Women in Fisheries: Amalia Harrington

University of Maine marine biologist Amalia Harrington knows the coast. In fact, she knows three coasts: the freshwater shores of Michigan, where she grew up, the California coast, where she attended college, and the coast of Maine, where she and her husband, a Maine native, now live.

Harrington, left, with University of Maine students presenting their lobster research. UME photo.

Harrington came to Maine in 2015 to pursue her Ph.D. at the University of Maine School of Marine Sciences. As a youngster she had become entranced with the ocean. “My cousins lived on the East coast. We would visit them from Michigan and play in the ocean,” she said.

Harrington thought she wanted to become an aquanaut, someone who lived and worked beneath the sea. “I was in middle school. It was when they were exploring the deep sea vents and I saw the photos of tube worms and blind crabs,” she recalled.

Both Harrington’s parents talked with their daughter about science. “They showed me it was OK to ask questions. I always found it very interesting to find out about how things worked in the wild,” she said.

Harrington went to college at the University of San Diego where she studied marine science and went on field trips all along the coast. “I never looked back,” she laughed.

After graduation, she undertook an M.S. degree from San Diego State University. “I studied spiny lobster and human interaction. New Marine Protected Areas were being established in California and I studied habitat use inside and outside the areas in southern California,” Harrington said. “It was a fun experience to do tagging with lobstermen on their vessels and dive to study lobsters’ habitat use.”

Her university advisor had done post-doc research at the University of Maine so when Harrington had completed her master’s degree and was considering continuing going on for a doctorate, he suggested she study a different type of lobster, Homarus americanus.

Amalia Harrington, left, and student measuring a large lobster. UME photo.

“I wanted to focus on something different and my husband is from Maine,” Harrington explained. Harrington matriculated at the University of Maine in 2015 and completed her Ph.D. in marine biology in 2019.

Just as the world shut down in March 2020 due to the Covid pandemic, Harrington was hired by Maine Sea Grant to be the Northeast Regional Lobster Extension Project Coordinator. The position, part of the national American Lobster Initiative, focused on ways to increase the lobster industry’s resilience to the impacts of ecosystem change in the Gulf of Maine.

Meanwhile, at the University’s School of Marine Sciences, two long-time lobster biologists, Rick Wahle and Bob Steneck, retired in 2023. When a faculty position within the School opened, Harrington applied. “Gayle Zydlewski [director of Maine Sea Grant] was very supportive [of Harrington’s plan]. I am super glad that it worked out,” Harrington said.

She splits her time between research on lobster’s biological responses to a changing environment and teaching responsibilities, a balance that she clearly enjoys. “What’s not to like about lobster?” Harrington said. “There’s really not a single person on the coast who is not touched by the lobster fishery. Because of that there’s lots of support for research from all the sectors touched by lobster.”

Harrington particularly likes the collaborative nature of lobster research between lobstermen and scientists in Maine.

“Fishermen are super observant. Lots of great questions come directly from the industry. There’s a strong emphasis on working together,” she said.

As a professor, Harrington strives to convey her own enthusiasm for science and the marine world to her students. “To get to teach the basic principles of marine ecology is really cool. I think the best way to teach is to try something hands-on. You have to feel it and experience it,” she said.