Fishery-independent survey data represents essential information for stock assessment, ecosystem-based fishery management initiatives, and applied ecological research. These data refers to information collected over space and time about populations of marine organisms, such as population abundance and biomass. The data can be used to fit statistical models to obtain multiple products for the assessment and management of marine populations. and can provide a comprehensive and standardized picture of marine populations when collected consistently over time, particularly with respect to gear selectivity and sampling design. 

So two coastal ecologists and a quantitative environmental scientist walk into a bar ….
Nope, not a joke! It is just the School’s newest faculty getting together for a social hour. That’s right, this past academic year we successfully recruited three outstanding new faculty to our School. This newsletter edition includes a feature on Corey Garza, who arrived in September and is already building up his lab. 

The use of eDNA methods is a new and exciting area of research. Tania Valdivia, a post-doctoral student in the Whale and Dolphin Ecology Lab, is working on a large marine project under the guidance of Amy Van Cise from SAFS, and Ryan Kelly from the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs (SMEA).
The project focuses on the application of eDNA methods to detect and identify the spatial distribution of marine mammals and their prey in the California Current. 

Returning on Tuesday 10 October at 3.30pm, join your fellow SAFS community for hot drinks, tasty treats, and conversation each week during the Fall Quarter.
Are you a student? Staff member? Faculty? Researcher? Take a break from your day and get to know others working at SAFS. All are welcome!
Tuesdays at 3.30pm in the second floor kitchen area near the patio. 

Spending the summer at Friday Harbor Labs (FHL), SAFS grad student Chris Mantegna mentored four students – two as part of the NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergrads-Blinks (REU) program and two as part of the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program (DDCSP). During the program, students get to collaborate on a research project with their scientist-mentor to build marine research skills.
Specifically geared towards enhancing diversity within the marine sciences, the program welcomes students from underrepresented groups. 

Claire Vaage, a masters student in the Freshwater Ecology and Conservation Lab advised by Julian Olden, spoke with us about her summer field season in Central Oregon.
Spending 5 weeks during this summer in Oregon, I led a research team of two to four people at a time. Each day we conducted snorkel surveys and collected samples of freshwater macroinvertebrates and vegetation. 

Settling into her new role as Associate Director and Graduate Program Coordinator of SAFS, Chelsea Wood is excited to help SAFS scale up its efforts to build community. “Learning and growth happen when people feel a sense of belonging, and that can be fostered by embedding them in a strong community,” she says. “Strong academic communities are tightly networked, with many and robust connections between individual people and across lab groups. 

He obtained a Ph.D. in Fisheries Science from the University of Washington in 1972, and his research focused on marine mammal biology. 

In the world of fisheries management systems, many do not account for predator-prey interactions that scientists know can have big impacts on the dynamics and available biomass of commercially targeted species.
For his dissertation work as part of the Gulf Of Alaska Climate Integrated Modeling Project (GOA-CLIM), Grant Adams from the Punt Lab at SAFS, has been developing multi-species population dynamics models for the Gulf of Alaska. 

Welcoming the newest SAFS Professor and Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the College of the Environment, we spoke with Corey Garza. He shares his plans to enhance College diversity, what he’s most excited about by joining SAFS, and insight into his world of research using drones.
What plans do you have for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) as Associate Dean?