Julia Stepanuk successfully defended her Master’s thesis, entitled “Spatiotemporal patterns of short-finned pilot whale and pelagic longline distribution in the Northwest Atlantic: An assessment to inform the management of fisheries bycatch”, in May! Julia’s seminar presented her findings and suggestions for mitigating short-finned pilot whale bycatch in the pelagic longline fishery, and stimulated a lively conversation about dynamic marine management. Following Julia’s defense, we celebrated along with her family members and Master’s committee and a most appropriate whale ice cream cake. We are happy that Julia will remain a part of the Thorne Lab moving forward; she is starting a PhD with Lesley in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at SBU in the fall.
