Co-Director, Fisheries Program; Science Writer and Communications Specialist
katrina.zarrella-smith@briwildlife.org

Katrina is a quantitative fisheries ecologist who studies population dynamics—how aquatic animals grow, move, reproduce, and survive over time. Her research combines hands-on field studies with advanced statistical and spatial modeling to understand how fished species and other aquatic organisms interact with their environment. This approach helps explain how environmental conditions and habitat influence where organisms live and how populations change over time.

Katrina’s research is focused on producing rigorous collaborative science that is relevant and accessible to natural resource managers, stakeholders, and policymakers. She also brings professional experience in operations, communications, and project management, which informs her interdisciplinary perspective and stakeholder-focused approach to applied science.

Katrina’s role supports the organization, drafting, and dissemination of scientific work products at Biodiversity Research Institute, with a primary focus on the Center for Research on Offshore Wind and the Environment (CROWE).

• Ph.D., Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2026
• M.S., Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2023
• B.A., Human Ecology, College of the Atlantic, 2003

• Fisheries population dynamics
• Movement ecology
• Behavior of aquatic organisms

• National Marine Fisheries Service-Sea Grant Population and Ecosystem Dynamics Fellow 2023–2026
• John E. Skinner Award, American Fisheries Society 2022
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention 2020, 2021
• William H. Drury Prize in Ecology and Natural History, College of the Atlantic 2003