CCHESAPEAKEHESAPEAKE UARTERLYUARTERLY QQ MARYLAND SEA GRANT COLLEGE • VOLUME 2, NUMBER 3

FFollowingollowing ThoseThose WhoWho FFollowollow thethe WaterWater Bringing Anthropology to the Bay CONTENTS

3 A Life among Watermen Studying the Culture of Crabbers 7 Anthropology Close to Home Social Science on the Bay 8 Nature and Science The Watermen-Scientists Dialogues 12 An Anthropologist’s Journey A Profile of Michael Paolisso

Spotlight on Research Skip Brown 15 Combatting Oyster Disease Coastal Technology hemistry. Biology. Physics and fluid dynamics.We need all these scientific disci- Cplines and more to understand the complexities of the Chesapeake Bay and its 16 Et Cetera estuarine ecosystem. For those who want to understand the Bay not only as a system Knauss Graduate Fellowships but as a place, we will need other disciplines as well — including the branch of human REU Summer Fellowships studies we call anthropology. In this issue of Chesapeake Quarterly we take a look at what anthropologists can tell us about the watermen communities that for generations have depended on the Bay for Chesapeake Quarterly a livelihood. Volume 2, Number 3 October 2003 Tense disputes among watermen and those charged with managing the region’s fish Chesapeake Quarterly is published four and shellfish resources have pointed to often stark contrasts in the world views each times a year by the Maryland Sea Grant party brings to the negotiating table.While some may dismiss watermen as “greedy” or College for and about the marine research, education and outreach community around scientists as “out of touch,” the truth is that each group brings with it a set of values and the state. precepts — tools for measuring what is right and what is good. This newsletter is produced and funded by In “A Life Among Watermen,” we follow the work of Michael Paolisso and his team the Maryland Sea Grant College Program, which receives support from the National at the University of Maryland as they set out to experience the Bay — and the world Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and — as watermen see it, part of their effort to compare watermen’s world views with the state of Maryland. Managing Editor and those of scientists, resource managers and other technical experts. Art Director, Sandy Rodgers; Contributing Paolisso’s research among Bay watermen, his coming to know many of them and his Editors, Jack Greer and Merrill Leffler. Send items for the newsletter to: deepening understanding of their culture, has led to a unique human experiment that could have important implications for the way fisheries management in the Chesapeake Chesapeake Quarterly Maryland Sea Grant College Bay is handled in the years to come. Beginning with a series of extensive interviews and 4321 Hartwick Road, Suite 300 surveys of Eastern Shore farmers and watermen, his research has uncovered very basic University System of Maryland differences in outlook among these groups.After initial work supported by the National College Park, Maryland 20740 301.403.4220, fax 301.403.4255 Science Foundation, Paolisso received funding from Maryland Sea Grant to conduct a e-mail: [email protected] series of structured “dialogues” — conversations that have brought watermen together For more information about Maryland Sea with scientists, environmentalists and resource managers to explore their differences in Grant, visit our web site: www.mdsg.umd.edu outlook and, he says, their similarities. Will these dialogues and other exploratory efforts help to clarify disagreements among those who use the Bay and those who study and manage it? We explore the possibilities uncovered by anthropologists as they follow those who follow the water.

Cover: Getting ready for the start of crabbing season, watermen Roy Ford and son Ryan stand in the doorway of the shanty where they shed soft crabs. Opposite page: David Horseman, near the harbor in Chance, Maryland, takes a break from his work preparing his crabbing boat the Becky Rae for the upcoming season. Photos by Skip Brown.

2 • CHESAPEAKE QUARTERLY A LIFE AMONG WATERMEN BY JACK GREER

espite the cold on this early What watermen from a remote Chesapeake peeler run. Some watermen will have spring morning, David community have to say to an anthropologist set aside male crabs (jimmies) to DHorseman is down at the place in peeler pots. Female crabs marina in Chance, Maryland, work- from the other side of the Bay could change (sooks), ready to shed and to mate, ing on his boat, the Becky Rae. the way we study and manage blue crabs. will climb into the pots, caught as Named for his first two daughters, they try to reach the male crabs. Rebecca and Rachel, she is a low- The seasonal run of peelers forms slung workboat, with blue bottom paint and a red waterline, part of a rhythm tied to the water, to the weather, to cycles that some 43 feet long and 16 years old.According to Horseman, she watermen have watched and followed for decades, for genera- has seen more than one diesel engine come and go, and he has tions. But there are other people watching blue crabs as well: done most of the diesel work himself. Not to mention the car- scientists and resource managers tracking trends in the blue crab pentry. fishery and in the Bay’s abundant but ultimately finite crab pop- This year he’s replacing some of the boat’s “ceiling” — ulation.They have found that the taking of soft crabs, for exam- “What you’d call the floor,” he says, smiling. ple, has grown Baywide in the past decade or so. During this Horseman, who has lived his whole life in the small commu- same period, their scientific surveys show that the abundance of nity of Chance on Maryland’s lower Eastern Shore, will fish for mature females in the Bay has dropped dramatically. hard crabs coming out of their winter sleep — then he’ll switch As the twentieth century drew to a close and the twenty-first to peelers, blue crabs ready to molt. Most watermen in this area century began, scientists warned that their data documented an pot for hard crabs or peelers, and only a couple run long bait ongoing decline in numbers of crabs in the Bay. For watermen, lines, called trotlines. By mid-May they will be into the spring like Horseman and Roy Ford, these warnings meant the threat

