Mar 28, 2024  
2017-2018 Graduate Catalog 
    
2017-2018 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Aquaculture and Aquatic Resources


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The program leading to the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Aquaculture and Aquatic Resources is an interdisciplinary program with core faculty drawn from the School of Food and Agriculture, the School of Marine Sciences, the School of Biology and Ecology, the School of Economics, and the College of Engineering. The graduate program in Aquaculture and Aquatic Resources is designed to train professionals for a career in aquaculture and related industries or for further academic training. The M.S. and Ph.D. degrees are intended to have a strong basis in the biological and/or physical sciences with additional training and research opportunities in areas such as aquatic health, physiology and nutrition, aquaculture production, engineering, food science & technology, social sciences, policy and economics.

The Program Faculty come from multiple disciplinary areas including engineering, pathology, physiology, nutrition, seafood processing and population and habitat modeling. Faculty work with a variety of aquatic species including, but not limited to: cod, halibut, salmon, trout, oysters, clams, mussels, sea urchins, sea horses, abalone, seaweed,  and lobsters.
Consideration for admission to the M.S. program will be given to applicants holding a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution or the equivalent in one of the general areas of biology, animal science, food science, nutrition or engineering. Admission to the Ph.D. program requires a master’s degree or equivalent in a science-related discipline with prior research experience. Applicants are expected to have at least a 3.0 grade-point average. Scores from the Graduate Record Examination aptitude test (GRE) will be evaluated along with undergraduate transcripts and references from persons knowledgeable of the student’s academic potential and work ethic. Since admission into the program depends on obtaining a suitable faculty advisor, interested students should begin the application process by first contacting potential faculty advisors to find out if they anticipate accepting new students. If an Aquaculture and Aquatic Resources faculty member encourages you to apply, indicate the faculty member’s name and your proposed research area in your application’s Statement of Purpose. Once submitted, the completed application will be considered by a five-member Program Committee representing at least three of the participating units.


Upon admission, a program of study is planned by the student in consultation with the student’s advisory committee. Courses are selected from the graduate offerings of all University of Maine Departments. The interests, background courses, and future needs of the student will be considered in course selection. The student will participate in a research project developed in consultation with the advisory committee.


Extensive analytical facilities and associated research support are available on the Orono campus and associated facilities across the state. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the Aquaculture and Aquatic Resources Program, student research efforts commonly involve facilities and faculty members of several units.


The Aquaculture Research Center (ARC) is located on the Orono campus and houses numerous temperature-controlled recirculating saltwater systems from 150 gallons to 4000 gallons. Culture systems are available that are suitable for a variety of shellfish and finfish species and a live food production laboratory is available for the production of rotifers and brine shrimp. Dry lab space contains numerous microscopes including some equipped for computerized image analysis. The Center also houses a 120X8X4 ft wave tank. The wave tank is used to conduct scale model tests.
The Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research (CCAR) is located on a 24-acre site in Franklin and has 610 feet of tidal marine frontage on Taunton Bay. It is a commercial scale aquaculture facility managed by the University of Maine, and its facilities comprise both seawater and freshwater aquaculture systems. Some of the objectives of CCAR are to develop integrated aquaculture techniques, to serve as a business incubator, to produce finfish juveniles for commercial grow-out, to develop sustainable aquaculture techniques, and to train staff and students in aquaculture techniques. The Center houses a salmonid egg incubation facility, pilot scale recirculation systems for marine finfish, a marine finfish nursery, a marine broodstock facility, and several large grow-out systems. The systems currently hold halibut, cod, seaworms, sea urchins, and the red alga Porphyra.


The Darling Marine Center (DMC), located on the coast of Maine in Walpole, houses a number of state of the art facilities for the culture of a variety of shellfish species including mussels, scallops, whelks, oysters, razor clams and quahogs. The facilities at DMC include a shellfish hatchery, broodstock conditioning room and a temperature controlled room.

 

Graduate Faculty

Robert C. Bayer, Ph.D. (Michigan State), Professor. The Lobster Institute, School of Food and Agriculture. Lobster fisheries and aquaculture nutrition, management and physiology.

Brian F. Beal, Ph.D. (University of Maine), Professor. University of Maine at Machias. Shellfish aquaculture and estuarine biology.

Kathleen P. Bell, Ph.D. (University of Maryland), Professor, School of Economics. Environmental and natural resource economics, spatial modeling and analysis, human-environment interactions, and marine policy.

Timothy J. Bowden, Ph.D. (University of Aberdeen, UK), Assistant Professor of Aquaculture, Animal and Veterinary Sciences. Aquatic animal health, environmental impacts on animals, seasonality and circadian impacts.

Damian C. Brady, Ph.D. (University of Delaware), Assistant Professor.  School of Marine Sciences. Spatial and temporal dynamics of water quality and organism behavior.

Ian R. Bricknell, Ph.D. (University of Lancaster, UK), Professor.  School of Marine Sciences. Aquatic animal health, especially parasites such as sealice.

Laurie Connell, Ph.D. (University of North Carolina), Research Professor.  School of Marine Sciences, Marine algae, shellfish toxins and shellfish health.

Heather Hamlin, Ph.D. (University of Maine), Associate Professor.  School of Marine Sciences. Reproductive biology and endocrinology of aquacultured animals.

Anne Lichtenwalner, Ph.D. (University of Idaho), DVM (Oregon State University), Associate Professor School of Food and Agriculture, Extension Veterinarian and Director University of Maine Animal Health Laboratory. Animal health and animal disease surveillance.

Caroline Noblet, Ph.D. (University of Maine), Assistant Professor. School of Economics. Consumer choice, sustainable behavior, labeling.

Lewis (Brian) Perkins, Ph.D. (University of Maine), Laboratory Director and Assistant Research Professor. School of Food and Agriculture. Analytical method development for bioactive compounds, naturally occurring toxins and pesticide residues in food and environmental matrices.

Paul D. Rawson, Ph.D. (University of South Carolina), Associate Professor of Marine Science and Graduate Co-coordinator. School of Marine Science. Ecological genetics of marine invertebrates and marine bivalve aquaculture.

Denise I. Skonberg, Ph.D. (University of Washington), Associate Professor and Graduate Co-coordinator. School of Food and Agriculture. Seafood by-product utilization, seafood processing, quality evaluation of aquaculture products.

Gayle Zydlewski, Ph.D. (University of Maine), Associate Professor.  School of Marine Sciences. Environmental impact on behavior, population dynamics and physiology.

Qingping Zou, Ph.D. (University of California-San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography), Assistant Professor. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Nearshore oceanography, coastal engineering and marine renewable energy.

 

External Graduate Faculty

Carrie J. Byron, Ph.D. (University of Rhode Island), Assistant Professor. Department of Marine Science. University of New England. Food web ecology, trophic dynamics and carrying capacity of ocean foods production.

Barry A. Costa-Pierce, Ph.D. (University of Hawaii), Henry L. & Grace Doherty Professor and Chair of Marine Sciences and Director, Marine Science Center, University of New England.

Joseph Zydlewski, Ph.D. (University of Massachusetts), Assistant Unit Leader-Fisheries U.S. Geological Survey-Biological Resources Division Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Ecology & Environmental Science. Migratory behavior, ecology and physiology of fishes.

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