Miguel Barajas ’13 (University of Southern Maine)
An investigation of the functional relationship of river herring to the diet of nearshore groundfish of the Kennebec-Androscoggin river system. A diet study will be performed by catching nearshore groundfish using live bait with hook and line. The locations of fish caught will be mapped. The stomach contents of fish caught will be emptied before returning fish back to the water. The contents will be analyzed to develop an estimate of river herring in the diets of groundfish. This estimate will be incorporated into bioenergetic models to determine the possible biomass of groundfish that could be supported from river herring.