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 3 • 3 of more rules and tighter restrictions on how many crabs they could catch. It also Paolisso came to the meant a storm of controversy that would divide watermen from natural resource lower Eastern Shore to managers and from scientists who, study not the crabs, through their studies, provided much of but the crabbers. the information used to guide decision makers. Preparing to cut fresh plywood for engaged in an experiment. Can the tools Becky Rae’s new ceiling, Horseman looks of modern anthropology, he asks, be used up at the bow of his boat as if in antici- to examine the growing conflict between pation of the new crab season just start- watermen who catch crabs and the scien- ing. He has no way of knowing how the tists and technical experts who track the cold and wet will hang on this spring, ups and downs of the Bay’s crab stock? right through much of summer. He has Can those tools help to address, in some no way of knowing that come September way,a troubling blue crab controversy a different kind of storm named Isabel that has led to law suits, economic uncer- will find its way from the western coast tainty and political fall-out? of Africa to the Eastern Shore of the Paolisso refers to himself and his col- Chesapeake Bay.This morning the sun is leagues as “applied anthropologists.” In out, and soon, as happens every year, their own way, they follow a path blazed there will be crabs to catch. by 20th century anthropologists like Franz Boas, Margaret Mead and Claude The Conflict over Crabbing Levi-Strauss — researchers who lived for It was the gathering storm over blue years among remote cultures, studying crabs that brought Michael Paolisso, a and learning local languages, rituals and researcher who had never studied crabs, myths, living day to day alongside their to the lower Eastern Shore to meet subjects in order to explain the distinc- watermen like Horseman and Ford. New tiveness of often closed societies.Those to the crab wars, Paolisso is an anthropol- early anthropologists provided a main- ogist, not a biologist, and he came here to stream lens through which to see what study not the crabs, but the crabbers. makes a culture unique, to better under- Paolisso has made the three-hour, stand those who differ from us and yet 150-mile trip from his home in who may have something in common. Washington, D.C. more times than he can The anthropological studies undertak- count.The long drive delivers him to en by Paolisso and his colleagues are what seems another world — from an “applied” not only because they focus on often frenetic pace amidst thick traffic to the practical concerns of their subjects, a slower-paced life in the communities of but also because they examine the poten- Deal Island, Chance and Wenona. tial for change.Among the crabbers of Surrounded by water, these Bayside Deal Island, he found a blue crab debate villages seem set apart, isolated from the that was at its roots not only a scientific rest of Somerset County by broad tidal but a cultural conflict. marshes to the east, and from the rest of When Paolisso began interviewing the world by the wide open stretches of watermen in earnest, he walked into a Son of a waterman, Ryan Ford (top) world where things were not going very culls crabs as his father Roy pulls in the next Tangier Sound and the Chesapeake Bay pot. Soft crabs bring good money on to the west. Paolisso, an Associate Pro- well — at least not where blue crabs Maryland’s lower Eastern Shore, where fessor of Anthropology at the University were concerned. Harvests were declining, watermen often land three-quarters of the of Maryland College Park, has been com- independent surveys were showing a state’s soft crab harvest.A crab boat heads into ing here to speak with watermen and shrinking crab stock, and some watermen harbor at Wenona. Roy Ford (bottom) was were working harder to earn less. one of the first watermen to take anthropolo- their families, to learn how they think, to gist Michael Paolisso out crabbing on the better understand just who they are. Whether or not the Bay blue crab was in Chesapeake. Photos by Skip Brown. Like other researchers, Paolisso is trouble was, however, the subject of con-

4 • CHESAPEAKE QUARTERLY Maryland

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y Crisfield siderable disagreement. Some watermen, best analysis of the blue crab data they including many on Maryland’s lower had collected.The watermen, on the Eastern Shore where crabbing had other hand, were countering with opin- remained strong, questioned whether ions shaped by observing blue crabs up there really was a crisis which would close during long days and years of work- serve as justification for more regulation. ing the water. For all these reasons, frustration Yet the conclusions reached by each among many watermen was rising like a group were not only different, but tidal surge, and a good deal of anger was seemed to focus on different kinds of aimed at “the State.”When watermen information, seemed to place emphasis speak of the State they are most often on different parts of the problem. Paolisso referring to the Department of Natural wanted to understand those differences. Resources (DNR), the agency charged This, then, is largely why Paolisso has with managing Maryland’s recreational come to the lower Eastern Shore — to and commercial fisheries. discover not only the rough wisdom of “There were some pretty harsh Chesapeake watermen, but what he calls words,” says Paolisso, who listened care- their “cultural models.” fully to watermen both in private inter- Cultural models, explains Paolisso, are views and at public hearings designed to perceptual frames we carry with us wher- gather stakeholder input. ever we go. No matter what picture the At many of these public forums — world presents, he says, that picture will especially those held near commercial be filtered through a frame — a system fishing communities — Paolisso wit- of deeply held beliefs and values that nessed deep divisions between watermen shapes the way information comes to us. and managers and a broad sense of mis- Poets and philosophers have long trust. In some cases watermen accused understood this dynamic.We “half create” the State and the scientists who advised and half perceive, wrote the English poet Awash in wire pots, Wenona (top) lies near the heart of Tangier Sound’s rich crab- them of “lying,” presumably to push William Wordsworth two hundred years bing grounds. For nearly twenty years,Arby through their regulatory program. ago. In fact, much of modern philosophy Holland has run the local general store in “What I wanted to do,” says Paolisso, has dealt with precisely this problem — Wenona, at the island’s southern tip.Taking a “was to understand the nature of these the struggle to determine and articulate break in Arby’s cozy back room (bottom), disagreements, to understand better what the degree to which what we perceive is Arby Holland joins watermen (from right to left) Paul Holland, Ted Webster (standing) was dividing them.” In his view, each side shaped by what we expect to see, by and Albert Hoffman for a game of “58.” was, for the most part, acting in good beliefs and assumptions we bring with us. Photos by Skip Brown. faith.The scientists were presenting the Even in science, the most objective of

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 3 • 5 disciplines, philosophers like Thomas Kuhn have argued that day by day most scientists work within the context of pre- vailing ideas, or “paradigms” — the lenses through which hypotheses are made and experiments structured.At intervals, Kuhn argues, these paradigms shift, as when the Italian astronomer Galileo (1564-1642) presented convincing evi- dence for the Copernican view that the earth revolved around the sun (and not the other way around). Or when Albert Einstein argued that space could curve and light could bend. For those clinging to the old paradigms, such “redefinitions” can appear cataclysmic. For applied anthropologists like Paolisso the question is not so much a Skip Brown philosophical as a practical one. For Looking for a better season, workboats rigged for oystering wait in Wenona harbor. example, precisely how do the cultural With the decline of the Bay’s oyster stocks, watermen have banked their hopes on the blue crab, the Chesapeake’s last great fishery. models of watermen differ from those of farmers, or scientists, or resource man- small bridge graces the remote harbor of by outside attitudes. The communities agers? What fundamental beliefs, based on Wenona, a kind of land’s end for this part are, in a sense, less “assimilated,” and if personal knowledge, religious faith and of the Eastern Shore.To further confuse there is any part of the Bay likely to experience, underlie a waterman’s model matters, Chance was once called Rock escape the uncertain change brought by of how nature behaves, or of how people Creek, and the local church is called the development, it may be here. should behave? What fundamental beliefs, Rock Creek United Methodist Church. Not only do the waters of Tangier informed by academic training, affect the For Horseman, and for most who Sound and the Chesapeake surround way a scientist approaches the natural grew up here, the bridges that connect Deal Island, but in many places even the world and the people who harvest its them also define some very distinct divi- landscape lacks substance and definition. resources? In what ways are these beliefs sions.When he was young Horseman’s With its long low points of land, the Deal connected to particular groups living in mother warned him,“Don’t go across the Island area shares less with the region’s particular places — whether they are sci- bridge.” But if Chance or Wenona or the farm fields, highways and chicken houses entists, who come from academic and community of Deal Island cling to their and more with the tidal marshlands and perhaps even urban backgrounds, or differences, they also see themselves as countless guts and creeks that reach far watermen, who are most often tied to closely linked through work, marriage up Fishing Bay and nearby rivers — the the coastal communities and local rivers and local social life, particularly in con- Honga, Nanticoke and Wicomico. Like where they live and work? Finally, given trast to larger communities — including its sister islands, Deal answers to the tide these differences, can watermen and sci- the growing suburban enclaves that and, as it has for centuries, to the rising entists ever understand each other? increasingly surround the Chesapeake. sea. Like many traditional communities, the In this marshy outpost, Paolisso has A Place Far Removed watermen and their neighbors on Tangier discovered a distinct and for him very David Horseman will tell you that he Sound are facing a tough challenge: mak- different culture, the culture of does not live in Deal Island, though the ing a living from an increasingly populat- Chesapeake watermen.“They draw a map may suggest that he does.“I live in ed Chesapeake Bay. very clear line when it comes to who is Chance,” Horseman says, smiling with A faded sign above Arby’s, the local a waterman and who isn’t,” says Paolisso, patience for those unschooled in local general store in Wenona (no relation to though for an outsider it may be hard to geography. Chance lies at the end of a the fast food chain) says,“It’s not the end say exactly where that line falls.A part- long road heading west and south toward of the world, but you can see it from time crabber may or may not be a water- the Bay from Princess Anne, Maryland. here.”The remoteness of the Deal Island man, he says, depending on background, At Chance a slender concrete bridge area has provided Paolisso with a valuable experience, attitude — a host of subtle connects the mainland to Deal Island and field setting where watermen communi- attributes. then, as the island reaches its end, another ties have, over time, been less influenced Though not everyone works the

