Recent recipient of Burlew Scholarship, Rachel Roday, reflects on her career
The George Burlew Scholarship, awarded by the Manasquan River Marlin and Tuna Club, is a prestigious award given to graduate students whose research helps promote sport and recreational fishing.
Recently, Rachel Roday, a master’s student at the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, was named the recipient of this award.
“Honestly the funniest part of getting this award was finding out my adviser who wrote my letter of recommendation was actually awarded this same award when he was in grad school,” Roday said. “Like wow, such a coincidence but also such a full circle moment that I loved.”
Roday is currently doing research on American Shad, a fish that migrates between fresh and saltwater and requires freshwater streams and rivers to reproduce.
In New Castle County, many streams have been dammed, meaning the American Shad can no longer reproduce there. Recently, there has been discussion on removing the dams, but it’s not clear if the Shad will go back to using these habits. Using acoustic telemetry, Roday is able to track habitat use and network connectivity in these fish.
“I’ve always been interested in trying to make the environment a more habitable place for fish,” Roday said. “This scholarship is really going to help me achieve that goal and I’m so grateful for that.”
Roday’s research will help answer questions surrounding habitat use and network connectivity as she tags shad in different rivers both upstream and downstream of current and removed dams, to see if the areas are passable habitats for them.
“Two of my biggest passions are fish and coding,” Roday said. “I don’t really know where these passions started but they’ve always been there and it’s kind of perfect how my research combines the two.”
The Burlew Scholarship recipient expressed how one of the most exciting parts of her research is getting to conduct it in Delaware. Recently, Roday spoke with some of the anglers in New Castle County who fish for American Shad.
“The anglers spoke about how Shad are coming back in higher numbers and it’s so cool to feel like I’m playing a direct part in that,” Roday said.
Although Roday is unsure of what her future holds, she knows that it will include fish. Now that she’s started working directly with them through her research, she’s realized she cannot have a career where they are not a part of it.
“Seeing the impact that my research may have is so powerful,” Roday said. “Ideally, Delaware state will cite this research as evidence for removing more dams in the future. You don’t always get to see your research come to fruition, and I feel so lucky that the university has provided me with this opportunity and has helped me get this award.”
Article by Risha Inaganti