Mark Gleason, the 2008 recipient of the Canada-US Marine Ecosystems Scholarship with Maile Sullivan, co-chair, 2008 FAME conference.
This past April 83 graduate students from the US and Canada convened for the 8th Annual Fisheries and Marine Ecosystems (FAME) Conference at the Olympic Park Institute. Students attending the conference traveled from 20 different Universities including Canadians from Dalhousie University, University of British Columbia, Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of Victoria, and Simon Fraser University.
The mission of this year’s conference was to provide a forum for graduate students of marine and fisheries science, social science, and environmental policy to address existing issues in coastal and marine ecosystems, and to gain a more dynamic perspective on the approaches necessary to improve management of these ecosystems. A secondary goal was to provide a venue where current and future scientists, managers, and policy-makers can establish productive collaborations to address existing concerns and future needs in the research and management of marine and coastal ecosystems.
Every year one or two students receive a scholarship from the Center for outstanding contributions to cross-border marine management research. This year Mark Gleason, Marine Affairs, was selected for his paper. One of his case studies is from the Lummi Island Wild Reef Net Coop that targets trans-boundary stocks of sockeye salmon primarily destined for the Fraser River in Canada.
The FAME Conference proved to be an excellent opportunity for UW students to network and establish professional relationships with students from Canadian universities. We hope that this experience will promote cross-border research between the US and Canada in the future here at the UW.
Fisheries, Aquatic and Marine Ecosystems (FAME) Network
The FAME network is an association of graduate students from Canada and the US who are interested in a variety of aspects of fisheries, marine and near-shore ecosystems. The annual FAME conference provides a forum for graduate students to share research and network with peers. The conference encourages collaboration and camaraderie between and among graduate students from University of Washington, Oregon State University, Simon Fraser University, Washington State University and University of British Columbia.
Sara Earhart is a graduate student at the School of Marine Affair. She headed up the fundraising efforts for the Fisheries and Marine Ecosystems Conference as well as gave a paper on wildlife tourism. Sara will be graduating in June of 2008.