6 • CHESAPEAKE QUARTERLY water here, water dominates the island’s identity, as witnessed by the sign welcom- Anthropology Close to Home ing travelers to the “Home of the Skipjacks” — the rake-masted oyster nce anthropology brought us glimpses into cul- sloops native to this region. Deal Island Otures far away and very unlike our own. Now serves as one of the last remaining ports anthropologists also study groups and behaviors for the Bay’s aging fleet of skipjacks, hon- closer to home and more familiar — anthropology ored as Maryland’s official state boat. today is often studying not “them” but “us.” Alongside the low-slung workboats so Anthropologists carry out their investigations in the field of human endeavor, in this case working characteristic of Bay watermen, skipjacks with watermen on their boats, speaking with them, Skip Brown like the City of Crisfield, the Somerset, the conducting intensive interviews. Like researchers in Fanny Daugherty,the Caleb Jones and the other disciplines, Michael Paolisso and his colleagues have developed a tool kit of analytical Ida May often adorn the harbors of Deal methods and techniques to evaluate the data they collect. For the most part, those data Island and Wenona. Come oyster season, are derived from recorded language and the ideas that language represents. For example, Paolisso and his team use a computer program (called Atlas.ti) that allows the researcher these old sailboats leave home, driven to search and code transcribed interviews for key terms and phrases and other important north to search out the few remaining language patterns — patterns that may reveal base assumptions or underlying beliefs. oysters in the upper Bay. While field studies undertaken by Paolisso and his academic colleagues may result in With the demise of the oyster fishery, scholarly articles in such journals as Human Organization and American Anthropologist,as crabbing is now king in this part of the applied anthropologists their aim is also to form a deep connection with the communities Chesapeake. Soft shells are by far the they study. “There is a debate among anthropologists,” says Erve Chambers, past president of the most lucrative catch, bringing watermen Society for Applied Anthropology and chair of the Anthropology Department at the Uni- a good dollar or more per crab. versity of Maryland.“In fact you could say it divides the discipline.” That divide separates According to the Maryland Department those who hold that anthropologists should record their observations at a distance from of Natural Resources, in 2002 soft crabs those who want to become more engaged.The first group argues that anthropologists made up only five percent of Maryland’s should, like their colleagues in the physical and biological sciences, be careful not to affect the outcomes of their objective experiments.The second group holds that human commu- blue crab harvest, but some twenty-two nities are, finally, human, and involvement is not only inevitable but desirable. Paolisso and percent of the value.Watermen like Chambers describe themselves as belonging squarely in this second camp — among those Horseman, Roy Ford and others have who work closely with their subjects and want their work to be relevant to pertinent invested in shanties that house long trays issues, issues such as blue crab management in the Chesapeake Bay. for shedding large numbers of peeler As has often been said, fisheries management is less about managing fish than it is about crabs.As Ford points out, this is a full- managing people. The challenge facing resource managers in the Chesapeake Bay remains how to use the knowledge of both scientists and watermen to assure a sustainable blue time family business during the season, crab spawning stock.Work by anthropologists is helping to suggest ways in which these with wives and children playing a key groups — managers, scientists and watermen — might work more closely together to role by monitoring trays (still called break through historical barriers and find new ways to achieve their common goal of a “floats”) and picking out crabs after they thriving blue crab population in the Chesapeake. shed and before the other crabs can eat Paolisso's work follows on other anthropological studies of fishing communities, such as James M. Acheson's The Lobster Gangs of Maine (1988) and Bonnie McKay's study of the them or bad water can kill them. oyster fishery in Oyster Wars and the Public Trust (1998). As Acheson noted in his study of With each of Deal Island’s three com- lobstermen, his education as a social anthropologist helped him “to look at my own state munities claiming about 300 people, this as any anthropologist looks at a society to be studied.” Acheson spent years studying the is a tight-knit world.Time seems to stand lobster fishery, and found communities of lobstermen very hierarchical, with a kingpin or still here, though clear evidence of its “king” often “running things” in any given harbor. Paolisso's work seems to find less hierar- passing has marked some of the island’s chy and more individualism, the kind of individualism suggested in lyrical and insightful descriptions of watermen by such writers as William Warner in Beautiful Swimmers (1976) structures — like one of the island’s few and Tom Horton in An Island Out of Time (1996). brick buildings, the Deal Island bank, What separates Paolisso's work from other writings about Chesapeake crabbers is the long abandoned, with vines climbing the analytical framework he brings to the subject and the cultural models he is trying to con- walls, its empty windows counting sea- struct to describe how, for watermen, the world works. sons come and gone. According to Paolisso, Deal Island presents a welcome contrast to city living es, all quite separate, not only the one fre- ter, who will preach a sermon at one — there is no constable, he says, or other quented by those of African descent, but church, and then move on to the next. symbol of authority, only a Lions Club several others as well, mostly Methodist, “They are very independent,” he says. and a volunteer fire department.And any but all distinct.According to Paolisso, While the people of Chance,Wenona visitor will notice the number of church- three of the churches use the same minis- and Deal Island are friendly, the bound-

