Photo credit: Katlyn Taylor

The above photo was taken by Katlyn Taylor, SML Research Vessel Captain. The whale is Clamp, a well-known humpback whale often spotted on Jefferies Ledge in the Gulf of Maine. The photo was taken on a whale watch with the Field Animal Behavior and Anatomy & Function of Marine Vertebrates classes, aboard the RV Gulf Challenger on June 21.

This newsletter includes the following topics: 

Greetings from Appledore Island!

 

I have been contemplating an interesting question for several weeks.  What is work? An alternative question might be, how do you define your work?  While this might seem like an odd question, it is one that has come up regularly this summer when talking with students about my position as the executive director of the Shoals Marine Lab.

 

During each block of classes, we organize a career panel for all of the students on the island.  The panel consists of several faculty members and teaching assistants, several seasonal staff members, and several permanent staff members.  Each person describes the career path that brought them to this summer at Shoals and describes their current role.  The paths and experiences vary widely, as do the career stages of the panelists.  Students have a chance to ask questions, which typically include advice on how to connect with grad school advisors, how to find jobs like we have or have had, how to navigate seasonal jobs, how to build a life, when to make a change, and mistakes we have made. Students regularly comment on the value of these panels which lead to conversations with individuals later in their stay on Appledore.

 

Often as I leave breakfast, I will say that I have work I need to do.  This typically involves meetings I must attend (or spend time preparing to lead), planning for events or visits, writing various documents needed for reports or for our community, developing our annual budget and tracking our finances, and lots of email. There are also many parts of my job that don’t feel like work. For example, one aspect of my role is to be the chief cheerleader and advocate for the Shoals Marine Lab.  I try to greet every boat with visitors when I am on the island, which is an opportunity to share the mission of the Lab: 1) to provide transformative, experiential, place-based education; 2) to engage in research that addresses today’s challenges for the coasts and the ocean; 3) to foster interdisciplinary and problem-based collaboration; 4) to build and nurture an engaged and supportive community; and 5) to be leaders in the area of sustainability.  The mission of Shoals is why many of the faculty and staff members are committed to the Lab and have been part of our team for years.  This mission is also the reason that so many of the SML’s donors, volunteers, and advocates choose to support different aspects of the Lab.  It does not feel like work when I have the opportunity to share the mission and impact of Shoals or to share anecdotes about the learning I have witnessed on Appledore.

 

On other days, I have the opportunity to engage directly with our students.  I may give a guest lecture in a class, teach students how to correctly use binoculars, or listen to the presentations of the projects that students have completed in their classes.  My favorite time with students is in the field—introducing them to bird banding and migration research, being the crew on a boat trip around the islands, serving as a naturalist on a whale watch, setting and retrieving hagfish traps, and being an extra pair of hands for whatever is needed on a shark fishing trip.  On a shark class trip last weekend, we left the dock at 5 am and returned 12 1/2 hours later.  We saw 2 Minke whales, 2 fin whales, 2 humpback whales, 14 Cory’s Shearwaters, 4 Great Shearwaters, too many Wilson’s Storm Petrels to count, and 2 basking sharks, one of which was 15-18 feet long!  And, if you are interested, in the 11th hour we caught (and released) an 8-foot blue shark.  Please note that all of our activities, including shark fishing, are conducted under appropriate permits.  On this trip students also fished for bait fish, particularly mackerel.  They were so successful, and were willing to learn how to filet fish, that Eugene Won was able to smoke enough mackerel for the island community to enjoy at our Sunday brunch.  The students had an amazing, and exhausting, day on the water, and it felt like an honor to watch the faculty engage and teach them throughout the day.  It never feels like work when I get to spend time with students, especially in the field.

