DEBBIE ASELTINE-NEILSON
California Department of Fish & Game
(858) 546-7150
Debbie Aseltine‐Neilson is currently a Senior Marine Biologist Specialist with the California Department of Fish and Game and is the Marine Region’s coordinator for research and data partnerships. She has over 30 years of experience working as a marine/fisheries biologist. For much of this time, she worked on projects associated with marine resources off California, though she also spent time studying species within the Atlantic/Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South China Sea. Her work has included studying the impacts of water flow on sea urchin distributions, documenting changes in invertebrate, algal, and fish communities on artificial and natural reefs, surveying catches from the set gill net fishery, and examining the vertical distribution of bioluminescence in coastal waters. Aseltine‐Neilson has also worked on a variety of management and assessment projects, such as assisting in the development of a fishery management plan for the nearshore finfish fishery, representing California on the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Groundfish Management Team, participating on several stock assessment teams, and assisting Sea Grant staff to convene a Managing Data‐Poor Fisheries Workshop in 2008. She is currently a management advisor for an ocean acidification study headed by Dr. Victoria Fabry.
DAN AYRES
Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife
(360) 249-4628 x 209
Dan Ayres is a Fish and Wildlife Biologist who leads the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) coastal shellfish unit based in Montesano and Willapa Bay. He manages Washington’s very popular razor clam recreational fishery and oversees the unit’s work managing the coastal Dungeness crab, pink shrimp and spot prawn commercial fisheries, the Willapa Bay oyster reserves and research projects in Willapa Bay. He works closely with other state and federal agencies on a variety of issues including harmful algal blooms (HAB). Dan has represented WDFW in oral testimony on this topic before the Washington State Legislature and the U.S. Congress. He is currently serving his second term on the National Harmful Algal Bloom Committee. Dan has also participated in a variety of grant peer review panels for both state and federal agencies. Dan is a graduate of the University of Washington and began his career with WDFW in 1980.
Current Research
- Razor Clam Population Assessment and Harvest Monitoring Studies
- Razor Clam Growth and Natural Mortality Study
- Coastal Dungeness Crab Derelict Gear Assessment
ALAN BARTON
Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association
(541) 231-7071
Alan Barton is the Project Coordinator for the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association (PCSGA) Monitoring Program, a collaborative effort established between shellfish growers and members of the research community, with the goal of accurately monitoring seawater quality in areas of commercial importance to the Pacific Northwest shellfish industry. Established in 2010 through support from NOAA, the project has evolved into a network of monitoring stations stretching from Netarts Bay, OR to Bellingham WA, at key sites of commercial hatchery production and at sites of high natural recruitment of Pacific oyster larvae. In 2008 and 2009, Alan worked at Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery in Netarts, OR, and was involved in attempts to understand the effects of upwelled, acidified seawater on commercial production of Pacific oyster larvae, particularly during the first 7-10 days after fertilization. Alan and Whiskey Creek staff adopted careful monitoring of ambient pCO2 levels as a management strategy in the hatchery, resulting in a significant increase in larval production. However, these adaptive strategies cannot restore commercial production to historic levels, and continued efforts to understand and manipulate seawater chemistry remain an important focus at Whiskey Creek.
Prior to his work at Whiskey Creek, Alan served as Program Manager for the Molluscan Broodstock Program (MBP) under the direction of Dr. Chris Langdon. MBP, a part of Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center, has worked closely with the oyster industry since its inception in 1996, and selectively breeds Pacific and Kumamoto oysters for use in commercial hatchery production. Alan managed the MBP hatchery and grow-out operations from 2004-2007, and continues to work closely with Dr. Langdon’s program in his role as project coordinator for the PCSGA monitoring program.
FRANCIS CHAN
OMEGAS, PISCO – Oregon State University
(541) 737-9131
Dr Francis Chan is an ecosystem ecologist at the Department of Zoology in Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA where he is also a scientist with PISCO – the Partnership for the Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans. His research interests are focused on understanding the interactions between biogeochemistry and ecological patterns and processes in coastal oceans. His work includes research on the controls of oxygen dynamics and changes in carbon chemistry in upwelling systems and their influences on pelagic and benthic ecological communities.
ANDREW DICKSON
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
(858) 822-2990
Dr. Andrew Dickson is a Professor of Marine Chemistry at the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He leads the Marine Physical Laboratory’s Oceanic Carbon Dioxide Quality Control research group, which is engaged in a variety of project studying upper-ocean biogeochemistry and carbon dioxide chemistry in seawater. Specific projects include: development of strategies for quality control of ocean carbon dioxide measurements, including the production and distribution of appropriate reference materials; improvement of techniques for measuring carbon dioxide parameters in seawater; and, a detailed study of acid-base chemistry processes in seawater, including aspects related to ocean acidification. In particular, his group is currently collaborating on a project to study ocean acidification exacerbated by coastal upwelling on the California shelf, which is directed by Dr. Victoria Fabry (California State University, San Marcos) and funded by the California Ocean Protection Council. They are also involved in a project directed by Dr. Richard Feely (NOAA/PMEL) to ascertain whether changes in ocean pH or aragonite saturation along the California coast can be accurately inferred from hydrographic measurements such as salinity, temperature and oxygen concentrations.
