April 20, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
The New England Fishery Management Council today presented its 2017 Janice M. Plante Award for Excellence to Dr. Matt Cieri of the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR). Dr. Cieri received the award in recognition of the breadth of his scientific contributions and commitment to the Council process.
Council Chairman Dr. John Quinn said, “Dr. Cieri has devoted almost his entire professional career to the betterment of Atlantic herring science and management. He’s contributed extensively to the Council’s Atlantic Herring Plan Development Team and to herring stock assessments, and he’s been heavily involved with quota monitoring, which has helped us track catch trends and quota utilization in this important fishery.”
Dr. Cieri is a Marine Resource Scientist III at Maine DMR. He earned a Master of Science degree from Rutgers University and a PhD from the University of Maine. He oversees several programs and personnel within DMR, ranging from the Maine/New Hampshire Trawl Survey to Recreational Fishery Monitoring. He is well versed in a number of assessment models and methods. In additional to his considerable involvement with Atlantic herring, he also has contributed to assessment efforts related to monkfish, dogfish, groundfish, American eels, and Atlantic menhaden.
The Plante award is the Council’s highest honor, bestowed to an individual who has produced exceptional work “to further the effectiveness of the fishery management process in New England.”