By Beach Watcher Dave Fluharty

What is this column?  We are experimenting with ways to engage with our alumni and to inspire current students with their accomplishments. This section is a random walk through what we’ve recently observed about or heard from alumni.  Please keep Graduate Program Advisor, Tiffany Comtois-Dion up to date with your accomplishments and changes in location or employment. (tlcdion@uw.edu) 

Alumna in High Places

In early October, Michelle Dvorak (2017) and her climbing partner Kay Manning (UK) were rescued from the Himalayan peak  Chaukhamba III (22,649 ft.) in Uttarakhand, Chomoli, northern India after rockfall cut their haul rope and sent their pack with equipment and food into the abyss.  Fortunately, a climbing team from France was able to assist until the Indian Air Force helicopter could rescue them at 17,400 ft.  Their rescue made national and international news.  Michelle and Kay made a successful climb of Cassin Ridge on Denali in 2022. Michelle is currently a PhD student in Oceanography at the UW.

Hiromoto Watanabe (1990) recently retired from a 30-year-long career with UN FAO Fisheries in Rome.  He returned over the summer to visit Seattle for the first time since graduating.  He writes that seeing his alma mater makes him want to return as a student.  After his long engagement at FAO, he particularly wants to study how “sustainable fisheries” and “responsible fisheries” can be achieved in practice. In his experience, these are difficult to achieve because one size does not fit all.  SMEA welcomes his interest and is exploring ways to accommodate his study.

Congratulations to 2023 graduates Ellie Mason and Emma Scalisi and co-author Anne Beaudreau, SMEA faculty, on their peer review article with others entitled “Adaptive capacity of the Maine lobster fishery: insights from the Maine Fishermen’s Climate Roundtables” in FACETS  9:1-13 (2024)  (open access) dx.doi.org/10.1139/facets-2023-0193. They report on research analyzing 15 years of fishermen’s observations on the lobster fishery off Maine one of the world’s fastest-warming marine regions.

Alumna Jamie Goen (2000) is again in the news for being appointed as a member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council by the US Secretary of Commerce.  Jamie is the Executive Director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers.  Her appointment was hotly contested to fill a two-year term for the position held by Kenny Down’s passing.  Jamie wrote, “I am deeply honored to be representing the crab industry in the Council process! It is long overdue that crabbers have a seat on the Council even more so now given the crisis our industry is in.”

Two alumnae, Carrie Schmaus (’17), Technology Manager at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), who is starting her 9-month detail as Acting Associate Director at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Lab, and Leslie Nguyen (’23), a Knauss Ocean Policy Fellow with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, met at the Ocean Policy Committee October 2024 meeting. The Ocean Policy Committee was established by the National Defense Authorization Act in 2021 to coordinate Federal actions on ocean related matters. They were surprised to find out that they both started their post-SMEA careers as Knauss fellows after completing a thesis research with the same supervisor (Nives Dolšak) six years apart.

Alumni Events

Over the summer three alumni events have attracted graduates, faculty and staff members for a Trivia Night, August 6, BYOB Happy Hour Tugboat Arthur Foss, August 8 and Happy Hour with Tom and Dave, September 21.  Many thanks to Devon Thorsell and Rachel Aronson for hosting a lively and illuminating evening of Maritime Trivia at the Broadview Taphouse.  Multidisciplinary knowledge and teamwork was the key to unlocking trivia success.

BYOB Happy Hour aboard Tugboat Arthur Foss took place at Lake Union Park with a full complement of SMEA alumni and students.  A good time was had by all.  Many thanks to Andy Bennett who hosted the event. What happens on the Arthur Foss stays on the Arthur Foss.

September 21 Tom and Dave Happy Hour

Tom Leschine and Dave Fluharty, both active emeritus faculty of SMEA, were the bait to attract a sizeable crowd of alumni to the Georgetown Brewery.  It was a delight for all to rekindle relationships, to celebrate the end of summer, and to jumpstart of a new academic year.

Bob Goodwin 1937-2024  

Sometimes the tide brings in sad news. Our colleague and friend Robert Goodwin, who was a Washington Sea Grant employee based out of SMEA for more than 30 years, passed away this summer after a fight with lung cancer.  His extensive knowledge of Northwest recreational boating and related matters was highly respected and his willingness to share his expertise and critical mind to assist students was much appreciated. Bob’s favorite story was about how a strong earthquake shocked everyone in the audience just as he started to present the latest research on tsunami readiness in coastal Washington. In retirement he shifted his skills to community volunteer work in Omak and vicinity. Sail on dear friend with fair seas.

Visiting Scholars – Revisit Torbjørn Trondsen, Norway, and Guy Fontenelle, France, made repeat visits to SMEA this summer. Torbjørn Trondsen is a professor at the University of Tromsø and Co-founder of SIFT Group AS – a company that develops groundbreaking new solutions for land-based fish farming using Super-Intensive Farming Technology, where farming takes place on raceways in recycled water without polluting the environment.  Professor Guy Fontenelle is now retired from Agrocampus Ouest, Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences Center in Rennes, France. He is working to complete his manuscript of a book on an interdisciplinary environmental history of Willapa Bay, WA and its watersheds.

Alumni meet in Japan with UW President Anna Maria Cauce and other officials. In August UW President and multiple other officials visited with SMEA graduates Wataru Tanoue (2015) and Taiki Ogawa (2020) from the Fisheries Agency of Japan, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Keeping Washington Marinas clean 

Aaron Barnett (2011), Program Coordinator for Washington Sea Grant was featured in a recent TV News broadcast regarding his work developing a system to collect oily wastes from recreational boaters in Puget Sound marinas.

Dr. Jongseong Ryu (2009), Professor at Anyang University Group, Korea, published a paper with colleagues titled, “Effects of exotic Spartina alterniflora invasion on benthic environments in the Yellow Sea”, in the September 15, 2024 issue of the Marine Pollution Bulletin.