The six months since we published the previous issue of the newsletter have been exhilarating, exhausting, and just plain amazing as I hope you will see from these articles.

I have good memories of my time at the College of Fisheries; I made many friends and had excellent sensei (teachers) (Doug Gregory, Joan Hardy, David Fluharty, Marcus Duke, Loh-Lee Low [BS, 1970; MS 1972; PhD, 1974), Dan Ito [BS, 1979; MS, 1982; PhD, 1999], Loveday Conquest, Marianna Alexandersdottir, Steve Millard, Al Shimada [BS, 1978] and many others). I also had good experiences as a student helper for Don Bevan (I was assigned to the ADF&G, Kodiak Island office in summer) and for Ric Fleming (College of Oceanography). I also gained experience as both a TA and an RA. I enjoyed my private life, which included an American girlfriend from Renton, being a member and a trumpeter in the Seattle Japanese Baptist Church on Capital Hill (AFSC’s Don Kimura-san’s family was there), acting as a weekend math and science teacher at the Seattle Japanese School on Beacon Hill, and shopping for Japanese foods (sake is my fuel) at Uwajimaya. To make my dream to stay in the USA possible, I applied for a biometrician post at ADF&G, but was not offered the position, although I was one of the finalists. After 10 years in the USA and no job because of the competitive market, it was time to look internationally.

My work on the swimming physiology of adult salmon largely took place in the field, aboard a brand new floating laboratory, the R/V Kumtuks. “Kumtuks” means “to know or to understand” in native Chinook jargon. So later that year when Lynwood launched the new floating laboratory, Dean Richard Van Cleve christened it the R/V Kumtuks.

Some of us cannot help doing in retirement what we’ve loved doing throughout our working lives—indeed, since childhood. When I was a boy, I treasured exploring and learning about Ohio’s forests, fields, and streams; I kept exploring regional ecological systems in the Pacific Northwest on arriving at UW in 1991; and after becoming emeritus in 2006, I am still happiest exploring, learning, and teaching.

More than 15 years after graduating, I am constantly reminded of my time at SAFS. I often drive to Seattle for work, and I intentionally time my drive so that I can avoid traffic, which inevitably means driving through the night. Approaching Seattle at night from the south is fascinating. The city skyline evokes memories. The sight of the SAFS building from the I-5 Bridge gives me the odd sensation of being at home, but far from it. I like and cherish this feeling. I am reminded of homing fish, coming back to familiar grounds. Happy anniversary SAFS!

I grew up in southern California, but spent summer vacations in the Pacific Northwest. These trips convinced me that there were more desirable places to live than the urban–suburban sprawl of Los Angeles and Orange counties. I always loved fishing and science and was intrigued by what influenced the behaviour and productivity of trout—melding my interests into a career in fish biology seemed natural. 

The ink was drying on my PhD as Jan and I loaded three small kids into a VW van for the trip north to Seattle and our new life. Dean Doug Chapman had called me 7 months earlier to express regrets that I didn’t get the invert fishery faculty job, but said my interview went well. Two weeks later, he called again to ask if I still wanted it, choice #1 had backed out. 

My career in fisheries started after I finished my degree in Ecology in Brazil (State University of Sao Paulo, UNESP) and decided to change my research field from myrmecology to fisheries. Although working on ant ecology under the great Harold G. Fowler sparked my scientific curiosity and brought me joy, I soon realized that very few people in the world ate ants… Also, as an undergraduate, the quantitative ecology classes of Miguel Petrere captivated my interest. 

I first visited SAFS in February 2000. With a Fulbright scholarship in my pocket, I was “shopping” PhD programs in fisheries stock assessment. I felt instant chemistry with SAFS. The new building had just been inaugurated, and the atmosphere was so friendly. A stroll around the beautiful UW campus was the first of many that I would come to enjoy. There was also the U-district, where brilliant minds from the four corners of the world come to share their experiences. 

Even as a kid growing up in the eastern Washington desert, I had a fascination with water. I tell my friends that I was the first kid to fall in the mud puddle in the spring and the last to crawl out in the fall. Maybe it traces back to grade school in Annapolis where my Dad taught at the Naval Academy and I spent a lot of time along the Chesapeake Bay.