New Student Welcome: Rachel Bratton
I am thrilled to be joining the FishPeoplePlace Lab to start my PhD in 2026! I am from Musquetaquid (grassy river) and Payoment (place of little water) Massa-adchu-es-et/Massachusetts, which inspired me to want to protect waterbodies, wetlands, and their inhabitants from a young age. My first conservation experience was assisting with an endangered turtle head start and monitoring program in high school, which led me to pursue honors thesis research studying seabird ecology as an undergraduate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After college, I interned with a humpback whale research program and at an energy efficiency company before pursuing my master’s degree at the University of Massachusetts Boston. My master’s thesis examined the human dimensions of rebounding seal and white shark populations in the waters of Wôpanâak/Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Since then, I have worked as a quantitative social scientist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, conducting large-scale surveys of commercial fishermen, recreational anglers, boaters, and other stakeholders to inform fisheries and wildlife management.
Catching and tagging a trophy bass in Gainesville, Florida with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
As an interdisciplinary PhD student, I am excited to further my career in applied environmental social science and community-based research in a new and unique setting. I am especially eager to grow my skillset in ethnographic and economic research methods, as well as in science communications. My project will examine demographic challenges in Canadian Great Lakes Commercial Fisheries, with the goal of identifying policy solutions to bolster participation in the fishery among new and young fishers. I am interested in exploring fisher and community perceptions of changes to infrastructure, demographics, and culture in fishing communities on the Great Lakes, and how these observations relate to social trends that have been explored in Canada and in fishing communities globally. I aim to answer the question: How can management support future participation in Great Lakes Commercial Fisheries to sustain regional seafood systems, livelihoods, and resilient communities?
Conducting a boater survey at the 2024 Right Whale Festival in Fernandina Beach, Florida.
Like many Bostonians, I have family ties to Nova Scotia. My grandmother was originally from Cape Breton and attended school in Halifax in the 1940s before emigrating to the U.S. My grandmother passed away in 2015, but I know that she would have been proud of me for attending Dalhousie! Another fun fact about me is that the last time I traveled to Nova Scotia was aboard a research boat from the U.S. in 2019. Our trip was interrupted by Hurricane Dorian and we took shelter on Brier Island to weather out the storm.
My grandmother’s report card from 5th grade at the Halifax Public Schools.