Working at the Divide: Lessons from Fish in the Gulf of Maine and Great Lakes

We use acoustic telemetry as a tool to study and monitor populations of fish in two large ecosystems, the Gulf of Maine and Great Lakes. Because our work crosses multiple ecosystem, state, and international boundaries – it often creates unique challenges. However, frequent opportunities to collaborate have arisen because of common telemetry-based assessment techniques. Three aspects have emerged that facilitate collaboration across boundaries. The first aspect is shared learning of telemetry methods. Surgical methods, study designs, and deployment techniques have been shared across freshwater and marine boundaries, strengthening both fields. Secondly, acoustically tagged fish can serve as ambassadors by linking researchers, managers and stakeholders together. Fish cross boundaries, therefore they can connect people! Finally, data quality, database structure, and sharing of data have similar needs and challenges in all ecosystems. Two ongoing projects; PlatOpus in the Gulf of Maine and GLATOS in the Great Lakes provide examples of how collaboration and mechanisms for efficient data sharing are benefiting multiple stakeholders interested in a wide array of species. We believe that these three aspects that enhanced communication and strengthened our projects could have broader utility linking other marine and freshwater systems.