at Memorial University. His Honours work consisted of measuring sexual-size dimorphism in Newfoundland lynx. Bob's masters work is focused on the life history and abundance of haddock in Newfoundland, particularly in NAFO zone 3Ps. Bob spends his free time playing and coaching rugby as well as being active in the outdoors.

Originally from Québec, Judith Savoie is a master of environmental science student within CFER. Judith completed a bachelor in environmental chemistry and bioressources at the Université du Québec à Rimouski, UQAR and also holds a technician diploma in bioecology from the CEGEP de Sherbrooke. In the summer of 2014, Judith interned with Marie Clément at the Labrador Institute, leading her to her current masters project. Judith’s research involves determining the river of origin of the Lake Melville Atlantic salmon population by using otolith microchemistry and quantify the heavy metals contamination in the muscle tissue of the salmon. Judith is under the supervision of Marie Clément, CFER, and Richard St-Louis, UQAR.

Originally from Montreal, Violaine Shikon recently completed her bachelor of science (Honours) in marine biology at Memorial University. There, she researched the effect of capelin sperm fertilization success when exposed to different water salinities. Violaine is currently working as a summer student at CFER with Dr. Dominque Robert and will continue as a master of science student in September. Her master’s research will focus on the northerly expansion of Atlantic mackerel spawning grounds off the Northeast coast of Newfoundland, and its impact on larval growth, survival and recruitment. For this work, Violaine was awarded a Canada Graduate Scholarship from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Born and raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Fred Tulk completed a bachelor of science degree with a focus in ecology and conservation biology at Memorial University. In the summer of 2014, he held a summer position under Drs. Noel Cadigan and Dominique Robert of CFER, collecting and analyzing cod stock catch-at-age data. This eventually led to the opportunity to pursue a masters under the supervision of Noel and Dominique. Fred’s thesis research thus far consists of assessing recruitment patterns and mixing probabilities of year-classes with various cod stocks surrounding Newfoundland and parts of Labrador.

Shijia Wang completed his master of science in statistics under the guidance of Dr. Noel Cadigan. He received his bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics from Yunnan University and master's degree in probability and statistics at Wuhan University, China. His research with CFER involved longitudinal surveys and developing longer time series of abundance of DFO trawl surveys from the 1970s for 3Ps cod. Currently, SJ is working on his PhD at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

Laura Wheeland completed her MSc (Biology) with CFER, and holds a bachelor of science (Honours) in biology and environmental sciences from McMaster University. Laura's MSc work focused on aquatic ecology and hydroacoustics, which she began with CFER in January of 2011. Her graduate work used acoustic size spectra to assess fish community structure and abundance at Lac du Bonnet, a hydropower reservoir along the Winnipeg River in Manitoba. She also examined boat avoidance reactions of fish in response to small survey vessels. Laura's work was part of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada's (NSERC) HydroNet, a national research network aimed at promoting sustainable hydropower and healthy aquatic ecosystems in Canada. Laura worked as a Fisheries Technologist with CFER from September 2013 to May of 2017 and is currently an Aquatic Science Biologist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada in St. John's, NL.

Liang Zhu recently completed his undergraduate degree in biology at Queen’s University, where he developed an interest in ecological responses to climate change. His masters research under the supervision of Drs. Jonathan Fisher (CFER) and Dominique Robert (UQAR) will assess the diet and population dynamics of silver hake, a species responding to recent warming oceanographic conditions within the Gulf of St. Lawrence.