BENOIT EUDELINE
Taylor Shellfish Inc.
360-765-3566
Benoit Eudeline is the production and applied research and development manager for the Taylor Shellfish, Inc. Quilcene shellfish hatchery. His PhD, received in 2004, focused on developing new techniques of tetraploidy induction in Pacific oyster, C.gigas. He has been involved in shellfish research and aquaculture both in France (Ifremer) and on the west coast of the United States for the last 18 years. Research interests include cytogenic systems development and optimization for shellfish / seed culture. His current focus is understanding water quality / chemistry changes and their impact on shellfish larvae survival and implementing better performance and water quality monitoring throughout the different Taylor Shellfish facilities.
RICHARD FEELY
NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
206-526-6214
Dr. Richard Feely is a Senior Scientist at the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, WA. He also holds an affiliate full professor faculty position at the University of Washington’s School of Oceanography. His major research interests are carbon cycling in the oceans and ocean acidification processes. Feely is the co-chair of the US CLIVAR/CO2 Repeat Hydrography Program, and a member of the Steering Committee for the US Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Program. He was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Award in 2006 for his pioneering research on ocean acidification. He received a BA in chemistry from the University of St. Thomas, and an MS and PhD from Texas A&M University, both in chemical oceanography.
JOE GILBERTSON
Ho Tribe – fisheries biologist
(360) 374-6737
Joe Gilbertson studied Biology at Dartmouth College as an undergraduate, post-graduate studies in biochemistry and genetics at Cornell University. He has been employed by the Hoh Tribe as Fisheries Biologist since 2005. His work involves evaluating and forecasting the abundance of various fisheries resources of critical economic and cultural importance to the Hoh Tribe in order to determine “harvestable surplus”. His job is to develop sustainable harvest managment plans for Hoh Tribal members, in cooperation with colleagues from the State of Washington, in order to ensure fisheries resources will continue to provide for Hoh Tribal needs for at least “seven generations” into the future.
Joe is responsible for managing population and harvest data for wild and hatchery steelhead, coho and chinook salmon as well as ocean finfish including halibut, blackcod and rockfish. In addition he is responsible for managing Hoh Tribal shellfish harvest, population assessment activities and biotoxin monitoring including various clam species, mussles and crabs. Joe participates in the IPC (Intergovernmental Policy Council) science panel.
STUART GOLDBERG
Consortium for Ocean Leadership
(202) 787-1687
Dr. Stuart Goldberg is a science policy postdoctoral fellow at the Consortium for Ocean Leadership in Washington, D.C., which represents over 100 research and education institutions, aquaria, and industry with the mission to advance research, education and sound ocean policy. Stuart earned his Ph.D. from UCSB in 2008, where he studied marine microbial ecology and carbon cycling as part of the Joint Global Ocean Flux study (JGOFS) at the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS) study site and the U.S. Climate Variability (CLIVAR) Repeat Hydrography Program. More recently, Dr. Goldberg investigated the effects that future ocean acidification (OA) may have on bacterial growth and respiration in the California Bight as a UC Ocean Acidification Consortium Postdoctoral Fellow at UCSB.
The goal of the OA initiative at Ocean Leadership is to aid in the advancement of OA research funding, public awareness, and useable/translatable data for multiple stakeholders. One of Ocean Leadership’s interests is to understand more about the needs of stakeholders such as scientists and the shellfish industry, in relation to the generation, dissemination, and interpretation of real-time data; technological requirements; and learning more about ways to bridge the potential gaps between scientists and users to provide expertise and build capacity. Another goal is to advance OA public understanding/perception (especially with decision makers) through legislative initiatives and communication strategies. Ocean Leadership looks forward to learning more about current collaborative efforts that are underway and ways to leverage our expertise.
BURKE HALES
COAS – Oregon State University
(541) 737-8121
Dr. Burke Hales is currently involved in a number of projects studying the carbon cycle of the ocean margin, and the effects of carbonate chemistry on calcifying organisms. Most are based in the PNW, but one is ongoing in the Neuse River/Pamlico Sound system in NC.
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Chemical Oceanography, 1995
University of Washington School of Oceanography
M.S. Chemical Oceanography, 1992
University of Washington School of Oceanography, Seattle, WA
B.S. Chemical Engineering, 1988
University of Washington College of Engineering, Seattle, WA
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Associate Professor, 2004-Present: College of Oceanographic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University
Assistant Professor, 1998-Present: College of Oceanographic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 1995-1997: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University (Postdoctoral Advisor: Dr. Taro Takahashi)
FIVE RECENT PUBLICATIONS MOST CLOSELY RELATED TO THE PROPOSED WORK
Evans, W., B. Hales, and P. Strutton, (2011). The seasonal cycle of surface ocean pCO2 on the Oregon shelf. J. of Geophys. Res.—Oceans (accepted).
