Fish and Fisheries

An Individual-Based, Quantitative Genetic Model for Investigating Local Adaptation and Population Viability in Connected Populations of Sockeye Salmon

Washington Sea Grant's NOAA Fisheries Fellow studies the use of indices to improve stock assessment methods for hard to study species like rockfish.

Fellow
Jocelyn Lin

Effects of ocean acidification on salmon and sablefish neurobehavioral function

Research tests impacts of high ocean carbon dioxide levels on the sense of smell of coho salmon and sablefish including its effects on feeding and ability to avoid predators.

Principal Investigator
Evan Gallagher

Evaluating Pacific Groundfish Schooling Behavior and Untrawlable Refuges Using Multi-Species Mixture Models and Data from Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Washington Sea Grant’s NOAA Fisheries Fellow spearheads development of a simulation model and sampling design, using newly developed underwater devices, to measure the abundance and improve the management of Pacific rockfishes.

Fellow
James Thorson

Evaluating the Importance of Growth Variation in Marine Fish Population Dynamics and Stock Assessment

Modeling somatic growth variation, Washington Sea Grant’s NOAA Fisheries Fellow spearheads development of a novel way to use size-at-age data from fishery or other sources to test hypotheses about growth dynamics variability.

Fellow
Christine Stawitz

How Does Hypoxia Impact Marine Food Webs and Fisheries? Evaluating Distributional Shifts in Hood Canal, Washington

Seeking to better understand the ecological consequences of hypoxia, researchers explored Dungeness crab and English sole distribution in Hood Canal during late summer periods of low dissolved oxygen.

Principal Investigator
Tim Essington

Integrating Hook and Line Survey Data and Ecological Observations to Improve Stock Assessments of Key Rockfish Species in Untrawlable Habitats

Washington Sea Grant's NOAA Fisheries Fellow studies the use of indices to improve stock assessment methods for hard to study species like rockfish.

Fellow
Peter Kuriyama

Juvenile Salmon response to Innovative Seawall Enhancements: Application of a Hydroacoustic Camera Approach

Researchers provide precise data on the benefits of Seattle seawall enhancements, enabling managers to choose the best elements for improving juvenile salmon survival and adult returns.

Principal Investigator
Jeffery Cordell

Local Adaptation and Seasonal Distribution of Puget Sound Herring Stocks

Researchers will use genetic markers to establish the distribution of genetically distinct Puget Sound herring populations to identify causes for specific population declines, anticipate future threats and adjust management strategies to protect population diversity.

Principal Investigator
Lorenz Hauser

Local Adaptation in Puget Sound Pacific Cod (Gadus macrocephalus)

Researchers are identifying genetic markers in Pacific cod associated with adaptation to warming waters, which will inform future conservation of depleted Puget Sound stocks.

Principal Investigator
Lorenz Hauser

Shifting Baselines in Puget Sound: Population Abundance of Pacific Herring and its Use by Native Americans over the Millennia

This project brings together social and natural scientists to provide a synergistic assessment of preindustrial herring diversity and use.

Principal Investigator
Lorenz Hauser

Accounting for Spatial Structure in Stock Assessments: The Case of Pacific Sardine

This research exposes bias in current Pacific sardine assessments and develops a spatially structured model that provides more accuracy and points toward changes in harvest rules.

Principal Investigator
André Punt

An Evaluation of the Stock Assessment Method for Eastern Bering Sea Snow Crab Incorporating Spatial Heterogeneity in Fishing Pressure, Recruitment Processes, and Distribution of Spawning Biomass

This research develops a spatially structured method for assessing Bering Sea snow crab population and tests the ability of current methods to assess this spatially dynamic species.

Fellow
Cody Szuwalski

Assessing historical abundance trends for key marine species to support ecosystem-based management and restoration of Puget Sound.

Researchers integrate multiple datasets to assess long-term trends in key Puget Sound fish stocks and possible causes of decline, such as fishing, coastal growth, climate change, and proliferating seals and sea lions.

