A life on the water

Growing up in Virginia, Delaware Sea Grant’s Brittany Haywood was pretty much raised on the water

 Article by Adam Thomas

The daughter of a waterman, Haywood would oftentimes accompany her father out on his boat as he fished with the seasons, dipping his toe in a little bit of everything from clamming, gill netting for croaker, or crab potting, whatever would bring in the most money at the time.

“I worked on the water from a very young age and just the culture I grew up in is very water-oriented,” said Haywood. “I’d say it’s somewhat in my blood.”

As she grew older, Haywood realized that while she didn’t want to have a career exactly like her father’s, she still wanted to be involved in a career that focused on the water.

When she was in high school, Haywood worked for the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) in seagrass restoration and monitoring and water quality, a position that she held throughout high school, through her undergraduate work at James Madison University (JMU) and after she graduated.

While at JMU, Haywood received her bachelor’s degree in science and biology with a minor in criminal justice. The minor in criminal justice was mostly because Haywood wasn’t sure whether she wanted to have a career in marine or forensic science.

“The criminal justice minor set me on the way to be a mediator,” said Haywood. “In the court system, if a problem is brought to a judge between two people, in some areas, courts can mandate a mediator take over the case to try and solve the problem. That route was really interesting and has helped in the role I have now. Because the tactics that you use for mediation, you also need for communication in general.”

In addition to these experiences, Haywood has also worked for the Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society as their marketing and outreach coordinator and with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) in wetlands monitoring and assessment and drainage.

“I have a somewhat weird background of education, outreach and both history and science education, starting from when I was in high school,” said Haywood.

Now, as DESG’s coastal ecology specialist, Haywood gets to combine her expertise in both worlds: the scientific world and the practical, hands-on side of things related to the water, all the while using her mediation and communication skills to help bridge the divide that can sometimes exist between academia and communities.

This divide is something that she first experienced while working at VIMS.

“When I was at VIMS, I saw that there were two competing communities: the watermen, who dislike regulations and felt like their voices weren’t heard, and then the researchers who didn’t think the watermen understood anything they were saying,” said Haywood. “So I was stuck in the middle where the researchers are saying, ‘The watermen don’t understand this’ but it was more so just the language they were using and how they were describing things. It made me realize, the researchers just weren’t necessarily using the right terminology and vice versa.” 

Haywood said trying to bridge that divide is what first drew her to communication and education.

“The fact that I’ve lived in both realms made me want to really try to figure out how to span that gap to improve policies or better implement research that takes into consideration the actual community it impacts,” said Haywood.

At DESG, Haywood will look to take the science-based findings in the research realm and help get the results to the people who are working on the Delaware coast. In addition, she will try to figure out how to link different stakeholders, be it researchers to the state officials or researchers to the different coastal communities.

She is going to continue to work on crab pot removal in the Delaware Inland Bays, with removal dates tentatively scheduled for the end of November, and try to make the removal a more volunteer-based program instead of a more event-based program.

Haywood is also interested in looking at topics such as planting more seagrass, having citizens help with shellfish gardening and living shorelines, while also looking to finish some best in-ditch management practice work that she began at DNREC related to drainage in Delaware.

“We have all these miles of ditch in Delaware and the only way Delaware drains is through the use of ditches,” said Haywood. “I want to see, what are the best ways to manage that to reduce sediment and nutrient pollution and improve water quality.”

Overall, Haywood said that she is excited to join DESG and help get science out into the Delaware communities.

“That is what research is all about: the transfer of ideas and that sense of community,” said Haywood. “I’m excited to get more experience and to see more of the research realm-side of things again and to try and see how that research goes back into policy and how we can help bridge that gap between the scientists and the community.”