Holser, R., M. Goni, and B. Hales, 2010. Design and application of a semi-automated filtration system to study the distribution of particulate organic carbon in the water column of a coastal upwelling system, Mar. Chem. 123, 67-77.
Hales, B., D. Hebert, and J. Marra, 2009. Turbulent supply of nutrients to phytoplankton at the New England Shelfbreak Front.Jour. Geophys. Res., doi:10.1029/2008JC005011.
Feely, R. A., C. L. Sabine, J. M. Hernandez-Ayon, D. Ianson, and B. Hales, 2008. Evidence for upwelling of corrosive ‘acidified’ water onto the continental shelf.Science 320, 1490-1492.
Hales, B., L. Karp-Boss, A. Perlin, and P. Wheeler, 2006. Oxygen production and carbon sequestration in an upwelling coastal margin. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 20, GB3001, doi:10.1029/2005GB002517
JULIETTE HART
University of Southern California Sea Grant
(213) 740-1937
Dr. Juliette Hart is a Regional Research and Planning Specialist with University of Southern California (USC) Sea Grant and a Research Assistant Professor at USC in Marine Environmental Biology. Her research interests include coastal marine policy, sustainable ecotourism, regional ocean governance, and sustainable coastal development. In 2007, she was a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow in Washington, DC, where she worked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Ocean Service. Hart received her doctorate from USC in Ocean Sciences, along with a Graduate Certificate in Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Engineering: Sustainable Cities.
TESSA HILL
University of California, Davis
Bodega Ocean Acidification Research Group
(707) 875-1910
Dr. Tessa Hill is a professor at UC Davis in the Department of Geology and Bodega Marine Laboratory. Areas of research in the Hill laboratory include reconstructions of past and present climate change utilizing the geochemistry of sediments and corals, and monitoring modern ocean acidification utilizing oceanographic sensors and discrete sampling (pH, pCO2, alkalinity, DIC) within the California Current. She is a principal investigator in the Bodega Ocean Acidification Research (BOAR) group and is currently mentoring students and postdocs on projects ranging from climate change over the past one million years to modern and future impacts of climate and geochemical change on the California coast.
GRETCHEN HOFMANN
University of California, Santa Barbara
(805) 893‐6175
Dr. Gretchen Hofmann is the Director of the Center for the Study of Ocean Acidification and Ocean Change, a UC-multi-campus initiative. She is an eco-physiologist whose research focuses on the effects of climate and climate change on the performance of marine species in ecosystems ranging polar to temperate and tropical. In particular, her recent work investigates the impact to marine organisms from rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations via global warming and ocean acidification. Studies by Hofmann and her collaborators are identifying key developmental challenges for the sensitive larval stages of marine species in acidified waters, and gene pathways that may play a role in those processes. They are also investigating how marine species will cope with the dual challenges of ocean warming and ocean acidification in the coming century. Hofmann is Co-Chair of the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) Ocean Acidification Subcommittee and currently serves on the National Research Council Ocean Acidification Committee and on the Ocean Acidification Task Force, organized by the Ocean Research and Resources Advisory Panel (ORRAP). She is also a member of the US National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs Advisory Panel.
DAVID HUTCHINS
Dr. Dave Hutchins’ research interests concern marine phytoplankton biology and nutrient and carbon cycling. In general, these projects often involve first building hypotheses based on experimental work with algal cultures in the laboratory. These hypotheses are then tested in experiments with natural communities of plankton onboard research vessels at sea. His recent and current projects include extensive investigations into the role of iron and other trace metals as biologically limiting nutrients in the ocean, and factors that affect the establishment of destructive blooms of harmful and toxic algae. New projects in regions like the Bering Sea, the North Atlantic, and the seas around Antarctica are examining the impacts of anthropogenic global change (e.g. rising CO2, acidity and temperature) on the structure and diversity of phytoplankton communities, and on the ocean nutrient cycling pathways and food webs that they support. Another ongoing project is examining the implications of increasing atmospheric CO2 for nitrogen-fixing organisms in the tropical and subtropical oceans. This new work is at the forefront of increasingly urgent efforts among the international oceanography community to understand the consequences of human fossil fuel emissions for ocean biology and chemistry, and in turn predict the potential feedbacks from these changing ocean processes to atmospheric CO2 and global climate.
Research specialties: Phytoplankton biology, biogeochemical oceanography, ocean carbon and nutrient cycles, ocean climate change feedbacks, trace metal/biota interactions, harmful algal bloom studies.
IAN JEFFERDS
Penn Cove Shellfish LLC
(360) 678-4803
Ian Jefferds is general manager of Penn Cove Shellfish LLC on Whidbey Island, Washington, America’s oldest and largest commercial mussel farm. He also represents commercial marine interests and aquaculture as Chair of the Island County Marine Resources Committee and is on the Board of the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association. His focus related to offshore observation is on marine water quality and how it relates to shellfish recruitment and survival. Jefferds holds a degree in marine resource assessment planning and biology from Huxley College of Environmental Studies at Western Washington University.