Principal Investigator
Timothy Essington

Effects of Ocean Acidification on Salmon Olfactory Function and Magnetoreception

This study clarifies the mechanisms that underlie loss of smell in coho salmon and determines the effects of increased waterborne CO2 on olfactory and navigational functions, both of which are crucial to salmons’ ability to find their way back to their home streams to spawn.

Principal Investigator
Evan Gallagher

Fish or Flight: Modeling the Migration Decisions of Fish Harvesters in Rural Alaska

A Washington Sea Grant-supported fellow is investigating the drivers of outmigration from rural Alaskan communities and the impacts on the sustainability of rural harvesting operations.

Fellow
Jennifer Meredith

Juvenile Salmon response to Innovative Seawall Enhancements: Application of a Hydroacoustic Camera Approach

Researchers provide precise data on the benefits of Seattle seawall enhancements, enabling managers to choose the best elements for improving juvenile salmon survival and adult returns.

Principal Investigator
Jeffery Cordell

Local Adaptation and Seasonal Distribution of Puget Sound Herring Stocks

Researchers will use genetic markers to establish the distribution of genetically distinct Puget Sound herring populations to identify causes for specific population declines, anticipate future threats and adjust management strategies to protect population diversity.

Principal Investigator
Lorenz Hauser

Marine Survival of Puget Sound Chinook Salmon: Size-Selective Mortality, Critical Periods, and Growth Limitations

This project will use a novel method to study patterns in size-selective mortality of juvenile Chinook salmon in a range of habitats.

Principal Investigator
David Beauchamp

Multi-species methods to facilitate the transition from heuristics to statistics in an ecosystem based approach to fisheries management

Washington Sea Grant/NOAA Fisheries Fellow is developing and testing frameworks to evaluate how well groundfish fisheries management strategies perform when using long-term survey data.

Fellow
Kelli Faye Johnson

Optimizing Bayesian Analysis in Data-Rich Stock Assessments and Management Resources in Data-Limited Fisheries

Washington Sea Grant-supported fellow investigates common fishery stock-assessment methods that may bias managers’ fishery catch decisions.

Fellow
Cole Monnahan

Reduced Bycatch in Alaska and West Coast Fisheries

Social and economic effects of ITQs on the West Coast groundfish fishery: solving the weak stock/bycatch problem

A group of regional researchers tracked the ecological and economic effects of a new catch–share system for West Coast groundfish fisheries.

Principal Investigator
Trevor Branch (Washington lead); Christopher Costello (regional lead)

Using bioenergetics models to evaluate ecological and fishery impacts of climate change on Dungeness crab

Scientists examine the effects of changing water temperature on Dungeness crab, Washington's most valuable harvest, and develop bionergetic models to guide management strategies.

Principal Investigator
P. Sean McDonald

Effects of Ocean Acidification on Salmon Olfactory Function and Magnetoreception

This study clarifies the mechanisms that underlie loss of smell in coho salmon and determines the effects of increased waterborne CO2 on olfactory and navigational functions, both of which are crucial to salmons’ ability to find their way back to their home streams to spawn.

Principal Investigator
Evan Gallagher

Exploring Mechanisms of Mortality in the First Ocean Year of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)

Washington Sea Grant's NOAA Fisheries Fellow explores the importance of mechanisms underlying mortality, growth, and maturation of Columbia River spring Chinook salmon.

Fellow
Jeffery Rutter

Floodplains and food webs: evaluating the benefits of tidal delta restoration for Chinook salmon and their prey

Governing Complex Environmental Commons: Stakeholder Partnerships in Salmon Recovery in Washington, Oregon, and California

An exhaustive analysis of newspaper coverage and public comments on salmon-recovery efforts revealed extremely low participation by private interests, a significant gap in collaborative salmon management.

