This salary negotiation seminar at the NY Women in Fisheries Mentorship Program meeting. Credit: Stacy Furgal/NYSG
Contact:
Stacy Furgal, NYSG Great Lakes Fisheries and Ecosystem Health Specialist, E: slf85@cornell.edu, P: (315) 234-1329
NYSG encourages participation and representation by women in New York’s professional fisheries community
Oswego, NY, May 27, 2025 - Women and underrepresented genders in STEM careers, including fisheries and aquatic sciences, leave at higher rates than their male colleagues. Mentorship and peer networking has been shown to be important for skill development, career advancement and success, and socio-emotional support. The Women in Fisheries Mentorship (WIFM) program aims to improve participation and representation by women within New York’s professional fisheries community.
The NY Chapter of the American Fisheries Society piloted the WIFM program in 2022. In 2023, forty-nine fisheries students and professionals participated in NYSG’s WIFM program and noted positive outcomes, including skill sharing, networking, and knowledge acquisition. Salary negotiation training offered as a part of the program resulted in several participants sharing that they successfully negotiated salary increases totaling approximately $20,000.
In 2024, the Northeastern Division of the American Fisheries Society (AFS) recognized the Women in Fisheries Mentorship Program with a Special Achievement Award. Other state and regional chapters and the national AFS are planning on using this program as a template to create more mentorship programs across the nation.
New York Sea Grant’s Great Lakes Fisheries & Ecosystem Health Specialist leads the NY AFS Women in Fisheries Subcommittee; NYSG’s Great Lakes Outreach Coordinator serves on that subcommittee.
Project Partner/Funder:
• New York Chapter of the American Fisheries Society
NYSG collaborates with partners to hold Women’s Fishing Seminars. A participant from the group on Oneida Lake in 2023 (above) hosted a clinic in her county in 2024. Credit: J. Cannaday/NYSG
More Info: New York Sea Grant
Established in 1966, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Sea Grant College Program promotes the informed stewardship of coastal resources in 34 joint federal/state university-based programs in every U.S. coastal state (marine and Great Lakes) and Puerto Rico. The Sea Grant model has also inspired similar projects in the Pacific region, Korea and Indonesia.
Since 1971, New York Sea Grant (NYSG) has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.
NYSG historically leverages on average a 3 to 6-fold return on each invested federal dollar, annually. We benefit from this, as these resources are invested in Sea Grant staff and their work in communities right here in New York.
Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.
New York Sea Grant, one of the largest of the state Sea Grant programs, is a cooperative program of the State University of New York (SUNY) and Cornell University. The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.
For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org, follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube). NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which it publishes 2-3 times a year.