A recent article in the Seattle Times about lead in Seattle Public Schools’ water referenced SMEA alumna Rachel Blakeslee’s thesis. As part of Blakeslee’s research, she analyzed Seattle Public Schools (SPS) data and found that water sources at more than half of South Seattle schools exceed the district’s acceptable levels. These schools serve many students of color and families living below Federal poverty levels. 

Why did you decide to pursue a Master of Marine Affairs?
After working in fisheries and ecosystem management for four years, I knew I wanted to stay in the marine policy field, but I needed a Master’s degree to advance my career. I wanted a graduate program that focused on the intersection of science and policy and that would expand my knowledge of the field. 

Opinion polls in the United States consistently find that the majority of Americans support policy changes to address human-caused climate change, as a real and growing threat to the planet. However, voters continue to reject climate measures, and do not rank climate change among their top influences when making voting decisions. SMEA Professor and Associate Director Nives Dolšak and UW Director of the Center for Environmental Politics Aseem Prakash recently published an article in The Conversation asking, “Americans say they’re worried about climate change – so why don’t they vote that way?” They explore potential sources of error in the polls themselves, and suggest survey improvements that would better assist policymakers in designing climate measures that resonate with the public both theoretically and at the ballot box. 

SMEA Research Assistant Professor Yoshitaka Ota and Professor Eddie Allison are co-authors on “The role of human rights in implementing socially responsible seafood,” recently published in PLOS ONE. Ota led this collaborative research project involving experts on governance, law, and supply chain studies from four universities. The article reviews the literature on seafood sustainability standards, finding that certification criteria generally focus on natural environmental outcomes while too often failing to address impacts on fisheries workers, even including human rights violations. 

The organizers of a conference on marine environmental DNA (eDNA), held at Rockefeller University in New York City in November recently released a report urging U.S. government agencies monitoring fisheries, endangered species, and environmental impacts to leverage the DNA present in the ocean. As Science reported in its article, “In the ocean, the DNA trail goes cold after about 24 hours, meaning that any species that shows up in analysis can’t be too far off. 

Initiative 1631 was Washington State’s second attempt to tax carbon emissions. The measure failed in all but three places: Seattle’s King County, Port Townsend’s Jefferson County and the county that encompasses the San Juan Islands. SMEA Professor and Associate Director Nives Dolšak and UW Center for Environmental Politics’ Aseem Prakash were recently interviewed by High Country news about the failed carbon tax and the challenges of climate legislation. 

Alumna Ann Farr graduated from the School of Marine Affairs in 1982 and is now an Environmental Manager/State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Responsible Official for two major port projects on the Columbia River. We had a chance to catch up with Ann and hear about her job, her time at SMA, and advice she has for current SMEA students.
Can you give us a brief description of what you do? 

Why did you decide to pursue a Master of Marine Affairs?
It mostly began while I was studying zoology at University of Wisconsin-Madison, including studying abroad in Ecuador for a tropical and marine conservation and ecology semester. While on the coast, we visited a fishing village and I realized there are a lot of people and communities that rely on this type of work as a means for a living. 

Tressa Arbow presented her research, “Workforce Sustainability in the Washington Maritime Industry,” at the Washington Maritime Blue Strategy Rollout event on Tuesday, January 8. Washington Maritime Blue is a task force established by Governor Inslee in 2017 to develop a plan for increasing the competitiveness and sustainability of the Washington maritime industry, or Blue Economy. The roll out event was the formal delivery of the Strategic Plan, and included remarks from Advisory Council members and leaders of key demonstration projects. 

SMEA alumni were instrumental in working across the Senate aisle on S. 2511, the “Commercial Engagement through Ocean Technology (CENOTE) Act,” which was signed by President Trump on December 21, 2018. This legislation, advanced by U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), instructs NOAA to expand the use of unmanned maritime systems technology for collecting ocean data that can be used for academic, national security, and commercial purposes.