In This Issue:

• FEATURE: Seeking Sea Change in Ocean Literacy
• Shaping the State of New Jersey Marine Affairs
• Grassroots Organization Plants Seeds of Progress in Urban New Jersey
• The Knauss Fellowship Experience
• Coastal Vignettes

The Knauss Fellowship Experience

by Jaclyn Taylor

Jaclyn Taylor recently represented New Jersey Sea Grant as a Knauss Fellow in Washington, D.C. in 2008. She was assigned to work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA NMFS) Office of Protected Resources. She recently received her Master's degree in Ecology and Evolution from Rutgers University in October 2008. This is her Knauss Fellowship experience.

       While working as a Knauss Fellow for the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Program, I gained experience coordinating a marine mammal conservation program, and implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). My primary duty was to develop and update the policies and procedures for the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP) and serve as the lead on developing a Proposed Rule to streamline the regulations mandated under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) for marine mammal stranding response, rehabilitation and release.
       As part of the MMHSRP some my duties included responding to Congressional inquiries, developing briefing materials for Senior Executives and Congressional staffers, providing necessary logistical support for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Regional Stranding Coordinators and the director of the MMHSRP. I also assisted the Executive Secretary of the Working Group on Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events by updating content on the Working Group on Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events and the Onsite Coordinator for Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events websites, organizing the Annual Meeting and conference calls, and compiling the Annual Meeting report. The Working Group is mandated under the MMPA to determine when an unusual mortality event is occurring and to help guide response and investigation.

A NOAA NMFS team observes dolphins in the Shrewsbury River in summer 2008.

       I was able to use my local New Jersey knowledge assisting the staff of the MMHSRP, NMFS Northeast Regional Office, NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and the NMFS Southeast Fisheries Science Center when a group of bottlenose dolphins took up residence in a New Jersey river system. In June 2008, a group of 16 coastal bottlenose dolphins was reported in the Shrewsbury River in New Jersey. After assessing the situation, NOAA determined that the animals were healthy, located within their normal range, and successfully foraging in the river, and decided that intervention was not warranted. There was a great deal of media attention surrounding the dolphin situation and much public outcry. During this complex situation, I drafted responses to Congressional inquiries, prepared briefing documents, action and contingency plans for the heads of NMFS, developed Frequently Asked Questions to be distributed to the public, and organized two bottlenose dolphin public seminars.
       I also assisted with the creation of a Large Whale Injury Database that will be used as a conservation tool to monitor and evaluate large whale injuries caused by fishery interactions and ship strikes. In the database’s pilot phase it will primarily be used for large whales but will have the capability to be adapted to also include small cetaceans and pinnipeds.
       I was privileged to have the experience of organizing and facilitating the first South American Marine Mammal Stranding and Necropsy Workshop in Santiago, Chile. This workshop was led by the director of the MMHSRP and provided participants the opportunity to learn first hand from U.S. stranding network members the necessary skills to identify evidence of human interactions (including fisheries interactions) and how to collect the basic data to help identify possible causes of marine mammal strandings. While in Chile, I participated in the 60th International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting where I served as lead rapporteur for the Workshop on Cetacean Skin Diseases. The two-day Skin Disease Workshop was held during the IWC Scientific Committee Meeting, and consisted of thirty-four international participants from a range of multi-disciplinary marine mammal disease experts. As lead rapporteur for the Workshop, I compiled a report containing scientific information and management recommendations regarding emerging cetacean skin diseases which was included in the Scientific Committee report to the Whaling Commission. The Commission uses the recommendations from these scientific reports to develop and manage the whaling regulations employed by the International Whaling Commission.
       Although my Fellowship is completed, I have been invited to continue my work with the NOAA NMFS Office of Protected Resources as a contractor for the MMHSRP being assigned new projects and responsibilities.