Mike Palmer

Owner, Artist, Scientist

My family and I have made the Waquoit Bay watershed home for the past 15 years. Before settling on Cape Cod, I spent time in northern Massachusetts, Maine and Alaska. Wherever I’ve lived, I’ve tried to explore each place - to learn its geography, geology, cultural history, and local flora and fauna. Through my art, I connect with, translate, and share what I’m experiencing and discovering about life and place.

I’ve been drawing and creating since I was a kid, though I’ve had little formal art instruction beyond high school. Instead, I chose a different career path. In a former life I was a fisheries scientist for the federal government. I have degrees in marine science and fisheries oceanography from the University of Maine Orono and University of Alaska Fairbanks, respectively. Having spent over 200 days at sea on fishing boats and research vessels from Alaska to the Canadian Maritimes, I’ve been able to touch, observe, and study fish and other sea life first hand. As a fisheries biologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration I had a front row seat to the collapse of New England’s cod stocks, the recovery of its haddock stocks, and the overall craziness that is the New England groundfish fishery.

My professional writing and research has been published in numerous scientific journals including Science, North American Journal of Fisheries Management, Fisheries Research, and the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. I’ve discussed my research on National Public Radio and the Discovery Channel, and it was featured in a Yankee Magazine article. After nearly two decades of federal service, I retired in 2022 to devote more time to my family and creative efforts. In 2024, after witnessing the return of brook trout to the Childs River, I was inspired to join the Association to Preserve Cape Cod as a restoration ecologist. I now work on fish passage, river and bog restoration projects in the Waquoit Bay region and beyond.

My artistic style combines my scientific and creative sides in a ‘stylized realism’ that balances scientific accuracy and aesthetics. My approach has been greatly influenced by the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi - I embrace the simple, beautiful, utilitarian, poorly defined, multipurpose, imperfect, and ever-evolving.

I am always available to discuss commission work or personal modifications to any art you see displayed at the Waquoit Bay Fish Company. If you have questions, are looking for something special, or just want to say hello, please contact me by email (mike.palmer@waquoitbayfishcompany.com) or on social media at the links below.