RYAN KELLY
Center for Ocean Solutions
(510) 326-8920
Dr. Ryan Kelly is an Analyst for Science, Law, and Policy with Stanford University’s Center for Ocean Solutions. Ryan’s role is to bridge the divide between hard scientific data and policymakers’ use of those data, bringing both technical and legal analysis to bear on issues affecting the coastal ocean. Ryan received a Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology from Columbia University, followed by two years of postdoctoral work at Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station, using molecular techniques to study the interplay among geography, ecology, and genetics in Pacific intertidal animals. He later received a J.D. from U.C. Berkeley’s Boalt Hall, applying genetic and ecological research to real-world questions of law and policy. His current work focuses on ocean acidification, environmental monitoring, and public resources management. The Center for Ocean Solutions strives to solve the major problems facing the ocean, of which widespread acidification is one.
TERI KING
Washington Sea Grant
(360) 432-3054
Teri King is a Marine Water Quality Specialist with Washington Sea Grant (WSG). For the past 19 years, she has been working with communities in the Pacific Northwest on pollution abatement, seafood safety, and shellfish culture. She manages a multitude of citizen monitoring efforts and outreach networks within Hood Canal and Puget Sound. Recognized for her leadership in the Hood Canal region, she was selected to serve on the Ecosystem Coordination Board by the Puget Sound Partnership. Her most recent program, ‘Bivalves for Clean Water’ provides a unique opportunity for tideland owners to better understand their role as ecosystem managers. Before joining the WSG team in 1990, King worked as a fisheries biologist for the Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit on the control of invasive aquatic plants and salmon habitat issues, as well as for Alaska Sea Grant to determine the carrying capacity of shellfish aquaculture operations in Southeast Alaska. King completed her BS and MS at the University of Washington.
TERRIE KLINGER
University of Washington
School of Marine and Environmental Affairs
(206) 685‐2499
Dr. Terrie Klinger is an Associate Professor of Marine and Environmental Affairs at the University of Washington (UW), Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences, and Director of the UW IGERT Program on Ocean Change. Her research focuses on the ecology of nearshore benthic communities, with a special emphasis on the impacts of multiple stressors on marine ecosystem function and the development of management strategies to reduce such impacts. She also serves as a gubernatorial appointee to the Northwest Straits Commission, past Chair of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, member of the Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification, and Science Advisor to the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea (COMPASS). Dr. Klinger earned her PhD in Biological Oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.
CHRIS LANGDON
Oregon State University
(541) 867-0231
Dr. Chris Langdon is a Professor of Fisheries in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and the Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station at Oregon State University. Langdon’s research focuses on mollusk physiology and aquaculture, including nutrition, microencapsulation, polyculture, and genetic improvement of oyster broodstock. He works closely with the West Coast shellfish industry, as well as with state and federal agencies, to improve benefits from the wise use of marine shellfish resources of the West Coast. He jointed the faculty of Oregon State University in 1985, after receiving a PhD from the University of Wales and completing a postdoc at the University of Delaware.
PAUL MATSON
Hofmann Lab – UCSB
Dr. Paul Matson recently completed his Ph.D. in the Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Marine Science at UCSB where he is a member of Dr. Gretchen Hofmann’s lab group and participant in the Santa Barbara Coastal Long Term Ecological Research project (SBC LTER). His current research investigates the physiological costs of larval development in sea urchins under ocean acidification; specifically, understanding natural ocean pH dynamics using SeaFET sensor technology and the biophysical coupling of ocean pH and larval physiology. This work has been conducted locally in the Santa Barbara Channel, as well as the San Juan Islands in Washington, and McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. Paul also has a M.S. in Ecology from San Diego State University where he investigated the role of oceanographic processes in structuring the biogeography of subsurface kelps. Additional information can be found via the Hofmann Lab webpage (http://hofmannlab.msi.ucsb.edu/).
EMILIO MAYORGA
Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS)
(206) 543-6431
Dr. Emilio Mayorga is a Senior Oceanographer with the Applied Physics Laboratory of the University of Washington (UW). His work focuses on data integration, management, and synthesis advancing water-oriented science, resource management and ecosystem health; and on large-scale carbon and nutrient biogeochemistry of river systems. He is Data Management and Communication co-lead for the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS), the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Regional Association for the US component of the Integrated and Sustained Ocean Observing System (IOOS). With NANOOS, he has supported the monitoring data efforts of the shellfish aquaculture community in the PNW. Emilio is also involved in several regional to national data systems and interoperability activities, including IOOS Program Office projects, Ocean Acidification data management, NSF Critical Zones Observatories Cyberinfrastructure, and the Regional Data Framework initiative of the West Coast Governors Alliance on Ocean Health. His work has ranged from local concerns, including a previous position at Snohomish County Surface Water Management, WA, to continental and global scopes. His scientific research has included examination of sources and cycling of carbon across the Amazon river system, large-scale assessments of river exports of carbon to the coast in the tropics and globally (the latter in support of the Global Carbon Project’s RECCAP assessment), and global scenarios of the impact of human pressures on river nutrient exports. Emilio received his PhD and MS in Chemical Oceanography from the UW, and BSc in Environmental Engineering Science from MIT.