 

Most of our community members know that those of us on Appledore are working very long days.  The workday typically starts before or at breakfast and continues well after dinner.  I think most of the team would agree that the opportunity to facilitate the educational opportunities here is a passion, not bound by the definition of work or the time of a workday.  Where does work begin and end?  We have the opportunity to learn from a talented and knowledgeable faculty, which adds to the richness of our experience here.  Watching the sunset is one of the traditions and joys of working on Appledore.  After dark, we can put out the squid light, look for bioluminescence, or try to detect the different flashing patterns of lightening bugs.  Appledore is a learning island, and I, for one, feel privileged to be part of the Shoals team and community, in a position where my work and my passion intersect!

 

Hoping you all are enjoying this summer season, even if you don’t have my magnificent view from the office.

Last month we introduced you to some of our Shoals Undergraduate Research Group Interns (SURG students). The students are working hard in the field, on the rocks, and on the water. Here is what the rest of our SURG students have been working on. 

Aimee Bousquet (Intertidal Ecology) says her favorite part of last month was singing a song about parasites with her colleagues at the Sunday evening “coffee house." Aimee is above left with Ava Brunfield and Kiersten Jewel.

 

Ben Kerstetter (Seabird Ecology and Conservation): "Over the past two weeks, I've been introduced to the guillemot neighborhoods here as well as the tern colony at White/Seavey Islands by Dr. Liz Craig; we're expecting baby guillemots soon! Highlights include the annual tern census, seeing adult guillemots on nests, and my lifer Atlantic Puffin!" (above right)

Marshall Mumford (Physical Oceanography): "I've been busy watching footage from the bottom of the sea -- I've seen fish grow up, seals hunt, guillemots and cormorants dive, and sea urchins eat entire kelp fields!"

 

Ava Brumfield (Parasite Ecology): “I’ve been surveying tidal pools around Appledore and the other Isles of Shoals for shrimp! Once I catch my shrimp, I dissect them in search of parasitic cysts. I’m also trying to figure out if native shrimp, Palaemonetes vulgaris, are still present around the Isles of Shoals. So far, only invasive shrimp have been found!” (Ava above right in blue hat, with Aimee and Kiersten)

Cassie Depner (Marine Mammals): “My research is focused on the diet and foraging behaviors of the harbor and gray seals on Duck Island. I am analyzing their scat and the tissues of target prey species for PFAS compounds to determine how these chemicals are moving through the food web.” (above left with mentor Mike Sigler) 

 

Tacy Guest (Marine Mammals): I have been leading photo surveys of Duck island and Seavey Island to help add to a decade-long dataset of seal population abundance. I am enjoying both counting the seals and identifying interesting injuries and pathologies! (above right)

The Shoals Marine Lab was well-represented at the Wilson Ornithological Society Conference in Los Angeles, CA this past month.

 

Hosted by long-time Shoals faculty and alum Dr. Kristen Covino, the conference was opened by SML's Executive Director, Sara Morris, who gave the keynote address, "Lessons from Appledore: Insights into migration and stopover ecology from a long-term banding station." Sara also was awarded the Margaret Morse Nice medal for lifetime contributions to ornithology. The conference also featured four projects with data from Appledore's gulls! Dylan Titmuss, Maddie Ellms, Morgan Lane, DeAnna Pitcher, and Reka Ivanyi all gave presentations, the last three specifically on research they conducted on Appledore while students in Field Ornithology 2024.

 

Thank you to the Wilson Ornithological Society for such a wonderful experience!

I own a cottage, called Saltcoats, on Nantucket Island. When I bought it in 1994, I was busy running the newspaper I owned and operated there and was very grateful to have survived years of the Nantucket Shuffle—living in mansions all winter and consigned to a bedroom or even a shed during the summer tourist months. Finally, I had a home of my own. But as the years passed, and so did the birthdays, the question of what to do with the cottage was a pestering one. With no children, I began a hunt for a non-profit that was both meaningful to me but also for whom my gift would be impactful, and not just swallowed up by some huge charitable organization.