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 3 • 7 Nature and Science: The Watermen-Scientists Dialogues

n a meeting room at the Wye Research and Educa- thetic ear as staff from the Maryland DNR described Ition Center, a University of Maryland facility near “We wanted see if we the difficulties they face trying to work on the com- Queenstown on the Eastern Shore, watermen gave plex and politically charged blue crab issue. up several days of work to attend three meetings could get beyond Rom Lipcius, a well-known crab expert from last year to meet with Paolisso and his team. Scien- surface disagreements VIMS, added that around the country and even tists gave up those same days, coming from the Uni- around the world scientists are being asked to be versity of Maryland Center for Environmental Sci- to the underlying more proactive, to identify warning signs more loudly ence (UMCES), the Virginia Institute of Marine Sci- values that they when they spot them. ence (VIMS), the Smithsonian Environmental Hines agreed, and pointed to the collapse of Research Center (SERC) and other marine laborato- all share.” ground fisheries on Georges Bank as a prime exam- ries. Technical experts from the Maryland DNR also ple. In that case, he said,“scientists didn’t advocate came, hoping for a more constructive conversation than often clearly enough.” occurs at public hearings. “If blue crab stocks were to collapse in the Chesapeake Bay,” said At the first meeting considerable uncertainty filled the air. What Lipcius, looking at his fellow scientists,“we would feel this as a personal exactly was this all about? Would it prove a waste of time? failure.” “We wanted to see if we could get beyond surface disagree- According to Smith Island waterman Eddie Evans,“It all comes ments to the underlying values that they all share,” said Paolisso. He down to trust. Can I trust Tuck? Will he trust me? Will managers began with an exercise that “mapped” on a large piece of paper the trust what scientists tell them?” The key, he said,“is being honest.” various crab-related issues that watermen and scientists found espe- Though he is still analyzing the transcripts, Paolisso saw an apparent cially important — then the group aggregated these key issues progression during the three meetings. In the first, he says, participants around basic concerns or “interests.” — especially watermen — stated their grievances and argued their “By getting people to look beyond issues — where they may case. At the second gathering, participants began to listen to each often disagree — to their underlying interests, we can get them to other, and the scientists seemed more willing to open up. By the third understand not only what they believe, but why they hold those meeting the conversations came fast and fluid, and those gathered beliefs.” around the table seemed to address each other more as individuals, in While a number of watermen complained that their knowledge an easy, informal manner. is often not appreciated by others, scientists too expressed some As part of his effort to build understanding, Paolisso has encour- frustration at being misunderstood. Anson “Tuck” Hines, a long-time aged workplace exchanges between watermen and scientists. Some crab researcher at SERC, commented that most people don’t of the participants have taken up this offer and now feel they have a understand how scientists work. “They usually work to disprove better sense of what kind of work the others do. “I didn’t know who something,” he said, not necessarily to build a case for a particular they were,” says Evans, speaking of scientists like Hines and Yonathan way of doing things. That, he argued, is just how science works. Zohar, who directs the University of Maryland Center of Marine When it comes to a better working relationship among water- Biotechnology. Evans has now seen how fast crabs can grow in the men, scientists and management agencies, Hines said,“Non-coopera- laboratory, and this squares well with his own observations about tion hasn’t worked. So that has been ‘disproved.’ So how do we crabs. test whether cooperation works?” Seeing the kind of work they each do and understanding where Hines and others also described the difficulty of getting grants their information is coming from has helped to build a bridge between and running research laboratories and the constant worry about participants with very different backgrounds. Says Evans,“That’s how adequate funding.Watermen seemed to understand the themes of you gain respect.” hard work and financial worries.They also listened with a sympa- aries marking their water-borne geogra- model,” Paolisso had to collect and cate- scripts of surveys and interviews, at times phy are tightly drawn, and winning their gorize his data in a rigorous and system- using specially designed computer soft- trust can prove difficult for an outsider. atic way. He began with informal con- ware programs employed by researchers No doubt Paolisso’s genuine interest and versations, then he and his team moved to track repeated words and phrases, as easy manner played a role in his ability into more highly structured interviews well as recurring themes. to befriend David Horsemen, Roy Ford designed to target, for example, certain For Paolisso the world view of and the others here. His enthusiasm is underlying assumptions about govern- Chesapeake watermen, as revealed in boyish and forthright. It is clear that he ment, about pollution, about nature.The their choice of words, represented a new, really wants to learn — about culling team also circulated surveys that raised uncharted territory. crabs, about how shedding floats particular questions about beliefs and val- work, about what watermen think and ues — some of those surveys were dis- Mapping the Gulf believe. tributed by school children as a way of Paolisso’s work could not have come To draw a coherent picture of the encouraging more participation.The at a more difficult time for the blue crab waterman’s world view, his “conceptual anthropologists closely analyzed tran- fishery. Not only were harvests faltering,

