Three SAFS researchers have become principal investigators on two of the School’s long-term projects. Although new to their positions, they are not new to SAFS. Rebecca Buchanan and Jennifer Gosselin are the recently appointed PIs at Columbia Basin Research (CBR). Both came to CBR after earning doctoral degrees (Rebecca 2005; Jennifer 2015) and completing postdoctoral research. Jason Toft works on the Wetland Ecosystem Team (WET), where he has been a research scientist since obtaining his MS degree at SAFS in 2000.

SAFS thanks the Miller family and the many faculty, students, and staff for their contributions to this memoriam. Some content was adapted from the obituary written by Craig and Catherine Miller and published in The Seattle Times on November 8, 2020.
On 31 October 2020, Bruce Stuart Miller, SAFS professor emeritus, passed away at the age of 84.
Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Bruce was raised in Iowa City, Iowa, with his three brothers. 

The Chignik Regional Aquaculture Association (CRAA) has been involved with the Fisheries Research Institute (FRI) for 40+ years. (FRI’s title changed to Alaska Salmon Program (ASP) in the late 1990s, but the old name is still commonly used in Alaska.) The funding CRAA provides helps FRI maintain important fisheries research in Chignik as well as educate future fisheries scientists.

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is honored to announce the Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA) 2021 cohort. This award provides graduate students with the opportunity to receive policy and communication training before they meet lawmakers. ESA selected 23 students to receive the award including Julia L. Indivero from the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences.

Herring that spawn at different times of the year are genetically distinct from one another, according to a new paper published Feb 24th in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The study, led by Eleni Petrou and Lorenz Hauser from the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, shows that populations of Pacific herring along the US west coast are genetically structured based on when they spawn and secondarily, where they spawn.

To understand how Puget Sound has changed, we first must understand how it used to be. But unlike most major estuaries in the U.S., long-term monitoring of Puget Sound fish populations did not exist until 1990. Now researchers have discovered an unconventional method to help fill in gaps in the data: old vessel logbooks.

Affiliate faculty Usha Varanasi recently published an article as part of the ICES Journal of Marine Science (ICES JMS) Food for Thought: Luminaries Collection, a curated collection of articles written by distinguished luminaries in the field of Marine Science. 

When it comes to things that give us the heebie-jeebies, parasites reign supreme. However, they are a necessary part of our ecosystems. SAFS assistant professor Chelsea Wood joins Bill Nye on his “Science Rules!” podcast to explain what makes parasites so creepy, how to prevent them from killing us, and why she keeps digging around in decades-old cans of salmon.

A new University of Washington paper quantifies the tradeoffs between hydroelectric generation capacity and the impacts on river connectivity for thousands of current and projected future dams across Brazil. The findings confirm that small hydropower plants are far more responsible for river fragmentation than their larger counterparts due to their prevalence and distribution.

Fish populations tend to do better in places where rigorous fisheries management practices are used, and the more measures employed, the better for fish populations and food production, according to a new paper published Jan. 11 in Nature Sustainability.