SKYLI McAFEE
California Ocean Science Trust
(510) 251-8323
Skyli McAfee is Executive Director of the California Ocean Science Trust (OST), a position that also serves as the science advisor to the California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) and thus co-chair of the OPC Science Advisory Team. In both roles, she is dedicated to providing the best available science to inform policy decisions by building a collaborative dialogue between scientists and decision-makers. Before coming to the OST, McAfee served as the Assistant Director of the University of California’s Bodega Marine Laboratory, where she facilitated program development and administration, encouraging productive collaborations with federal and state partners such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US
Geological Survey and California Department of Fish and Game. McAfee received her undergraduate degree from University of California, Santa Barbara, in Aquatic Biology and a Master’s degree from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.
JIM MOORE
California Department of Fish & Game
(707) 875-2067
Dr. Jim Moore is a senior fish pathologist with the Department of Fish and Game and maintains a without-salary position as Associate Clinical Professor with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Regulatory duties involve importations and transfers of shellfish for aquaculture and restoration or research activities, pest management at shellfish farms and tracking the occurrence and spread of diseases in wild and cultured California shellfish. Research interests include environmental modulation of disease expression. Moore received a B.A. in Biology at UC Santa Cruz and his PhD in Fisheries at the University of Washington.
JAN NEWTON
Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS)
(206) 543-9152
Dr. Jan Newton is a Principal Oceanographer with the Applied Physics Laboratory of the University of Washington (UW) and affiliate faculty with the UW School of Oceanography and School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, both in the UW College of the Environment. Having earned her PhD in biological oceanography, her research has focused on a systems view of marine ecosystems, spanning estuaries, such as Puget Sound, the outer PNW coast, and the open Pacific Ocean, and assessing factors such as climate forcing and human effects on the characteristics and productivity of these systems. She is the Principal Investigator of the Hood Canal Low Dissolved Oxygen Program Integrated Assessment and Modeling Study, a monitoring-modeling research study to cumulatively assess the impacts of human, watershed, ocean and climate factors on dissolved oxygen in Hood Canal, WA. She is currently working with colleagues at UW and and NOAA to assess the status of ocean acidification in Puget Sound and coastal Washington. Newton is the Executive Director for the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS), which is the Pacific Northwest regional association for the US component of the Integrated and Sustained Ocean Observing System (IOOS), working toward building better ocean observing infrastructure. She co-chairs NOAA’s Alliance for Coastal Technologies Advisory Council and is involved with several regional and national coastal/estuarine assessment efforts. Newton is the Chair of the Puget Sound Partnership’s Science Panel.
MARK OHMAN
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
(858) 534-2754
Dr. Mark Ohman is Professor of Biological Oceanography and Curator of Pelagic Invertebrates at Scripps. He is lead PI of the California Current Ecosystem LTER site. He currently collaborates in the use of interdisciplinary moorings and Spray gliders to resolve multiple scales of forcing and ecosystem response, including to OA. His research interests include:
Population ecology of marine zooplankton, especially planktonic copepods
Mortality estimation and other demographic techniques
Zooplankton prey-predator interactions
Climate change effects on California Current pelagic food webs
California Current Ecosystem LTER site
Autonomous measurement methods
Dr. Ohman earned his PhD at the University of Washington.
DENNIS PETERSON
Carlsbad Aquafarm Inc. (CAI)
(760) 438-2444
Dennis Peterson is the Director of Science at Carlsbad Aquafarm Inc. (CAI). After high school he worked in the sportfishing industry out of San Diego for five years, then served for four years in the US Coast Guard, making trips to Antarctica aboard the USCGC Glacier and USCGC Polar Sea. Peterson attended California State University, San Marcos, where he obtained a BS in biology and worked for CAI as a mussel harvesting diver, as well as a hatchery and grow-out technician for abalone. He attended graduate school at the University of Southern California in the Biological Sciences Department’s Marine Environmental Program, where he studied outbreeding depression and speciation using the copepod Tigriopous californicus as a model system, advanced to candidacy, and was awarded the National Science Foundation’s Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant. Returning to CAI four years ago, Peterson now oversees the culture of mussel, oyster, abalone, a variety of seaweeds, microalgae and a variety of crustaceans.
DANIEL RUDNICK
Scripps Institution of Oceanography –SCCOOS
(858) 534-7669
Daniel L. Rudnick earned his Ph.D. in oceanography in 1987 from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and his B.A. in physics at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Rudnick is currently a professor and formerly Deputy Director of Education at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Dr. Rudnick is an observational oceanographer whose research focuses on processes in the upper ocean. Topics of note include fronts and eddies, air-sea interaction, the stirring and mixing of physical and biological tracers, the effect of oceanic structure on acoustic propagation, boundary currents and coastal circulation. Dr. Rudnick is keenly interested in observational instrumentation, having been involved in the use and/or development of moorings, towed and underway profilers, and autonomous underwater gliders. Dr. Rudnick has sailed on over 25 oceanographic cruises, over half as chief scientist. Dr. Rudnick has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Rudnick is currently a member of the Ocean Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences, and has served on various panels and committees for NSF, NOAA, and ONR. Dr. Rudnick is Chair of the Executive Steering Committee of the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS), a component of the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). Dr. Rudnick is working towards the establishment of a national glider network as part of IOOS.
