Call for participants and mentors for the 2024 GRFP workshop. The National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) offers 3 years of support for graduate students, and hybrid workshops will be held during September and October to pair participants with mentors to offer guidance and advice for the application.

In a new study challenging conventional thinking about how populations of large baleen whales recover from whaling, researchers have revealed that populations continue increasing rapidly for a wide range of recovery levels, only slowing once approaching pre-whaling levels.

Recent graduate of the SAFS master’s program, Jezella Peraza, has been chosen as the 2024 Washington Sea Grant (WSG) Keystone Fellow. As the 2024 WSG Keystone Fellow, Jezella will work with the Seattle Aquarium on an integrated conservation effort for pinto abalone. In collaboration with Indigenous Peoples and local communities, Jezella will help shape and implement engagement strategies to support pinto abalone recovery and honor cultural connections.

In the most recent cohort of University of Washington (UW) students participating in the NOAA Marine Mammal Lab internship program organized through SAFS, Chris Moon spent the summer of 2024 working with Dr. Tony Orr from NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC), studying northern fur seals and California sea lions on San Miguel Island, California.

In a special update from the field, the Alaska Salmon Program shared their excitement at showing University of Washington President, Ana Mari Cauce, and College of the Environment Dean, Maya Tolstoy, around the field camps in Alaska. The Alaska Salmon Program has been running for more than 75 years, conducting research and providing hands on learning for UW students.
“We had a lot of fun showing UW President Ana Mari Cauce and UW College of the Environment Dean Maya Tolstoy why Bristol Bay is such a special place. 

During a multi-day workshop organized by SAFS Assistant Professor Jessica Gephart, nine researchers working on projects related to the seafood trade got together for a hackathon-style research event. The overarching goal was to facilitate use of the ARTIS (Aquatic Resource Trade in Species) database by providing support and answering questions about the data.

During the summer, UW Marine Biology senior, Ashley Rendon, is working with the Marine Landscape and Ecology Lab, led by Professor Corey Garza at SAFS. Using drones, Ashley has been surveying pinniped distribution along the California coastline and mapping the intertidal zone in British Columbia.

How do people make the decision on where they fish? What factors influence human behavior in fisheries? Terrance Wang is exploring the answers to these questions during his PhD research at SAFS. Fisheries management is an important process across the world, informing international and regional decisions on fishing locations, type of catch, methods used, and more.

In recent years, there has been a global push to expand marine conservation efforts, but the quality of the implemented conservation network has often been neglected in favor of quantity. In a new paper published in Nature Communications, Juliette Jacquemont tackles one of the limitations of marine spatial planning by conducting the first global assessment of the 3D distribution of fishing activities and conservation coverage.

Ever heard of the Pied Piper? What about in the context of fisheries research? Taking the concept embodied by the Pied Piper story of strong but delusive enticement, Maria Kuruvilla applied it to hatchery fish and wild salmon in three Washington State rivers during their migratory journey downriver.