{"id":21906,"date":"2026-07-30T10:11:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T14:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/?p=21906"},"modified":"2026-07-30T11:08:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T15:08:27","slug":"zuzanna-bajer-qa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/news\/zuzanna-bajer-qa\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracking Summer Flounder: Q&A with Zuzanna Bajer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A rising senior majoring in marine biology<\/a> with a minor in data science<\/a>, Zuzanna Bajer is conducting fisheries research through the CELS Summer Fellowship<\/a> program under the mentorship of Corinne Truesdale<\/a>, a Ph.D. candidate in Fisheries Oceanography at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography. Drawn to fisheries science and eager to gain hands-on experience working at sea, Bajer is helping researchers better understand the movement and distribution of summer flounder in Rhode Island waters. This summer, her work takes her from early morning fishing trips to data analysis, offering a firsthand look at the science behind sustainable fisheries management. Learn more about her research below!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q. What are you working on this summer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. Summer flounder are a common saltwater flatfish that inhabit Rhode Island\u2019s coastal waters from April to September, then return offshore in the colder months. In recent years, these fish have declined significantly in our local waters, and the coastwide population assessments do not necessarily reflect that. To better understand their movement patterns, we are tagging them with conventional and electronic tags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are some of the coolest experiences you\u2019ve had this summer?<\/strong>

Some of the coolest things I have been able to do this summer have been all the different surveys and trawls the Rhode Island Division of Marine Fisheries does! I have prior knowledge of the work they do, but helping with it is completely different. Another favorite part of my summer was going on specialized fishing trips to catch summer flounder with rods and reels and tag them. I enjoyed working with all the different fishermen and learning about their past work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has working with your mentor influenced your experience?<\/strong>

My mentor has influenced my experience in only positive ways, guiding me in my work and research and ensured I am on track with my project deadlines. She has also made sure I was getting all the proper field work time and experience that I requested, ensuring that I was getting the full fellowship experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is this fellowship different from learning in the classroom?<\/strong>

I would have never been able to get hands-on fishery work experience in a classroom setting, due to the limited amount of space on boats, the long days working, and the hard work required for the job that could never be reflected in a classroom setting. It feels good to know that I am helping sustain our summer flounder population so people in Rhode Island can eat them for many years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As part of a CELS Summer Research Fellowship, Zuzanna Bajer is helping URI researchers better understand the movement and distribution of summer flounder in Rhode Island waters. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1089,"featured_media":21907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[54,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fellowships","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1089"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21906"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21914,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21906\/revisions\/21914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}