 

Enter Jennifer Seavey, director of Shoals Marine Lab. She came to give a talk about the Gulf of Maine at a class I was taking at Harvard. She talked about Shoals. I think I knew immediately that I had found my answer. As an island girl, as a scuba diver, and as someone who has first-hand knowledge of the importance of our oceans to life on this planet, the idea of educating young people in marine science was beyond appealing. After I visited Shoals for the first time, where the level of passion and commitment among both students and educators was dazzling, I knew it was a very special place. I wanted to be a part of educating the next generation of marine scientists, especially women. Over the years of my involvement with Shoals I have seen with my own eyes how a summer college course on Appledore can change the direction of a young life, how it can open eyes and minds to the need to protect, sustain and maintain our oceans. When I met the recipient of the first scholarship at Shoals bearing my name, some years ago, I saw in her eyes and read in her impact statement an experience I wish had come my way when I was her age. The experience at Shoals changed her life, as it would have mine. The idea that Saltcoats, my little rose-covered cottage, will fund this scholarship well into the future makes me smile.

Kate Stout

 

photos: Kate (on left) SCUBA diving with her grandson, and Saltcoat Cottage- provided by Kate Stout

Kimberly Collins Jermain, one of the Shoals Marine Lab Artists-in-Residence during summer 2023, has written and created a book on color in nature. The book will be published by the Abrams Books Catalog (Familius packages books for Abrams Books) on September 2, 2025.

 

Kim said, "Nature of Color is a workbook to explore color perception outdoors. For my Shoals Marine Lab artist residency I decided it would be important for each student to try out painting " in situ"(using masks and snorkel and working with oil sticks in the water off of Appledore Island). It could not have been more illuminating to hear from Oceanography students as they worked to develop an image in the wash of the inter-tidal zone. One student popped his head up midway during the session and said, "Why didn't anyone tell us we could do this?".  Art, and being immersed in nature, gives us permission to use our imagination!"

 

"Unlike most color theory texts, Nature of Color is an active practice of outdoor adventure. As you joyfully explore and experience color outdoors with Nature of Color, you will understand the importance of keeping nature’s exquisite lessons in mind as we navigate and share our natural world." 

Photo: Jackie Webb, 1981

It's your last chance to register for the upcoming 60th Season Celebration and Reunion! Registration closes on Sunday, August 11, at 5:00 p.m. 

 

 

The following narrative was provided by Kate Hubbard, Celia Thaxter's great, great, great granddaughter. Congratulations!

Nick and I tied the knot this summer with an intimate ceremony out on the Isles of Shoals on July 5th, 2025. After 16 rainy weekends in a row, we braced ourselves for a wild boat ride… but to our delight, we got a totally clear Saturday.

 

Roger (Trudeau) picked guests up at Pepperell Cove and ferried them over on the Kingsbury to Smuttynose, where the amazing Appledore crew helped us unload and load everyone using the inflatables — it was truly seamless.

 

Staff even provided an Uber service for a group of us from Smuttynose to Appledore so we could get dressed and take stunning photos in Celia’s Garden. And Terry - who knows more about Celia Thaxter than we do - crafted the most breathtaking bouquet using some of Celia’s favorite flowers. Just as we walked over to the garden, the sun came out, and we were able to capture the most gorgeous photos. It was the absolute perfect day.

 

We are endlessly grateful to the entire Appledore staff who made this wedding possible. Our guests couldn’t believe how well-orchestrated everything was — all thanks to our favorite Captain / Wedding Planner, Roger. Please come say hi next time we are out on Smuttynose!

 

Note: the bride's flower's were provided from Celia's garden by Terry Cook. the Celia Thaxter Garden Steward. Her bridesmaids were her two sisters, one of whom is named Celia.

We are often asked if we have any needs to make the staff, student, and community experience even more impactful. Here are some current items we would love to have!

Let us know if you can help! Please reach out to Amy Fish, Director of Community Relations, at amy.fish@unh.edu if you are interested in making a donation designated toward any of these items. Thank you! 

 

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