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³ÉÈËӰƬns rely on sound science to inform the sustainable harvest of fish and shellfish and manage habitat use, and to advance understanding of ³ÉÈËӰƬ’s unique aquatic ecosystems and fishery-dependent communities. Our fisheries faculty help educate the scientists who work in ³ÉÈËӰƬ's fishing industry and conservation agencies, and lead novel research to benefit ³ÉÈËӰƬ’s fisheries and fishing communities.

Fisheries ³ÉÈËӰƬ enjoy a low student-to-faculty ratio and have direct opportunities to  engage with ³ÉÈËӰƬ’s many fish and shellfish species, fishing fleets, and fishing cultures and communities. Most of our graduate ³ÉÈËӰƬ have financial support from fellowships, research grants, and internships awarded by governmental and tribal agencies as well as businesses and nongovernmental organizations in the private sector. While most graduates stay in ³ÉÈËӰƬ and work for those agencies and organizations, many go on to take positions in academia or with agencies, businesses, NGOs, or Tribes or Tribal organizations outside ³ÉÈËӰƬ.

Faculty supervise student research on a broad array of biological issues in laboratories specializing in quantitative fisheries and stock assessment methods, biology and ecology of marine and freshwater species, molecular genetics, behavioral ecology, marine policy, Indigenous fisheries, social and cultural dimensions, and more. University facilities are located across ³ÉÈËӰƬ in Juneau, Seward, Kodiak, Anchorage, and Fairbanks. Our ³ÉÈËӰƬ also work in laboratories and facilities of public and private agencies such as the NOAA Fisheries Auke Bay Laboratory, USGS Glacier Bay Field Station, ³ÉÈËӰƬ Department of Fish and Game Mark, Tag and Age Laboratory, and the Salmon Broodstock Lab at the Douglas Island Pink and Chum Macaulay Hatchery.

Our ³ÉÈËӰƬ’ theses and dissertations have addressed issues of fisheries science in the Arctic; the interior Yukon, Kuskokwim and Copper rivers; the Bering Sea, Prince William Sound, and the Gulf of ³ÉÈËӰƬ; and the Inside Passage of Southeast ³ÉÈËӰƬ. Their subjects have ranged from the effects of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill to the evolution of salmon or rockfish, to the submarine movements of deep-sea crabs, to traditional Iñupiaq whaling and cultural well-being. Our ³ÉÈËӰƬ learn techniques such as wintertime scuba diving, DNA fingerprinting, bioeconomics, ethnographic field research, and classical methods of fisheries science—boats, ships, nets and hip boots. Modern quantitative techniques (statistical analysis, sampling, stock assessment and GIS) are a part of every student’s program and are the particular focus of many.

Advisors