DIANNE SAENZ
Climate Nexus
(202) 567-6808
Dianne Saenz is Director, Marine Science Communication, for Climate Nexus. Climate Nexus is a creative communications firm that tells the climate and energy story with a compelling narrative. She recently managed Oceana’s external communications strategy and efforts in North America.
Dianne started her career as a news aide for The Washington Post, where she eventually became an investigative researcher and reporter for the Metropolitan News section and helped plan The Post’s coverage for the 1988 presidential, Congressional and gubernatorial elections. She also worked with the National, Foreign, Business, Magazine, Style and Book World news staffs, and as a consultant for former National Institutes of Health Director Harold Varmus, M.D. Stanford University’s Patrick Brown, M.D. and Lawrence Livermore Laboratory’s Michael Eisen, PhD, to launch and publicize the open access scientific websites Public Library of Science (PLoS) Biology and PLoS Medicine.
Dianne earned a Bachelors degree in English from Vassar College, studied on a Tufts University program in London, UK, and completed graduate-level professional development work at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
TERRY SAWYER
Hog Island Oyster Company
(415) 663-9218 x203
Terry Sawyer was born and raised on Florida’s Atlantic coast. He grew up fishing, swimming, sailing and exploring the sea. But farming was his family’s heritage so instead he found a way to merge his two worlds by raising sustainably-farmed shellfish in Tomales Bay, CA.
Terry earned a degree in marine biology and ecosystems at UC Santa Cruz, CA. In college Terry began a career with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, specializing in animal husbandry. He left the aquarium in 1988 to become a partner with Hog Island Oyster Co. Today, Hog Island Oyster Co. is one of the premier sustainable aquaculture farms on the west coast. Leasing 160 acres in Tomales Bay, Hog Island raises over three million oysters, manila clams and mussels each year.
STEPHEN SCHROETER
University of California, Santa Barbara
(760) 438-5953
Dr. Steve Schroeter is a marine ecologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Marine Science Institute, working in nearshore systems including kelp forest, rocky intertidal, and coastal wetland habitats. His applied work includes assessment of anthropogenic impacts and the performance of impact mitigation and management activities. In recent years, Schroeter has worked on designing and implementing protocols to collect information needed to assess and manage the red sea urchin
and rock crab fisheries in California, with an emphasis on collaboration among a community-based fishery, scientists and regulators. This work includes the design and implementation of long-term settlement monitoring as a sustainable, cost-effective and fishery-independent measure of stock health.
Schroeter received a BS and MS in Zoology at Brigham Young University in 1969 and 1972 respectively, and a PhD in Ecology at UC Santa Barbara in 1978.
UWE SEND
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Dr. Uwe Send is a professor at Scripps, teaching courses in physical oceanography and special topics including case histories and methods in physical oceanography, theories of ocean circulation, numerical methods in large-scale ocean and atmospheric models, and natural electromagnetic phenomena in the earth and the oceans.
His research interests include:
- Thermohaline circulation (Atlantic MOC, Mediterranean)
- Water mass formation and effects
- Boundary current observations
- Coastal circulation and processes
- Ocean-climate interaction, CO2 uptake, acidification
- Physical-biogeochemical and ecosystem interactions
- Multi-disciplinary time-series observations
- Global and coastal ocean observing systems
- Ocean observing techniques
Send received M.S. degrees from University of Sussex, UK, and University of Southhampton, UK and his PhD at UCSD, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
JASON SMITH
Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT)
Moss Landing Marine Laboratories
(831) 771-4126
G. Jason Smith, Ph.D. is a Research Faculty at the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. Jason received his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Georgia in 1984 and his ongoing research program stems from his fascination with the molecular physiological ecology of marine algae. Current research seeks to identify molecular and biochemical markers associated with production of the neurotoxin domoic acid (DA) by diatoms in the genus Pseudo-nitzschia. His research group is developing molecular bioassays enabling identification of species actively metabolizing DA and well and genetic markers for robust enumeration of Pseudo-nitzschia population and community dynamics. Jason also serves as the Technical Coordinator / PI of the Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) Pacific Coast Region partner at MLML. In this position he has provided liaisons between resource managers, environmental scientists and the private sector, with the goal of fostering reliable and appropriate application of new technologies for monitoring water quality and ecosystem health in coastal waters. An important part of these regional efforts is coordinating the design and management of ACTs Technology Performance Verification trials which strive to provide credible and independent assessment of sensor technology performance both under controlled laboratory and in operational field deployment using ACT’s nationally distributed test facilities.