8 • CHESAPEAKE QUARTERLY but the Chesapeake Bay Commission’s she says, that there was a serious level of Toward Cultural Models Bi-State Blue Crab Advisory Committee miscommunication. Early in the new crab season, about a (BBCAC) was then moving into high Paolisso’s joining the Technical Work dozen watermen, tired after a long day’s gear, trying to determine the true status Group met with some skepticism. work in the sun, drive over at dusk to the of the crab stock and to recommend new Compared with the quantitative models Rock Creek Church in Chance to hear targets for how many crabs watermen used in stock assessment, the anthropolo- Michael Paolisso speak about his findings. could catch. gist’s science seemed less clear.After his In the activity hall next to the Church, When Paolisso first encountered the first formal presentation to the group, they find women preparing food and blue crab committee, the scientists work- however, their attitudes appeared to Paolisso and his assistant hooking up ing with its Technical Work Group had change. Discussion was lively.The cultural wires and cables on a digital projector. already set their sights firmly on establish- model that Paolisso presented based on Seeing the fried chicken, potato salad and ing a maximum fishing threshold for his research — illustrating watermen’s desserts spread out on long buffet tables, crabs Baywide, something never before conceptualization of how nature, science the watermen seem immediately hungry. achieved in the Chesapeake.The Work and regulations combine to manage the The anthropologists clearly feel com- Group, after much intense discussion and blue crab fishery — drew intense interest fortable in this community, but here in debate, reached a consensus on those lim- from the other researchers, who were this church hall they face something of a its, leading to a commitment on behalf of accustomed to constructing models of moment of truth. For many months they Maryland,Virginia and the Potomac their own. In some way, it seemed, he had have conducted interviews, surveys and River Fisheries Commission to reduce been accepted into their ranks. Just as he other forms of data gathering.They have fishing pressure on the crab stock by had built a relationship with watermen rented a house on the island, and spent some 15 percent. on the Eastern Shore, Paolisso was build- many days and nights visiting and talking Most working crabbers, however, dis- ing another bridge — to the scientists, and learning.They have worked to bring agreed with that consensus.Those who many of whom had spent years, perhaps watermen together with scientists and witnessed the public hearings or spoke even their entire careers, studying the natural resource managers in three struc- privately with watermen and their fami- blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. tured dialogue sessions.Tonight,they will lies realized that decision makers faced a His next challenge was to put the represent some of their results to the very very tough challenge — in part because watermen and scientists in the same group they have been studying. How will they lacked credibility with the crabbers room, to have them explore not only this group react? Will they say, in effect, they were charged with regulating. their differences but their common inter- “Don’t go across that bridge?” Watermen seemed to dismiss out of hand ests. Following on two meetings between It’s an informal setting for a science the data researchers had carefully collect- watermen and scientists on Tangier and presentation. In the back of the hall ed and analyzed, in some cases accusing Smith islands, sponsored by the someone plays ping pong with one side the scientists of ineptitude or outright Chesapeake Bay Commission and of the table propped up on a floor that lying. What, Paolisso wondered, was BBCAC, Paolisso set up a series of three slants like a sloping deck. In the front of driving this mistrust, this apparent inabili- structured dialogues, funded by Maryland the room, watermen and anthropologists ty to communicate? How could a more Sea Grant. Here watermen and scientists line up at the buffet and fill their plates. technical world view be reconciled with could, with the help of Paolisso’s facilita- The spirit of a picnic fills the air, until one based more on tradition and personal tion team, share observations and opin- everyone finds a seat, the ping pong stops experience? ions, working to get beyond the issues and the anthropologists begin their talk. When Ann Swanson, chair of the blue that so often divide them. Using both They start by sharing some of what crab Technical Work Group, heard there free-wheeling conversation and more they’ve learned about watermen.They was an anthropologist spending time liv- structured exercises aimed at uncovering report that of the watermen surveyed in ing among the watermen, she invited beliefs and assumptions, Paolisso worked the Deal Island area, the average age is Paolisso to join her technical team — the to move the group from uneasy mistrust 48, with some watermen over 75. Of first time an anthropologist had been toward shared understanding. (See Nature those surveyed, the average waterman in brought into this inner circle of marine and Science: The Watermen-Scientists this area has been crabbing for 32 years. biologists, ecologists, population dynami- Dialogues.) One person has been crabbing for 65 cists and other “hard science” researchers. “We were not expecting for one side years — so Paolisso concludes that he “After hearing from their constitu- to convince the other that they were must have started around age 10. ents, the members [of the Chesapeake right,” Paolisso said.“We were just hoping The watermen seem interested in Bay Commission] made it clear that to build a better level of understanding, these facts, and nod in agreement that stakeholders needed a voice in these of communication among groups that most who work the water for a living are deliberations,” Swanson says. It was clear, had not been communicating very well.” getting grayer.

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 3 • 9 Then Paolisso begins to report on one thing he has learned is that the sci- some of the more fundamental findings. Researchers see a lack of entists are “dedicated.” The majority of watermen responding to “They are trying to do a good job the survey said that they “agree” or opportunity for scientists, just like we are,” he says. “strongly agree” with these propositions: watermen and other Paolisso tells the group that everyone stakeholders to come together he’s talked to and worked with wants to • We should just let the Bay’s natural protect the blue crab and the watermen cycles follow their own rhythm. to share their knowledge who catch them. • Scientists should focus their research about the blue crab. A waterman notes that “we [the energies on pollution in the Bay. watermen and environmental profession- • “Effective management” should not be als] have common goals but different based only on science. crabs in pots, for example — they would methods.” • “Nature’s unpredictability” provides see things first hand. He points to the Paolisso nods.This is, in part, what he the greatest assurance that natural impact of predators like croakers that has hoped for — that while not necessar- resources like crabs will not be have turned up in great numbers during ily agreeing with each other the different overharvested. the past several years and are found inside groups begin to understand that they • God and Nature are the best crab pots. each are “dedicated” in their own way, “managers” of natural resources. Waterman Grant Corbin — who that though they have different vantage made a memorable appearance in William points, they do in fact have central goals By contrast, scientists and professional War ner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, in common. environmentalists often “disagreed” or Beautiful Swimmers — adds that many sci- Researchers who have participated in “strongly disagreed” with these state- entists may not have seen what he’s seen the dialogues also say that they have ments. From the watermen and their following the harsh winter of 2002. learned from these discussions. Jacques wives in the room there are nods or According to Corbin, 50 to 70 percent of van Montfrans and Rom Lipcius, both of shaking heads as Paolisso reports his find- crabs in less than 10 feet of water died. the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, ings.With these kinds of questions and Speaking of recent regulations meant to see a lack of opportunity for researchers, answers, Paolisso can begin to outline the protect the spawning stock, Corbin says watermen and other stakeholders to key beliefs of watermen’s view of the that “we saved the crabs just to have come together to share their knowledge natural world — and spotlight the key them die.” and opinions about the blue crab.“It’s too reasons watermen and scientists seldom As the watermen speak, they reaffirm bad that the states [Virginia and communicate well. what Paolisso has heard in countless Maryland] haven’t continued to fund the The survey, the anthropologists report, interviews: that in the end Nature, and Bi-State Blue Crab Advisory Com- also reveals some common ground. For not man, will determine how many crabs mittee,” says van Montfrans. Researcher example, both the watermen and the — or fish or shellfish — will be in the Tom Miller from the University of environmental professionals agreed that Bay. Paolisso tells the group that scientists Maryland Center for Environmental working watermen’s knowledge of the understand that natural cycles do influ- Science agrees, saying,“It’s a shame.A Bay is important for sound management, ence crab abundance, but that scientific golden opportunity lost.” and both groups agreed that it is impor- models attempt to offer predications on Miller goes on to say,“I think these tant for watermen and scientists to share what Nature is going to provide. [dialogues] have been incredibly useful.” their knowledge about the blue crab. Some watermen shake their heads, Miller, who was instrumental in analyzing After Paolisso’s presentation, a silence but David Horseman, who has participat- current efforts to limit fishing pressure on falls over the empty paper plates and plas- ed in the watermen-scientists dialogues the Bay’s crab stock, says he feels that some tic tablecloths.The watermen and their organized by Paolisso, speaks up.“It’s of the watermen have begun to see that wives have listened attentively, and appear where scientists come from,” he says. “decisions are not based on smoke and genuinely interested in the results, but “They’re drilled on black and white evi- mirrors” but on “reasonable judgments.” some seem puzzled. Roy Ford says he is dence. Faith is a bad word for them.We Within the responses of the “surprised” that scientists don’t under- rely on faith.This is God’s Nature.They researchers lies evidence of another set of stand the role of God and Nature and [the scientists] come from a different core beliefs. Scientists, whatever their reli- unpredictability in the cycles of blue world. But I see a lot of common gious affiliation, also have a faith, as crabs.“They’re thinking inside the box,” ground.” Albert Einstein said, in the divine order he says. Horseman, who has listened to scien- of things, a faith that careful scrutiny and Ford argues that if scientists got out tists speak about their work during the an open mind will lead to revelations of on the water more — if they caught structured dialogues, tells the group that elemental truth.

