Sarah Borsetti

Education

• Ph.D. Rutgers University, Ecology and Evolution
• B.S. Rutgers University, Marine Science

As the Commercial Fisheries Specialist, my role involves engagement, education, outreach and applied research that helps meet the needs of individuals, organizations and industries involved in harvesting, processing, and distributing commercially fished resources in Virginia. Before coming to VIMS, my research focused on understanding the interactions between population dynamics and the environment of fished stocks. As a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Rutgers University, I worked to answer questions about the interactions among commercial shellfish fisheries, wind energy, and changing climate conditions. During my Ph.D. I worked to document the life-history traits of an unfished gastropod along the warming U.S. continental shelf. This project provided critical information that has allowed the commercial fishing industry to be better informed about increasing investment in this fishery. In addition to the importance of this information in developing a fisheries management plan, these data from an unfished population can serve as a model to understand how other heavily exploited populations are impacted by fishing and climate.

Recent Publications

Munroe, D., Powell, E., Klinch, J., Scheld, A., Borsetti, S., Beckensteiner, J., Hoffman, E. The Atlantic surfclam fishery and offshore wind energy development: 1. Model development and verification. ICES Journal of Marine Science.https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsac108

Scheld, A., Beckensteiner, J., Munroe, D., Powell, E., Borsetti, S., Hoffman, E., Klinck, J. The Atlantic surfclam fishery and offshore wind energy development: 2. Assessing economic impacts. ICES Journal of Marine Science. 0:1-14. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsac109

Borsetti, S., Wiedenmann, J., Munroe, D. 2022. Evaluation of the natural mortality of an unfished gastropod population using statolith age-frequency data in the southern Mid-Atlantic Bight. Aquaculture, Fish and Fisheries. 1-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aff2.47

Miles, T.N, Murphy, S., Kohut, J., Munroe, D., Borsetti, S. 2021. Offshore Wind Energy and the Mid-Atlantic Cold Pool: A Review of Potential Interactions. Marine Technology Society Journal. 55(4):72-87. DOI: 10.4031/MTSJ.55.4.https://doi.org/10.4031/MTSJ.55.4.8

Borsetti, S., Munroe, D., Hollyman, P. 2021. Using a sclerochronological approach to determine a climate-growth relationship for waved whelk, Buccinum undatum, in the U.S. Mid- Atlantic. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. 252, 107255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2021.107255

Grothues, T.M., Iwicki, C.M., Taghon, G.L., Borsetti, S., Hunter, E. 2021. New York Bight Fish, Fisheries, and Sand Features: Data Review; Volume 1: Literature Synthesis and Gap Analysis. Sterling (VA): US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. OCS Study BOEM 2021-036. 114 p. https://espis.boem.gov/final%20reports/BOEM_2021-036.PDF