Principal Investigator
Nives Dolšak

Juvenile Salmon response to Innovative Seawall Enhancements: Application of a Hydroacoustic Camera Approach

Researchers provide precise data on the benefits of Seattle seawall enhancements, enabling managers to choose the best elements for improving juvenile salmon survival and adult returns.

Principal Investigator
Jeffery Cordell

Linking Genetic Variation, Selection and Adaptation in Chinook Salmon: Next Generation Sequencing and an Oligonucleotide Microarray with Complete Genome Coverage

Researchers mapped portions of the Chinook salmon genome, studying survival and adaptation and linking to tools for protection and recovery of this endangered species.

Principal Investigator
Kerry Naish

Measuring what Matters: Linking Life History Traits and Disease Resistance with Genomic Variation in Chinook Salmon Conservation Hatcheries

Researchers will develop tools and technologies for measuring and monitoring genetic change in fitness traits in Chinook salmon hatchery populations.

Principal Investigator
Kerry Naish

Modeling the effects of inbreeding in salmon hatcheries on the eco-evolutionary dynamics of supplemented wild populations

Washington Sea Grant’s NOAA Fisheries Fellow studies how inbreeding in salmon hatcheries may affect the productivity of wild populations.

Fellow
Charles Waters

Recovery of Elwha River Salmon and Trout After Dam Removal: Recolonization and the Awakening of Dormant Life History Diversity

Joining a collaborative team of scientists, researchers are investigating a wide range of ecosystems and salmonid populations in the newly reopened Elwha river system, documenting the “before” needed to understand the “after” that will follow two historic dam removals.

Principal Investigator
Thomas Quinn

Salmon Habitat Restoration in Thermally Impaired Waters: Engineered Log Jams, Hyporheic Exchange and Cool-Water Refuge

Engineered log jams are being tested for their ability to promote shallow groundwater upwelling, which can help create cool-water refuges critical for Pacific salmon.

Principal Investigator
James Helfield

Scaling shoreline restoration to improve nearshore marine habitat for salmon and forage fishes

Researchers study the link between shoreline type (armored, restored, natural) and fish assemblages by conducting surveys and integrating their new data into an existing database to gain insight into this link at multiple spatial scales.

Principal Investigator
Tessa Francis

Two-eyed seeing in practice: Participatory modeling to evaluate pinniped hunting in Puget Sound as a tool for salmon recovery

Use of Ancient, Historic, and Modern Salmon DNA to Parse Effects of Human-induced Change

Researchers from Washington State University work to document the chronology of change in salmon DNA in relation to human impacts.

Principal Investigator
Brian Kemp

Using molecular scatology to determine winter and spring pinniped predation on Chinook salmon in Northwest Washington: Implications for salmon recovery, fisheries management, and endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales

Researchers will use molecular scatology and quantitative models to advance understanding of how winter and spring pinniped predation on Chinook salmon in Northwest Washington affects salmon recovery and Southern Resident Killer Whales.

Principal Investigator
Adrianne Akmajian

Effect of Salmon Omega-3 Fatty Acids on PBDE Toxicity

Exploring the interaction between harmful PBDEs and helpful omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, researchers assessed the health risks and benefits of eating seafood. Results show that antioxidants in salmon and other foods have beneficial effects in cells and may have protective properties against toxic PDBEs in vivo.

Principal Investigator
Evan Gallagher

Keta Project

This study will examine consumer attitudes toward salmon consumption and sustainable fishing in the Pacific Northwest.

Principal Investigator
Stanford Goto

Reviving the Past to Protect the Future: Developing a Social-Ecological Clam Garden site selection model

Researchers are creating a model to determine the best place to install the first present-day clam garden in the U.S.

Principal Investigator
Julie Barber

Use of Zebrafish to Assess Health Effects of Persistent Pollutants in Pacific Salmon

Building off work from the previous project, “Effect of salmon Omega-3 Fatty Acids on PBDE toxicity,” researchers used zebrafish as a low-cost model for studying the environmental and health hazards of toxic PDBEs.

Principal Investigator
Evan Gallagher