February 11, 2026
Last December, as king tides pushed waves over Westport’s seawall and nudged seawater onto nearby roads, Washington Sea Grant (WSG) hosted a successful first Washington Fishermen’s Convention.
The Washington Fishermen’s Convention aimed to celebrate and unify the state’s diverse fishing industry, gathering longtime, new and aspiring fishermen to ...
Read MoreDecember 15, 2025
In August 2022, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community laid the foundational rocks of what would become the first modern-day clam garden in the United States. This revival of an ancient Indigenous mariculture practice can boost clam production and species diversity, enhance food sovereignty, increase resilience, and also provide a cultural space for community knowledge sharing and connection.
Before those first stones were set, the Tribe had engaged in years of planning and preparation. This included the work of researchers ...
Read MoreOctober 28, 2025
By Mina Orlic, California Sea Grant Science Communications Associate
View the original post on California Sea Grant’s website.
From wild-caught salmon and Dungeness crab to farmed oysters and mussels, West Coast seafood choices are vast, healthy and delicious. But many consumers who want to eat local seafood and support coastal economies are unsure how to choose and ...
Read MoreJune 16, 2025
By Alison Lorenz, WSG Communications Project Coordinator
Dr. Wesley Hull has been awarded the University of Washington (UW) Graduate School Medal for his dissertation research, supported in part by Washington Sea Grant (WSG).
The Graduate School Medal recognizes a doctoral candidate whose academic expertise and social awareness are integrated in a way that demonstrates an exemplary commitment to the University and its larger community. Hull, who recently completed his doctorate in biology at UW, worked with shellfish farmers, coastal ...
Read MoreMay 20, 2025
By Alison Lorenz, WSG Communications Project Coordinator
“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” The student called a distress signal, indicating their boat had an emergency. Fortunately, there was no real danger at Washington Sea Grant (WSG)’s South Bend office. Students were practicing mayday calls as part of WSG’s Skills and Drills training, a new course designed to equip aspiring commercial fishermen with the skills they need to succeed.
Washington state supports a vibrant ...
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When purchasing seafood for dinner, frozen is fresh!
Many people are unsure about the quality of frozen fish or shellfish at the market. The good news is, freezing technology has vastly improved over the last few decades. When it comes to seafood, frozen is a great option.
The Science of Flash Freezing
“Flash freezing” is the process of quickly lowering the temperature of freshly harvested seafood.
Old technologies froze fish slowly. This caused cells inside the flesh to ...
Read MoreSeptember 6, 2024
By Brian McGreal, WSG Science Communications Fellow
In the spring of 2024, students at high schools up and down the Oregon coast engaged with a different sort of education. Armed with sharpened knives and fish scalers, high school students learned to debone albacore, filet salmon and shuck oysters under the auspices of the Oregon Coast Visitors Association’s newly launched Seafood Butchery Pilot Program. Designed to increase young people’s awareness and interest in jobs in the ...
Read MoreSeptember 3, 2024
By Ashleigh Epps, WSG aquaculture specialist
In late May 2024, the Pacific coasts of Oregon and Washington experienced a paralytic shellfish poisoning harmful algal bloom event. Thirty-one people became sick in Oregon over Memorial Day weekend, which triggered increased paralytic shellfish poisoning testing and the closures of harvest areas by the Department of Health.
No illnesses occurred in Washington. The last time Willapa Bay ...
Read MoreJuly 24, 2024
By Brian McGreal, WSG Science Communications Fellow
Recently, Rob Seitz’s sister wished him a happy 31st wedding anniversary and asked what he and his wife Tiffani would be doing to celebrate. “I told her, ‘We’re working with our family serving fish to our community in a business we built together.’”
From Seitz’s upbringing in Alaska to working through the Pacific groundfish collapse of the 2000s to operating his own vessel in Oregon and California, fishing has always been ...
Read MoreFebruary 12, 2024
Washington Sea Grant (WSG) is pleased to announce that it will partner with the Washington state departments of Ecology, Transportation, and Fish and Wildlife to support coastal resilience work as part of a new $850,000 grant. The grant comes from the National Coastal Resilience Fund, a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
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January 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 MoreJanuary 10, 2024
Washington Sea Grant (WSG) is pleased to receive federal funds through NOAA Sea Grant in support of its work to advance resilience in coastal and fishing communities throughout Washington state.
The WSG project seeks to enhance Washington coastal resilience in several ways. These include but are not limited to: broadening outreach to coastal communities on coast-specific climate hazards; connecting marine and coastal resource managers with funding opportunities to address coastal hazards; communicating hazard risk reduction ...
Read MoreDecember 12, 2023
Subject to the availability of funding, Sea Grant anticipates $5,000,000 to $6,000,000 will be available for research projects and programs that will develop and refine methods, protocols, techniques, and/or strategies to enhance the production of one or more life stages of aquaculture species with the overall goal of improving the efficiency, output, and profitability of commercial coastal, marine, or Great Lakes region aquaculture businesses.
Total funding for this competition includes approximately $5,000,000-$6,000,000 to support 4-12 projects for up to ...
Read MoreDecember 6, 2023
After working at Washington Sea Grant (WSG) for more than 30 years, Teri King, aquaculture and marine water quality specialist, has moved on to her next chapter.
King joined WSG in 1990. Over the next three decades, she built an innovative program of outreach and technical assistance around the issues of shellfish aquaculture and Puget Sound water quality, reaching thousands who shared her passion for healthy marine waters and resources. Her program has ...
Read MoreAugust 30, 2023
Washington Sea Grant (WSG) is pleased to have a project selected for funding through the NOAA Sea Grant Aquaculture Workforce Development Support Projects competition.
The WSG project seeks to revive a previously successful crew training program by updating it to reflect current industry needs and adding ...
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