June 27, 2024
By Alison Lorenz, WSG Science Writer
To friends and family, Nick Mendoza has always been “the fish guy.” From what he describes as an “uncanny obsession” with fish in his youth to his work as a marine scientist, a love of the ocean is as inherent to Mendoza as his entrepreneurial spirit. Perhaps these traits explain why, amid constant texts from loved ones asking how to eat more, and more sustainable, seafood, Mendoza saw not a challenge, ...
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 ...
Read MoreJanuary 24, 2024
By Alison Lorenz, WSG Science Writer
Before Thomas Foster-Kibbler got into commercial fishing, he wanted to be an EMT on a firefighting crew. He was living in sunny Los Angeles County, training to help others. The problem? He was spending all his spare time and cash sport fishing on charter boats and spending, as he says, “too much money to go fishing all the time.”
That’s when something clicked. Foster-Kibbler decided to try a career in fishing commercially, and found ...
Read MoreBy Olivia Horwedel, WSG Science Communications Fellow
Deep blue ocean waters push against rocky shorelines and coastal forests. Eagles soar overhead. In the distance, whales surface, taking a moment to breathe as they navigate through the ocean’s waters. This incredibly unique landscape, situated at the Northwest tip of Washington state, is the ...
Read MoreMarch 29, 2023
It started in another century when towboats ran over crab pots, tangling their propellers in buoys and lines.
Both towboat operators and crabbers knew an agreement was needed to keep their gear intact. For 50 years they maintained an orderly understanding in occupying their separate businesses in the greater, shared ocean space. Then Washington Sea ...
Read MoreOctober 28, 2022
It was time to stop fishing for the day in Naknek, Bristol Bay. Just like every day of their summer season, the 32’ drift boat pulled into line to deliver their day’s catch of sockeye salmon to a tender – a bigger vessel that then brings the harvested fish to the processors on land.
In bright orange ...
Read MoreSeptember 27, 2022
By Olivia Horwedel, WSG Science Communications Fellow
Steve Seymour — a fisheries biologist-turned-oyster farmer — has always been passionate about the marine world. Prior to opening Drayton Harbor Oyster Company, Steve spent most of his career running salmon hatcheries for the Lummi Nation, working on fish enhancement projects throughout Washington State.
Throughout his career ...
Read MoreBy Samantha Larson, WSG Science Writer
“Male Dungeness, 173, 1-2!” After calling out the specs, Emily Buckner — the program coordinator for the Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group (PCRG) — swiftly tosses the wriggling crab overboard and then reaches back into the pot to pull out another. Today, Buckner’s job entails going out with a small team on ...
Read MoreAugust 30, 2022
By Olivia Horwedel, WSG Science Communications Fellow
Mike Cornman, owner of Westport Seafood and Merino’s Seafood Market, was destined to work a career connected to the ocean. Cornman grew up in Westport, Washington — which at one point was known as the salmon capital of the world — and spent his summers working in his family’s fishing business that opened in 1985. While he left for several years to start his career ...
Read MoreJuly 25, 2022
By Maddie Hansen, WSG Science Communications Fellow
“I love salmon, they’re beautiful creatures,” says Robert Sudar, who currently works as a salmon distributor in Seattle. He has been involved in the fishing industry in one way or another for the past 50 years.
Robert began as a crewmember on boats in the San Juan Islands when he was ...
Read MoreJanuary 25, 2022
The Gig Harbor BoatShop and Washington Sea Grant are launching the Purse Seine Vessel Crew Member Training Program, or “Crew School,” designed to provide instruction on the fundamental skills needed to work on a commercial fishing vessel. Led by experienced captains and crew, the hands-on curriculum will be taught in the classroom, aboard commercial fishing vessels ...
Read MoreNovember 8, 2021
Coastal Washington — This year marks the 50th anniversary of a little-known, but highly successful mariner’s agreement known as the “Crabber/Towboat Lane Agreement,” providing a positive example of what can be accomplished between disparate groups when both parties are committed to finding common ground.
In the 1970s, conflicts between ...
Read MoreOctober 27, 2021
Over the last few decades, shellfish farms and natural shellfish populations in Washington State have suffered large losses due to blooms of harmful algae that are not traditionally monitored and whose toxic effects are poorly understood. Washington Sea Grant (WSG) researchers and collaborators recently documented the role ...
Read MoreOctober 20, 2021
We are thrilled to welcome Jenna Keeton as the new fisheries specialist at Washington Sea Grant (WSG)!
Jenna works to address the needs of Washington’s fisheries-dependent communities through targeted outreach and collaborative research. At Washington Sea Grant, Jenna’s overarching motivation is to strengthen networks among sustainable commercial fisheries, the seafood industry and consumers. Specifically, she strives to ...
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