10 • CHESAPEAKE QUARTERLY Seeking Basic Beliefs: Surveying Watermen and Environmental Professionals

Teasing out basic Periods of reduced harvests (crops, fish, crabs The knowledge of people whose livelihood directly beliefs, Paolisso and and oysters) are due primarily to natural cycles. depends on working the land and water is essential his team posed a to scientific knowledge of the environment. long list of questions to watermen and Watermen Environmental Professionals Watermen Environmental Professionals 50 40 environmental 50 40 professionals 40 30 40 30 (researchers, techni- 30 30 cians, natural resource 20 20 20

experts). On some Frequency Frequency Frequency 20 Frequency 10 issues the two groups 10 10 10 largely agreed — 0 0 0 0 including the impor- SD D SWD SWA ASA SD D SWDSWA A SA SD D SWD SWA ASA SD D SWD SWA ASA tance of watermen’s experience for Unpredictability is nature’s own way of ensuring God and Nature are the best managers assembling “scientific” that natural resources are not overharvested. of natural resources. knowledge about the environment.The two Watermen Environmental Professionals Watermen Environmental Professionals groups strongly dis- 60 30 agreed, however, over 50 30 60 50 very fundamental 40 statements, such as, 20 40 20 30 “God and Nature are 30 Frequency 20 Frequency Frequency Frequency best managers of 10 20 10 natural resources.” 10 10 Graphs redrawn from 0 0 0 0 Michael Paolisso SD D SWD SWA ASA SD D SWD SWA ASA SD D SWD SWA ASA SD D SWD SWA ASA 2003. SD=Strongly Disagree D=Disagree SWD=Somewhat Disagree SWA=Somewhat Agree A=Agree SA=Strongly Agree

the region around North Carolina’s outer and shops filled, leaving merchandise It is this belief in the scientific process banks, just south of the Bay’s mouth, for ruined. Homes along so many Bay rivers — a conviction that at the end of honest landfall. and coves saw tidal waters rise and rise inquiry the truth will out — that propels Building to the strength of a category until waves washed into living rooms and science and scientists forward into the 5, Isabel threatened the kind of devasta- bedrooms. On Deal Island, wind and uncertain worlds of physics, chemistry tion brought by Hugo in South Carolina water took away crab shanties and dam- and biology. In a sense, the scientist lives in 1989, or by Andrew in Florida in aged homes and docks.“Some people [in with the uncertainty of unanticipated 1992. But luck was largely with water- the Deal Island area] had 17 inches of results, just as the waterman lives with the men and others along the Atlantic water in their house,” says Horseman. natural world’s uncertain seasons. seaboard — Isabel dropped from a cate- Then in a somber tone he says,“It There lies, it seems, a kind of faith at gory 5 to 4 to 3 to 2. Even so, its storm was the worst on Hooper Island.They either end of the bridge, and anthropolo- surge and strong easterly winds (in the lost the road. Houses flooded.We heard gists like Paolisso are trying to draw con- storm’s most dangerous northeast quad- picking houses were destroyed.” He also ceptual maps to help us understand the rant) brought rising waters well up the heard that Tangier Island, about twenty terrain of those very different landscapes. Bay, along with gusts strong enough to miles south across the Virginia line, was knock down trees and power lines, leav- hard hit, with power lines down and crab Crossing the Bridge ing some without power for days, or even shanties in splinters. weeks. But in Chance, David Horseman was As the summer of 2003 drew to a All up and down the Chesapeake lucky. close, the watermen of Chance, Deal Isabel’s high winds and a record-breaking “I thought my shanty would be the Island and Wenona broke with the nor- surge flooded streets and homes.At the first to go,” he says — but it wasn’t.With mal rhythms of September.They pulled Virginia Institute of Marine Science in his shanty intact, his boat safely moved far their pots and moved their workboats far Gloucester Point, buildings were flooded, up the Wicomico River to Salisbury and up river, away from the open waters of piers and hatchery tanks destroyed. In his home on higher ground than some, the Bay. Hurricane Isabel had formed in Baltimore and Annapolis roads flooded the Atlantic, and meteorologists picked Continued on page 14

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 3 • 11 PROFILE AN ANTHROPOLOGIST’S JOURNEY BY JACK GREER

orn on a farm in Indiana, Much of his initial work, funded by Michael Paolisso soon moved to the National Science Foundation, BSouthern California, where he focused on farmers, and then on the dif- grew up — about as far from the ferences between farmers, fishermen and Chesapeake as one can get in the conti- environmental professionals. His research nental United States.Though originally team surveyed a range of individuals heading for law school, Paolisso found his from each group, examining how they interests gravitating toward the study of reacted to such terms as “pollution” or people and their behavior.Above all, he “government” or “nutrients.” wanted to study people who work “Because we wanted to work with directly with nature, like farmers and watermen as well as farmers, we drove fishermen. down to Deal Island,” Paolisso says. In “I find them very courageous,” says 1998 the anthropologists rented a small Paolisso, who admires the ability of farm- house on the road between Princess ers and fishermen to live by their wits in Anne and Deal Island; then in 2000 they the midst of considerable uncertainty. moved into a rented house on Deal After receiving his doctorate from the Island proper.When Paolisso attended a University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), the young Lion’s Club meeting in Chance, he met David Horseman, Roy anthropologist’s early work took him to East Africa, Nepal and Ford and others. Paolisso had begun to develop a keen interest in Latin America. In Honduras, for example, he studied the inter- the watermen’s community there, and that interest has continued play between gender and the use of natural resources, focusing to grow. on the role of women, often in the context of significant envi- Blue crabs, he found, were a very hot topic, especially with ronmental degradation. After academic appointments at Smith new regulations looming on the horizon.The watermen pep- College, George Washington University, and the International pered him with theories, opinions and prognostications. He real- Center for Research on Women, he arrived at the University of ized at once that blue crabs would provide him a valuable win- Maryland College Park in 1997. dow into perceptions of environmental issues and into an under- For someone interested in studying fishermen and farmers, standing of the differing cultural models each group brings to 1997 turned out to be a particularly significant year in those issues. Chesapeake Bay country — during that August fish kills and Paolisso then focused his efforts more squarely on the human health problems, especially among some watermen, Chesapeake Bay blue crab and the watermen of Deal Island. brought headlines announcing a novel marine dinoflagellate The first waterman to take Paolisso aboard was Roy Ford, called Pfiesteria. Soon a firestorm of controversy broke out who showed him how to tong for oysters. By now Paolisso has between scientists, between watermen and farmers, between state gone out with a half-dozen watermen or more, oystering, crab- agencies and environmentalists. Paolisso and Erve Chambers, now bing — often helping at the culling board to separate the oysters chair of the Anthropology Department at College Park, could see and crabs they can keep from the ones they have to throw back. immediately that “people were coming to this debate with very “At first David Horseman was hesitant to speak with me,” different perceptions, very different cultural models.” Paolisso says.“It took four or five phone calls.”Then Horseman Paolisso saw a special opportunity — he wanted to know and his wife Linda invited him over, and they sat around the what those “cultural models” were. dining room table and talked. “It was a great talk,” he says,“that “We came to Somerset County, because that’s where the covered a wide range of issues. Since then there have been poultry farms are,” he says.Those poultry operations were sus- many wonderful talks and dinners around that same table.” pected contributors to over-nutrification, and therefore, the In the end, Paolisso says, he found not only a cultural model, theory went, potentially to the emergence of Pfiesteria.And so it but a group of hard-working people, generous of spirit, who was Pfiesteria and its possible connection to phosphorus from took him into their confidence and taught him a lot about what poultry waste that initially brought Paolisso to Maryland’s lower it means to live and work in step with the unpredictable rhythms Eastern Shore. of the Chesapeake Bay.