ALEX STEELE
Los Angeles County Sanitation District
(562) 699-7411 x2812
Alex Steele is an Environmental Scientist and registered Civil Engineer. He has spent more than twenty years in the Ocean Monitoring program of the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Geology/Geophysics from the University of Hawaii and his Master of Science degree in Geological Sciences/Oceanography from the University of Southern California. His responsibilities include physical oceanographic aspects of their coastal ocean monitoring program, special coastal ocean research projects (e.g. climate change, nutrients, HABS), and NPDES reporting and
regulatory issues relating to the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant – which discharges a daily average of 280 MGD of treated effluent into the coastal ocean. Specific data collection programs he is involved with include quarterly CTD surveys over the Palos Verdes and San Pedro shelf that since 1998 have been conducted simultaneously with three other POTW agencies to produce a snapshot of the upper 100 meters of the coastal ocean, including pH, oxygen, chlorophyll and CDOM distributions at a combined array of over 200 CTD cast sites positioned to provide continuous coverage along the coast from Ventura to Orange County from 10 meter depths near the coast to approximately 10 kilometers offshore. He also oversees a mooring program using ADCPs and thermistor arrays that has collected data on the Palos Verdes shelf continuously since 2000.
BRUCE STEELE
California sea urchin diver, Commercial fisherman
(805) 686-9312
Bruce Steele has spent 40 years in the ocean as a commercial sea urchin diver and fisherman. His affiliations include a decade on the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, stints on the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Sea Urchin Advisory Committee and Sea Grant Living Mrine Resources Committee. He also served as a member of the team of technical consultants to the sea otter recovery team. Bruce’s personal gauge of involvement in management is to what extent it can help conserve ocean resources as a whole. Bruce has had extensive experience with DFG fishery conservation and management through grass-roots efforts to conserve the sea urchin industry. He sees involvement of industry as essential to the effectiveness of any conservation / management approach. He became alarmed about ocean acidification after reading a scientific paper on Japanese sea urchins in 2005, reporting laboratory studies finding potential impacts on sea urchins.
DIANE PLESCHNER-STEELE
C-CAN Coordinator, Executive Director, California Wetfish Producers Association
(805) 693-5430
Diane Pleschner-Steele (DB Pleschner) has been involved in west coast fisheries for more than 30 years, beginning as a feature writer and contributing editor for Pacific Fishing magazine, covering fisheries and environmental issues from California to British Columbia. She managed the California Seafood Council, an advisory board to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, during its tenure 1991-2003.
Currently she serves as Executive Director of the non-profit California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA), representing California’s historic wetfish industry, which has produced 80 percent or more of statewide commercial fishery landings since the turn of the 20th century. CWPA is a partner in collaborative research, working with the Department of Fish and Game and National Marine Fisheries Service, SW Fisheries Science Center. Pleschner-Steele is active in the Pacific Fishery Management Council process, representing California’s wetfish fishery on the Coastal Pelagic Species Advisory Subpanel. She also serves on the California Sea Grant Advisory Board.
JONATHAN STILLMAN
San Francisco State University
(415) 435 7144
Dr. Jonathan Stillman obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota and his doctoral degree from Oregon State University with George Somero. Half of his doctoral research was based at Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station. Following the completion of his doctorate, he was a postdoctoral researcher in protein thermodynamics at Johns Hopkins University, a visiting professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at Occidental College, and then a postdoctoral fellow in environmental physiology at Stanford University. Dr. Stillman joined the faculty of Zoology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa as an assistant professor, and then moved to the Romberg Tiburon Center, a marine laboratory of San Francisco State University, where he is now an Associate Professor. Dr. Stillman also holds an adjunct faculty position at the University of California Berkeley in the Department of Integrative Biology. Current research projects in his laboratory include the effects of climate change and ocean acidification of calcifying phytoplankton called coccolithophores, the impacts of warming and acidification on crabs, responses to salinity variation in an invasive clam in San Francisco Bay, and the ecophysiology of aquatic insects in coastal California rivers. His research approach blends whole organism physiology with cellular, biochemical, and genome-level approaches. Dr. Stillman’s research has been published in over 30 publications, including in Science. His research has been featured on a television program produced by National Geographic “Strange Days on Planet Earth.” His research is presently funded by the National Science Foundation, the US Bureau of Reclamation, NOAA, and the Moore Foundation. Dr. Stillman resides in Berkeley California with his wife and two daughters.
ANDY SUHRBIER
Pacific Shellfish Institute
(360) 754-2741
Andy Suhrbier is a senior shellfish biologist at Pacific Shellfish Institute, where he has worked for the past 11 years, focusing on a wide range of shellfish-centric topics. He is involved in PSI’s marine benthic/water quality sampling and analysis, mapping of marine habitats, data analysis, project development and management. Currently he is working on projects studying the interactions of shellfish culture with the natural environment; organic pollutants and bacterial contaminants on bivalve shellfish; and disease and environmental stress studies of shellfish, including ocean acidification.
