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Jason Stockwell - Pelagic Ecologist
"Herring research is controversial. So, if everyone is mad at you, you're probably right there in the middle of it all," says Jason Stockwell. He laughs. Jason is a pelagic ecologist at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) in Portland, Maine. Jason is currently working on several research projects that focus on population dynamics in herring, alewives, and other fish.Jason grew up in Massachusetts and came to Northland in 1987, knowing that he wanted to study fisheries. A summer internship with the Lake Superior Biological Station in Ashland, Wisconsin, further cemented his love of fish and showed him the importance of quantitative skills in any sort of wildlife research. Math is the key.
"Anyone can go out and catch a fish, squeeze it, measure it, all that stuff," says Jason. "It's what you do with that data afterwards that separates scientists from people who just like the outdoors."
With that in mind, Jason double-majored in biology and mathematics at Northland. But he points out that his education wasn't just calculus and vertebrate physiology. He also took classes in everything from Native American worldviews to humanity and nature in literature. Jason graduated from Northland in 1991, and went directly into a doctoral program in zoology at the University of Toronto. After completing his Ph.D., he worked on post-doctoral research at Colorado State University and Michigan State University. Before taking the position at GMRI, Jason returned to Ashland to serve as station chief for the Lake Superior Biological Station, the same facility where he interned as a student.
Today, the broad perspective he gained at Northland helps him work with the varied stakeholders to whom his research is important. Research from the GMRI helps to inform the Herring Oversight Committee and other decision-makers in the New England Fisheries Management Council, the governing body for commercial fishing on the Atlantic Coast.