12 • CHESAPEAKE QUARTERLY Sharing a quiet moment in the back of Arby’s General Store, waterman Ted Webster and anthropologist Michael Paolisso seem to ponder the challenge before them. Can those who work the water and those who study and manage the Bay’s fisheries find their way to a common language and a deeper under- standing of the shared values that join them? Opposite page: Paolisso talks to David Horseman as he takes a break from working on his boat. Photos by Skip Brown. Watermen, from page 11 entists in this group now talk to each other.When he was explaining some of For More Information Horseman and his family came through his observations about blue crabs, the fine.“We never even lost electricity,” he scientists seemed very interested.When Video Clips Hines was explaining the crab’s migration says.There is in his voice a hint of disbelief To see video clips about anthropology as he says,“I never had no problem at all.” and life cycle, he in turn found this very and the Chesapeake, visit the electronic He says he hates to talk about his interesting.“He was telling me new version of the magazine, Chesapeake good fortune when so many others lost stuff,” Horseman says. “It’s been very Quarterly Online, at www.mdsg.umd. edu/CQ/. shanties, boats, homes. But for Horseman positive.” all in all this was a good year.The supply There have been changes among Books of soft crabs was “steady” and the price managers as well.At the Maryland The Lobster Gangs of Maine. 1988. James Department of Natural Resources, pro- stayed high.“The price is so good now. M. Acheson. Hanover, New Hampshire: With soft crabs the price is always good. grams have begun to engage watermen in University Press of New England. We’ve been getting a couple dollars for a recording data based on crab catches. Oyster Wars and the Public Trust. 1998. jumbo [soft shell],” he says.“And you can The DNR has also launched a new Blue Bonnie J. McKay. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. keep ’em [frozen],” he adds, selling them Crab Task Force to gather greater input The Estuary’s Gift: an Atlantic Coast Cul- well into winter.They’re “just like gold.” into the management of the fishery, tural Biography. 1999. David C. Grif- Though crabbing has taken all his where they will no doubt face the same fith. University Park, Pennsylvania: time during the summer, this fall Horse- challenge of linking watermen’s knowl- Pennsylvania State University Press. An Island Out of Time: A Memoir of man will travel that long road between edge with that of scientists and technical Smith Island in the Chesapeake. 1997. Chance and the Bay’s western shore, experts. Tom Horton. New York:Vintage Books. heading in the opposite direction. He For Paolisso, such dialogues among Tourism and Culture: An Applied Perspec- will travel to College Park, to talk to stakeholders have to continue, no matter tive.1997. Chambers, Erve, (ed.). Albany: State University of New York Paolisso’s class at the University of Mary- what the venue.“We have to keep these Press. land.“Most people regard watermen as conversations going,” he says.“We have to old dummies that can only catch crabs. get the different parties to see beyond Articles But inviting me up to speak at a college, their varying positions to their common Stalking the American Lobster. 2002. it’s an honor,” Horseman says.“It’s a real interests.” Trevor Corson. Atlantic Monthly, April honor.” Says Ann Swanson,“Michael Paolisso’s 2002. Pages 61-81. Blue Crabs and Controversy on the He has also traded workplaces with work gave us another avenue for learning Chesapeake Bay: A Cultural Model for some scientists. Researcher Tuck Hines about their [the watermen’s] concerns, Understanding Watermen's Reasoning came down to Chance just before the and at a much deeper level.” about Blue Crab Management. 2002. spring peeler run, looking to catch cer- For Horseman, traveling the long and Paolisso, Michael Human Organization 61(3): 226-239. tain sizes of crabs. Horseman went out challenging road toward mutual under- with him and they fished the banks, standing has been worth it.“Even if it Web talked about soft crabs. Horseman also [Paolisso’s project] doesn’t go any further, it’s still positive,” he says.“Absolutely Culture and Resource Management on visited Hines’s laboratory, the Smithson- the Chesapeake Bay. Michael Paolisso, ian Environmental Research Center in what we need — he’s not pulling for Department of Anthropology, Univer- Edgewater, to learn about the research either side, but he’s showing everybody’s sity of Maryland – www.bsos.umd. underway there. side. Not only the watermen and the edu/anth/chesapeake/home.htm scientists but the DNR, the environmen- Maryland Watermen’s Association – Have these dialogues and workplace www.marylandwatermen.com exchanges — what Paolisso calls a collab- talists, everybody. Lower Eastern Shore Heritage orative learning project — helped to build “Nobody else could have done it,” Committee – skipjack.net/le_shore/ bridges? “Absolutely,” Horseman says. Horseman says.“If the DNR or the sci- heritage/ Chesapeake Bay History and Culture, “There is absolutely a better connection entists did it, well, we’d of had our Maryland Sea Grant – www.mdsg. with the scientists. First we all stood our doubts.The University of Maryland did umd.edu/CB/history.html ground. Now there is mutual respect.” it. If you’d asked me, I didn’t think it Selected Bibliography of Bay Literature, “I don’t believe everything he [Hines] could be done.” Maryland Sea Grant – www.mdsg. umd. edu/CB/literature.html says, and I know he doesn’t believe every- “It’s just an open-minded thing,” con- thing I say. But we have mutual respect.” cludes Horseman.“You don’t have to You can tell, says Horseman, by the think about it.You feel it.” different way the watermen and the sci-

