Washington Sea Grant (WSG) is happy to welcome two new Science Communications fellows, Jess Davis and Brian McGreal. As part of the communications team, Jess will contribute to the WSG News Blog, monthly newsletter and social media. Brian will write for the communications team as well as focus on event planning initiatives for WSG’s River & Ocean Film Festival.
Learn more about Jess and Brian below!
June 10, 2024
Are you one of the millions of Washington residents living on or near the Salish Sea? Join the Salish Sea-wide Molt Blitz on June 20 to contribute to the largest-ever single-day dataset of crab molts collected in our state.
Molts are the old shells crabs shed when they grow. Collecting and recording these molts provides valuable data on which species of crab are present in an area, including invasive European green crab (Carcinus maenas). The emerging invasion of green ...
Read MoreJune 3, 2024
Washington Sea Grant (WSG) is excited to welcome Allison Spooner as the new HR and equity manager. Allison joins WSG as a key member of the operations team.
During her seven-year tenure at the University of Washington, Allison’s journey was a whirlwind adventure of challenges and triumphs, guided by her unwavering commitment to making a difference. Her dedication to DEI extends beyond her professional endeavors. She actively contributes to ...
Read MoreJune 3, 2024
Washington Sea Grant (WSG) is pleased to welcome Azalea Hermann as the new fellowships and workforce development specialist. In this role, Azalea collaborates with the WSG fellowships team on fellow recruitment, engagement, professional development and more.
Azalea is a born and raised Texan and has called the PNW her home for the last 5 years. Her professional background spans various roles ...
Read MoreJune 3, 2024
By Alison Lorenz, WSG Science Writer
Riley Starks had never fished a day in his life and had rarely been on the water when he graduated college in 1972. But he had a whole year ahead of him before he started law school, he needed money, and a friend of his had just bought a boat. When his friend asked Riley to come crew with him that winter, Riley did. “And it was just one of those moments when ...
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May 23, 2024
This winter, WSG Crab Team was joined by a second graduate student assistant, Zach Bengtsson. Zach is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at UW’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences researching stress responses of marine invertebrates. We asked Zach to share some of his story with us to introduce himself to the broader Crab Team community.
May 8, 2024
Sea Grant-funded research and work with coastal and Great Lakes communities across the nation are the focus of a special issue of “Oceanography,” the official journal of The Oceanography Society.
This special issue, published in April 2024, features 36 articles contributed by Sea Grant authors across 29 programs and the National Sea Grant Office.
The articles cover a ...
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May 7, 2024
Continuing our summary of 2023 green crab status and trends
The momentum and dedication to extensive trapping for European green crab on Washington’s Pacific coastline continued to grow through 2023. Over the course of the year, nearly 355,000 green crabs were removed from the coastal estuaries and shorelines. Let’s take a closer look at what the catch data showed about population status and trends.
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May 6, 2024
WSG is pleased to provide an update on its search for a new director. The Dean’s Office of the University of Washington’s College of the Environment and WSG are jointly exploring a new model for WSG leadership that would add a faculty director to our leadership team. We believe this new model will serve to maintain existing WSG programs and partnerships while providing additional valuable connections to research, expertise and resources for the benefit of Washington’s coastal communities.
Dr. ...
Read MoreMay 1, 2024
Puget Sound — Options for recreational boaters to pump out boat sewage safely and efficiently are expanding throughout Puget Sound as the number of traveling “pumpout boats” grows.
When combined with stationary pumpout units at marinas, these grant-funded mobile pumpout boats keep an estimated 8-10 million gallons of sewage out of Puget Sound annually, protecting shellfish beds and improving overall water quality. Recreational boating ...
Read MoreApril 17, 2024
Submit short films by April 22 for a screening at the Rainforest Arts Center in Forks.
Forks, WA – The River & Ocean Film Festival returns in 2024 to celebrate the freshwater and marine environments on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula. This year the Festival will hold ...
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April 10, 2024
While 2023 already seems like an eon ago, last year’s trapping season is still very much on our minds even as we launch the 2024 monitoring effort. The winter is a time for green crab managers to regroup, review data to interpret green crab population patterns and think about strategies for the coming year. In December, WSG hosted our third annual Trapper’s Summit, a day-long workshop for trapping partners all over the state to come and ...
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Marc J. Hershman has been credited with turning coastal management into an academic field of study. He taught coastal and ocean law, seaport management and coastal management at the University of Washington (UW) for over 30 ...
By Samantha Larson, WSG Science Writer
Since 2008, Washington Sea Grant (WSG) has placed recent graduate students in offices across the state to spend a year working on ocean and coastal science and policy issues. Over that time, the WSG Hershman Fellowship has grown into a highly respected, sought-after opportunity for students and host offices alike.
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By Samantha Larson, WSG Science Writer
Minutes away from Seattle’s Space Needle and skyscrapers, a pocket beach along the waterfront hosts an abundance of marine life. On a warm day in July this past summer, about two dozen middle schoolers poked through these tidepools, uncovering animals many of the students had never even heard of before — ...
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