ANNE TODGHAM
San Francisco State University
(415) 405-2864
Dr. Anne Todgham is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at San Francisco State University. Todgham is an environmental physiologist with an interest in understanding the molecular, biochemical and physiological strategies that animals use to cope with environmental change. Currently her work has an eye towards global climate change and addresses the general question of whether contemporary marine animals have the physiological flexibility necessary to withstand the unprecedented rates of environmental change, specifically ocean warming and acidification. Todgham studies a wide variety of organisms from estuarine as well as temperate and polar marine ecosystems. She earned her B.Sc. in Marine Biology at the University of Guelph, Canada and her Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of British Columbia, Canada.
RUSS VETTER
Southwest Fisheries Science Center
(858) 546-7125
Dr. Russ Vetter is Director of the Fisheries Resources Division (FRD) at the NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), located on the grounds of Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Vetter’s personal expertise is in genetics and physiology. The Fisheries Resources Division conducts scientific research and provides management advice for federally‐managed coastal pelagic fish and invertebrate species, including northern anchovy, Pacific sardine, and market squid. The Division also conducts research on highly migratory species (pelagic sharks, tunas, and billfishes). Abalones are managed by State entities, but FRD has responsibility for Endangered Species Act listed abalone species (e.g., white abalone, black abalone) and abalone Species of Concern (e.g., pink abalone). FRD has particular concerns about the effects of ocean acidification (OA) on the larval stages of threatened or endangered abalone species and the early life history stages of coastal pelagic fishes and squid. The FRD maintains a number of long‐term time series of interest to the study of OA and climate variation. The California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) observing program is the longest and most extensive oceanographic and early life history observing program in existence. In this program, eggs and larvae of over 400 fish species plus commercially important invertebrates such as spiny lobster and market squid are routinely identified. Important OA‐related oceanographic properties such as temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen are part of the CalCOFI program and are maintained in collaboration with Scripps Institution of Oceanography in a web accessible database. The SWFSC facility is currently being relocated to a new building, which will have a state of the art experimental aquarium suitable for the maintenance and husbandry of endangered species and the study of the effects of ocean acidification on marine invertebrates and fishes.
GEORGE WALDBUSSER
Oregon State University College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences
(541) 737-8964
Dr. George Waldbusser is an Assistant Professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS) at Oregon State University. Waldbusser’s general interests are benthic biogeochemistry and ecology, with focus on both how organisms affect biogeochemistry and how biogeochemistry impacts organisms. He has strong interests in estuarine carbonate cycling and the many processes that regulate pH in coastal and estuarine environments, particularly those with consequences to bivalves. He has recently been working on the role of pH and saturation state in structuring infaunal and epifaunal bivalve populations and on the mechanisms of larval bivalve responses to changing carbonate chemistry through early life history. His interest in bivalve ecology spans back to undergraduate research of oyster recruitment dynamics in the Hudson-Raritan River estuarine complex. Waldbusser received his PhD in marine and estuarine environmental science from the University of Maryland, and his MS in oceanography from University of Connecticut. He is currently on the editorial board for the Journal of Shellfish Research and an Associate Editor at Limnology and Oceanography: Methods.
BRAD WARREN
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership
(206) 579‐2407
Brad Warren directs the Productive Oceans Partnership, the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership’s program on ocean acidification. This program works to inform and prepare the seafood industry to address challenges to fishery productivity that arise from ocean acidification and related changes in seawater chemistry. As a journalist and consultant, Warren has worked on fisheries conservation and marine resource management since the early 1980s. He was editor of Pacific Fishing magazine from 1996 to 2004, and a correspondent and editor for National Fisherman from 1981 to 1996.
STEPHEN WEISBERG
Southern California Coastal Water Research Project
(714) 755-3203
Dr. Steve Weisberg is Executive Director of the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP), a research agency at the interface between science and water quality management in California. His research emphasis is development of environmental assessment tools and monitoring programs. Weisberg is on the Governing Boards of the California Ocean Science Trust and the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System. He also serves on numerous advisory committees, including the State of California’s Clean Beach Task Force, the California Ocean Protection Council Science Advisory Team, California’s Water Quality Monitoring Council, and the US EPA Board of Scientific Counselors. Weisberg received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and his PhD from the University of Delaware.
PAULINE C. YU
Marine Science Institute, UCSB
(805) 893-6176
B.S. (Magna) Bioresources Sciences, UC Berkeley
PhD Marine Environmental Biology, U. Southern California
I have been involved in larval biology research for a decade, and in particular I have applied integrative techniques (lipid and protein biochemistry, gene and expression, physiological rate processes and microscopy) in the lab and field to investigate the effects of different stresses on physiology during development. In the laboratory of Prof. Gretchen Hofmann, I have been using urchin larvae in my current studies as a research subject to investigate the effects of high CO2 (from both upwelling sources and simulated future anthropogenic enrichment) on metabolism. During my dissertation research, I also studied starvation resistance in genetic lines of oyster (C. gigas) larvae, and I continue to have an interest in the application of integrative physiology to aquaculture and fisheries-related mollusk larval biology.