After a decade of serving as director of SAFS, André Punt is stepping down to focus on his teaching and research. Over the past ten years, he has navigated the School through challenging times, such as the ongoing pandemic, as well as historic highs, like the Centennial Celebration in 2019. Please join us in thanking André for going above and beyond as SAFS Director.

After more than a year of research, planning, and advocacy by grad students, staff, and postdocs, SAFS completed its first-ever DEI Assessment (or “Equity Audit”) in autumn quarter 2021. SAFS contracted with WhitworthKee Consulting, who held focus groups and developed a survey instrument to assess the School’s climate and opportunities for growth.

On July 30, 2021, Lynwood Smith, SAFS professor emeritus, passed away at the age of 92. During his time at the School of Fisheries and as member of the Fisheries Research Institute (FRI), Lynwood’s research focused on real-world issues and opportunities. His publications included contributions to fish physiology and the effects of environmental stress on fish.

SAFS Associate Professor Chelsea Wood is the recipient of a 2022 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). This prestigious award will support Wood’s novel research on the historical ecology of parasitism and will allow her to create an active-learning, open-access version of her undergraduate parasite ecology course.

This will be my last “From the Director” letter as my 10-year tenure as SAFS director is drawing to a close. It has been an exciting, enjoyable, challenging, and at times exhausting decade. We have seen numerous transitions in the School’s faculty, staff, and students, resulting in major changes in research, teaching, advising, and administration.

The UW College of the Environment is pleased to announce that Professor Tim Essington has agreed to serve for a five-year term as director of the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, effective July 1, 2022. Essington is a fisheries ecologist, whose research focuses on the application of ecological knowledge to sustain fisheries and ecosystems. He has an active research program in Puget Sound examining consequences of climate change, hypoxia, and nearshore restoration on food webs, and he is also well known for his global syntheses of fish and fisheries data to reveal ecosystem responses to fishing.

The echosounder-equipped, autonomous underwater glider, Gretel, was launched from the mouth of Resurrection Bay in the northern Gulf of Alaska. After technical adjustments, Gretel will sample the GAK1 line and proceed southeast to rendezvous with the US vessel, the NOAA research vessel Bell M Shimada participating in the 2022 Pan-Pacific International Year of the Salmon High Seas Expedition.

Join us weekly for a new SAFS tradition! Every Monday at 2:30pm, a faculty member will host SAFS Café on the 2nd floor patio of FISH. Bring your coffee or tea and enjoy some refreshments and conversation with colleagues.

Future Rivers invites you to a special film screening on October 14th of the documentary, River to the Heart (105m), followed by a conversation with the director, Eddy Harris, author of Mississippi Solo. This documentary charts Eddy’s adventures as a lone Black man canoeing 2,318 miles down the entirety of the Mississippi River.

Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño, along with researchers from NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center and Baywater Shellfish Farms, will examine the impacts of stressors on shellfish as part of a new project funded by the NOAA Sea Grant and the Ocean Acidification Program.