Dave felt a calling to public service, motivating him to study conservation law at Unity College and then attend Southern Maine Community College to study fire science. This prepared him to join the Brunswick Fire Department as a firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician in 1998. Eighteen years later, Dave still is motivated by that beckoning call to public service and serves as a Captain for the fire department. In addition to Dave’s academic and professional accomplishments, he is a licensed Coast Guard Captain, certified Advanced SCUBA diver, Advanced Emergency Medical Technician, High Angle Rescue Technician, and Confined Space Technician, and Hazardous Materials Technician.

Dave is a motivated, dedicated individual that is always on the go and looks for positive results as a measure of success in any project he takes on. As the Manager of Operations for Quahog Bay Conservancy, he aims to protect the Bay from pollution and invasive species while furthering the production of different aquaculture projects. Additionally, Dave believes one of the biggest challenges to the health of the Bay is the risk of overboard discharge from recreational boaters. This is because the high concentration of sewage from even one boat can release enough bacteria to close the Bay to shellfish harvesting and cause a range of ecological and human health problems. Dave and his colleagues at the Conservancy work to overcome this hurdle through the introduction of the Conservancy’s free pump out service and by educating boaters on the dangers of overboard discharges.

Dave is a skilled boat handler and views everyday on the job as a new learning opportunity. Plus, who could complain about having an area as beautiful and dynamic as Quahog Bay as an office? Witnessing the different uses of the Bay, whether it is watching bald eagles fishing, recreational boaters exploring, and lobsterman hauling traps all in one shared area serves as a source of continual inspiration for him and a reminder as to why protecting and conserving the Bay today will ensure its health and prosperity for future generations to enjoy.

When Dave is not on the job, he is happiest spending time with his family, supporting his daughters as they participate in various sporting events, spending time out on the water, and coaching hockey.

Peter grew up in Cumberland, Maine, and made his connection to the ocean and commercial fishing early by digging clams and working for his father’s business—A.L. Griffin—on the Portland waterfront until he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard shortly after high school.

Peter retired in October of 2013 as a Chief Warrant Officer (CWO4) after serving for more than 31 years; years filled with hard work, dedication, great fishing opportunities, and adventure. During his service, he earned countless certifications for boat-handling, seamanship, navigation, marine safety, and more.

Peter spent years on Coast Guard cutters—mostly buoy tenders and tug boats—where their primary mission was to aid navigation, clear waterways by breaking ice, search and rescue, and enforce maritime law. During the six years he was stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii, he traversed a significant portion of the Pacific Ocean between the Marshall Islands, American Samoa, and many other small island nations that lie in between.

Peter was later stationed in Portland, Oregon, where he worked to maintain navigational aids on the Columbia, Snake, and Willamette Rivers—a territory of more than 400 miles. During the final years of his service, Peter became a Marine Safety Officer, conducting vessel inspections and exams on watercrafts ranging from small passenger vessels to massive crude oil and liquefied natural gas carriers.

Following his military career, Peter found his way to Quahog Bay through a good friend who needed help shuttling employees to Snow Island to work on a construction project. Now a fulltime employee, his vision for the Conservancy is to grow it into a model for other organizations to follow while improving and growing the Conservancy’s day-to-day operations.

Peter loves being outdoors, hunting, fishing, digging clams, and spending time with family and friends. He is passionate about his work protecting and restoring the bay, approaches each day with a positive attitude, and welcomes the opportunity to keep learning. He is dedicated to having a positive impact on one of the most beautiful regions of Maine.

Donnie is the definition of a Maine man. Local to Harpswell, he has spent years part-time lobstering and working for an excavation company. He served six years in the armed forces, is an active fisherman and hunter, and most importantly, a proud family man. Donnie’s professional skills, together with his strong work ethic, have increased the scale and scope of our organization’s capacity for conservation. With his commitment to the bay and the surrounding community to inspire and motivate him, he plays a crucial role in all aspects of our programs, from welding oyster gear to collecting phytoplankton samples.

Born and raised in the Midcoast area, Tait has always been an avid outdoorsman. From lobstering with his father, to hunting and fishing in northern Maine, he has had a love for the environment his entire life.

A recent graduate from the University of Maine at Orono with a Degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Ecology, Tait is hoping to use his education and the skills to contribute to helping the coastal ecosystem of Maine.

Tait grew up splitting his time between lobstering, working at his parents’ restaurant, and being a 3-sport year-round athlete. During his sophomore year of college, Tait discovered Quahog Bay Conservancy through an internship opportunity. After three summers of working with us, he is now a full-time employee.

Outside of work Tait spends most of his time with friends and family. Usually enjoying the outdoors of the great state we live in by hunting/fishing, boating, or skiing.

Isabelle pursued her interests through education at the University of Maine, Orono. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Biology after completing her undergraduate research on the foraging ecology, age and growth of Atlantic albacore tuna. 

After graduating, Isabelle continued to contribute to the research of highly migratory species with the University of Maine Pelagic Fisheries Lab, located at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Isabelle worked with tropical and temperate tunas, marlins, and sharks, with a main focus on Atlantic bluefin tuna. 

She worked on a variety of grant funded projects involving foraging ecology, age and growth, origin identification, spatial distribution, genetic tagging, meat quality, and marketability of bluefin tuna. However, she most valued her time mentoring interns and working closely with the commercial fishery. 

Isabelle joined the QBC team in 2022 eager to support the research, conservation, and internship programs. In her free time she enjoys skiing, fly fishing, hiking with her dog, and cooking with her friends and family. 

Alex Ascher is a marine biologist with strong interests in larval ecology, fisheries, and how species adapt or are impacted by changing environments. He has experience with larval culturing, microscopy for diet studies, environmental DNA (eDNA), alongside a variety of other skills.
Alex was raised in Rochester, NY, where he wrestled, rowed, and spent too much time reading books. Despite growing up landlocked, Alex had an intense interest in marine biology. He earned his Bachelor’s degree at Boston University where he worked as a lab assistant in the Buston lab, culturing clownfish and gobies. Alex graduated from BU in 2017 with honors in marine science and a minor in biology after completing an undergraduate thesis studying how larval dispersal influenced the number of species within three reef fish families.

After graduating, Alex worked as a Fisheries observer certified for otter trawl, gillnet, and longline gear. He observed on boats all along the east coast for a year, boarding vessels from South Carolina to Portland, ME, before being accepted into UMaine as a PhD student in Dr. Richard Wahle’s lab.

As a PhD student coadvised by Dr. Wahle (UMaine) and Dr. Fields (Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences), Alex studied the ways in which a rapidly changing Gulf of Maine may affect the survival of lobster larvae. He earned his PhD in May 2023 after defending his thesis “Climate Change and an Evolving Fishery: Do Declining Maternal Size and Planktonic Foods Affect Lobster Larval Survival in the Gulf of Maine?”

Alex now works as a Postdoctoral researcher at QBC, where he is studying plastic adaptations to marine heatwaves in an abundant and ecologically important zooplankton: Acartia sp.