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Alaska Fisheries Science Center Population Dynamics Fellowship

The Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) of the National Marine Fisheries Service supports the training of M.S. and PhD. students in quantitative fisheries science, including population dynamics, management, and stock assessment. This fellowship is open to M.S. and Ph.D. graduate students with solid quantitative ability and achievement. Generally, research focus should be related to the mandate of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, which includes marine and anadromous waters of the Alaska region. However, other interesting projects can be considered. A committee of AFSC and SFOS quantitative scientists evaluates applications. Up to 3 fellowships per year can be awarded. Also, “gap” funding is available to support quantitative students without other financial support to help them complete their research programs.

Applications should be made to the AFSC Scholarship Committee, Fisheries Division, School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, 11120 Glacier Highway, Juneau AK 99801-8677, E-mail: fisheries@uaf.edu. The applicant should be a UAF professor or a student with sponsorship from a UAF professor. The applicant should detail research in a quantitative arena of fisheries science, such as mathematics, statistics, and modeling. Applications are evaluated as they are received; there is no formal date of application.

Some examples of appropriate research projects are given below. This list is not meant to be restrictive but an indication of the type of research project likely to receive funding.

  1. Research related to improving population dynamics models for fish, shellfish, and invertebrates.
  2. Studies of population parameters, such as age, growth, maturity, and natural mortality, which can be incorporated directly into stock assessment models.
  3. Multispecies models that incorporate predation and competition into traditional stock assessments.
  4. Studies that combine population genetics with population dynamics.
  5. Simulation models that evaluate robust management strategies for exploited fish populations.
  6. Studies that explicitly incorporate uncertainty into fishery models.
  7. Development of spatially explicit models that incorporate migration and movement (e.g., for sablefish).
  8. Research about the uncertainty of abundance estimates from age- and length-structured
    analyses of marine species.
  9. Estimate risk (probability) of "overfishing" and test overfishing algorithms.
  10. Estimate whether sablefish migration rates are density-dependent. Heifetz and Fujioka (1991, Fisheries Research 11:355-374) estimated migration rates from returns during ~1980- 1988, a period of population increase. Did these rates change during the recent population decrease?
  11. Develop new stock assessment models for forage fish species in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea.
  12. Develop a spatial dispersion model that considers evaluation of marine protected areas as a management tool (e.g., for rockfish).