Emilie Novaczek

Q.  What project(s) have you worked on that you are most proud of? / What got your career in GIS started?

A. A few years ago I was working with the Seaflower Marine Protected  Area in San Andres, Colombia. I was studying the impact of tourism & recreation on shallow coral reefs. The project was designed to meet an important data gap for managers: little information existed about how the MPA was being used for non-fishing activities. My research involved participatory mapping with tourism operators and SCUBA surveys of coral health and biodiversity. It was an incredible opportunity to work in the community and on the water. By mapping recreational activity types within the MPA boundaries and impact on reefs, managers were able to efficiently allocate resources (like targeted educational materials/incentives) while fostering a constructive relationship with communities and businesses who use and enjoy the Seaflower.

Emilie is setting up a drop camera in Smith Sound to collect video of the seafloor for a marine habitat mapping project.

Q. Your Atlantic wolffish mapping project using high-resolution multibeam data and seafloor video sounds interesting. How did you get involved in this project? What was your inspiration for this type of work?

A. The wolffish is what brought me to Newfoundland! The Atlantic Wolffish is protected by the Canadian Species at Risk Act  as a species of special concern, which requires management of the species and its habitat. However, very little information existed about important habitats for population recovery. The project was partnered with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The way that we map marine habitats (with sound!) fascinated me, so the opportunity to map seafloor habitats for conservation of a species at risk was too good to miss!

Q. Can you tell me about a typical day in your life as a graduate researcher at Memorial University of Newfoundland? What are your typical day- to day activities?

A. These day I’m working up some seafloor data for the Newfoundland shelf, building and refining predictive models of seafloor substrate. It’s exciting to see patterns emerge from the data and really satisfying to produce a beautiful and useful map at the same time. But my favourite place to be is in the field. For my research, field work mostly consists of collecting seafloor video and sediment samples – it’s pretty cool to be able to take a peek under the waves and maybe see some Atlantic white-sided dolphins or a leatherback turtle along the way.