14 • CHESAPEAKE QUARTERLY SPOTLIGHT ON RESEARCH

web, please contact Maryland Sea Grant and Deploying an Autonomous Urea at 301.403.4220, x 22, or write con- Monitor A National Agenda for [email protected]. • Shao-Jun Du, COMB, Enhancing Fish Oyster Research Muscle Growth through Blocking Myostatin Function • David R.Tilley and Andrew Baldwin, In its ongoing efforts to combat oys- UMCP Hyperspectral Reflectance of ter disease and ensure the safety of public Coastal Technology Freshwater Tidal Emergent Macro- health in oyster consumption, the NOAA phytes as a Remote Sensing Tool for National Sea Grant College Program has In response to a special request for Assessing Wetland Nitrogen Status been supporting two long-term research proposals for the development of innova- programs, the Oyster Disease Research tive technologies that link research to “We were pleased by the response from Program and the Gulf Oyster Industry product development, Maryland Sea the research community,” Moser says, Program. Both have led to some notable Grant is funding three projects that “and especially by the submission of pro- success; for example, the development of promise to do just that. “Our aim,” says posals from principal investigators who disease-tolerant strains of Crassostrea vir- Fredrika Moser,Assistant Director for had never requested Sea Grant support. ginica,the oyster native on the Eastern Research,“was to catalyze novel techno- To ensure the finest marine research,” she seaboard from Canada to the Gulf of logical efforts that might not ordinarily adds,“we need to encourage participation Mexico. Despite research advances that have fit under our core research objec- from scientists throughout the state.” have made their way into the field, diffi- tives but that could have important For more information on these awards cult challenges remain, from restoring implications for applied science and for and on funding for Maryland Sea Grant sustainable oyster populations in the mid- Extension.”The three proposals selected research, please contact Dr. Moser at Atlantic to uncovering the causes of for funding are: 301.403.4220, ext. 16, or write moser@ “summer mortalities” on the west coast • Patricia M. Glibert and Louis A. mdsg.umd.edu. to minimizing the impacts of Juvenile Codispoti, UMCES, HPL, Producing Oyster Disease that afflicts hatchery- reared oysters in the northeast. To assess the progress of both the ODRP and GOIP and develop a set of New Seafood Cookbook research priorities that addresses issues of disease and health in the nation’s oyster orth Carolina Sea Grant has produced an attractive producing regions, the Maryland and Nnew cookbook, Mariner’s Menu: 30 Years of Fresh Seafood Virginia Sea Grant programs, in coordina- Ideas, that offers more than just recipes. Since 1973, represen- tion with National Sea Grant, brought tatives from home extension clubs in Carteret County, together scientists, resource managers and North Carolina, have met each month in a Morehead City industry representatives from around the kitchen to test new ways of handling, storing and preparing country. Participants attending the confer- local fish and shellfish.Their thirty years of seafood wisdom ence on “Oyster Research Restoration in are gathered in this comprehensive cookbook and guide for U.S. Coastal Waters” in Annapolis broke cooks who want to know more than just how to bake or fry fish. into workgroups to reach consensus rec- Written by Joyce Taylor, a seafood specialist with North Carolina Sea Grant ommendations for research needs in the since 1974, Mariner's Menu contains more than 160 original seafood recipes devel- following areas: (1) oyster fisheries man- oped by the dedicated testers and tasters of the Seafood Lab kitchen. Many of these agement and restoration, (2) genetics and recipes, such as broiled tuna Provencal and steamed clams in wine broth, use easily oyster populations, (3) frontiers of disease available ingredients and require little preparation. Separate chapters instruct cooks research, (4) aquaculture and hatchery on broiling, grilling, frying and steaming. Important preparation techniques such as issues, (5) public health and processing.A deboning fish, deveining shrimp and cracking crab are illustrated in detailed draw- draft report is now in review and will be ings by Morehead City artist Connie Mason. released before the end of the year. To order a copy of the book, which sells for $25.00, visit the University of To obtain a copy of the report or to North Carolina Press site at http://uncpress.unc.edu/books/T-7465.html,call be notified when it is available on the 800.848.6224, or fax toll-free 800.272.6817 (24 hours).

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 3 • 15 ET CETERA

States.The application deadline is April 6, mathematics and marine and environmental 2004, but those interested in applying for science. fellowships should check with the Over 12 weeks, from May 24th to Graduate Policy Fellowships Maryland Sea Grant office by mid- August 16th, each student will work with Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy February for guidance and application an advisor on an individual research project Fellowships, National Sea Grant details. at one of three labs located on the Chesa- College Program. Maryland Sea Grant is For general information, please check peake Bay: the University of Maryland seeking applicants for 2005 fellowships, the web at www.mdsg.umd.edu/Policy/ Center for Environmental Science’s Chesa- funded by the National Sea Grant office knauss.html and www.nsgo.seagrant. peake Biological Laboratory at Solomons, and administered through individual state org/Knauss.html. For application details, Maryland, or the Horn Point Laboratory at Sea Grant programs. Knauss Fellows spend contact Susan Leet, Maryland Sea Grant Cambridge, Maryland, or at the Academy a year in marine policy-related positions in College Program; phone, 301.403.4220, of Natural Sciences Estuarine Research the legislative and executive branches of the ext. 13; e-mail, [email protected]. Center in St. Leonard, Maryland. federal government. Past Fellows have Many students in the Maryland REU worked in the offices of U.S. Senators and program have gone on to M.S. and Ph.D. Representatives, on Congressional subcom- degrees in marine and environmental sci- mittees and at agencies such as the National Summer Fellowships ence.We encourage undergraduates with an Science Foundation and NOAA. Fellow- Research Experiences for Undergrad- interest in marine science to visit our ships run from February 1, 2005 to January uates, National Science Foundation. Research Experience for Undergraduates 31, 2006 and pay a stipend of $32,000 plus Maryland Sea Grant will offer fourteen website to learn about research areas, past $6,000 for health insurance, moving and undergraduates the opportunity to conduct student projects, advisors and the laborato- travel. marine research on the Chesapeake Bay this ries as well.The deadline for applications is To qualify for a fellowship, students summer — the fifteenth year of the program. February 16, 2004. To learn about the pro- must be enrolled by April 1st of the year Supported by the National Science Founda- gram, visit www.mdsg.umd.edu/ of application in a graduate or professional tion, the program is especially designed for Education/REU. For further information, degree program in a marine-related field students majoring in such fields as biology, contact Dr. Fredrika Moser, 301.403.4220, at an accredited institution in the United chemistry, ecology, physics, engineering, ext. 16, or [email protected].

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