School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences

Washington State is the leading aquaculture shellfish producer in the United States and shellfish aquaculture has been a culturally and economically important part of the Pacific Northwest landscape for thousands of years. As part of his thesis project, SAFS master’s student, Karl Veggerby, explored the foraging ecology of crabs and fish inside shellfish areas.

The aim? To quantify how shellfish farms are used as foraging habitat for common nearshore species of fishes and crabs compared to unfarmed eelgrass meadows and mudflats.

Using direct observations of species-specific behaviors in the Puget Sound from underwater video to model how habitat type affected observed foraging rates, the key objectives were to discover:

• How habitat type influenced observed feeding behavior
• How substrate cover (i.e. algae vs. eelgrass vs. bare) influenced observed feeding behavior
• Whether structure affiliated species used structurally complex habitats for foraging more than structurally simpler habitats.

Supporting the idea that shellfish aquaculture provides equivalent foraging opportunities was the lack of clearly defined differences in foraging probability observed between cultivated and uncultivated habitat.

The results of the project indicated that oyster and clam aquaculture habitat provide foraging opportunities for several common species of nearshore fish, particularly surf perch, sculpins and small flatfish.

Higher feeding probabilities of surf perch directly above clam nets in South Puget Sound was observed, which were covered in thick filamentous algae. Likely providing attachment points for algae to adhere and grow, the nets created beneficial habitat for preferred prey items such as amphipods.

Collaborators on this project were Mark Scheuerell (SAFS), Bridget Ferriss (NOAA), Beth Sanderson (NOAA), Peter Kiffney (NOAA), Chelsea Wood (SAFS), and the data was collected during 2017 and 2018.

We spoke with PhD student Helena McMonagle about her use of the FINS award to facilitate travel to a conference in Norway, where she presented her research abroad  for the first time.

1. Why was this conference useful for you to attend?

The Effects of Climate Change on the World’s Ocean (ECCWO) is a conference that now takes place every few years in a different country. This was the fifth meeting of this conference, which took place in Norway. As the climate changes, so does the science that aims to describe, forecast, and study the impacts of it. So, I learned about loads of new research I hadn’t heard before. For example, we heard talks on how climate change is impacting fishing communities and how communities are adapting. We learned how climate change is affecting marine species distribution shifts (generally, species moving toward the poles to stay in cooler waters). 

Other colleagues presented on climate change impacts that aren’t as widely acknowledged as warming, such as how the oceans are also becoming less well oxygenated and more acidic, and how marine species respond to these changes. There was also a helpful interactive session on fostering international collaboration and communicating effectively with policy makers. 

Getting out of my usual research circle and hearing from people at other institutions, other countries, and in other disciplines often sparks new ideas for my own research and science communication, and can foster new collaborations. At an in-person conference in 2019 and a virtual conference in 2021, I met a few other early career researchers with whom we’ve just finished writing a paper that was recently published on considerations for deep sea exploitation (e.g., fishing and mining). I got to see one of those colleagues at this conference and may not have met her if it weren’t for other conferences in the past, even though our work has a lot of overlap. I’m grateful to be able to make these connections with people in far away places who happen to have super similar research interests, and for the chance to do science with them even though we aren’t at the same institution. Conferences are great for sparking those connections and ideas.

2. Did this conference offer any new opportunities for you?

This was my first time presenting in-person at an international conference. I believe that preparing for a talk by thinking about how to tell a story about the research, and then hearing people’s questions after the talk, improves the work we do. It’s also so cool to be immersed in a community of people from all over the world, and to have time for informal conversations about how science, science communication, environmental policy, and various aspects of life outside of work are done in other countries. It’s always interesting to compare, contrast, and learn from other ways of doing things.

Nolan Kitts

I will say, in case it’s helpful for someone to hear, that it can also be tiring to arrive after a long journey abroad and jump right into meeting loads of new people all day and focusing on new science. Many people are also doing this in their second or third language, not to mention in a place they’ve never been before. My baggage never arrived to Norway, so that was another challenge for the first few days, and a friend kindly lent me some stuff to wear. So for what it’s worth, a bit of advice I received years ago is that it’s also okay to take a break if you need to and catch up on sleep, alone time, exercise, whatever it is you need to make the most of the conference. Secondly, it’s good to cut people some slack considering these potential challenges they’re handling. Another thing is that many people, myself included, always get a little nervous before talks even though I enjoy giving them. And that’s fine! I try to convince myself I’m nervous because I’m excited.

3. What was your favorite part of the event?

At the ECCWO5 conference, I had the joy of getting to meet researchers in person over coffee, a meal, or a walk in the beautiful city of Bergen to chat about science and about what their experiences are like as scientists in various countries. This was a treat after reading and citing some of these researchers’ work for years before having met them. In other cases I got to meet new people who I hope to stay in touch with, and see collaborators and friends whom I had only contacted via email or video call for years before this. 

Nolan Kitts

For the past few years I mostly attended virtual conferences unless they were in Seattle, in part because of the pandemic and in part to reduce travel emissions. I think this scientific community widely acknowledges that we should do what we can to reduce our emissions, including those associated with travel to climate change conferences! This came up a lot in conversation. Some people did attend the conference virtually because the (stellar) conference organizers offered both options. Virtual or hybrid meetings can be productive when done well, but there’s also something special about leaving our usual routine and to-do lists and getting together in a new place. I’d like to work in a different country at some point in my life, and this gave me a chance to confirm that Norway is one of the places where I’d consider applying to jobs someday So, I appreciated of the chance to travel to Bergen, share research findings, bounce ideas back and forth, and enjoy a little more human connection and laughter than might have happened if the conference were fully virtual.

I am grateful for a National Science Foundation grant that provided early career researchers attending the conference with travel funding (something worth asking about if you’re a student trying to find funding to travel and present). And finally, thank you so much to our graduate student organization for covering my registration fee, and for helping our students find funding to attend conferences locally, regionally and abroad!

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