SFOS Newsletter
Fall 2010

FEATURED ALUMNUS
John Hilsinger

by Tracy Kalytiak

John Hilsinger is the director of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game's Commercial Fisheries Division.

Nearly 40 years ago, John Hilsinger listened as one of his friends talked about how he wanted to attend graduate school in UAF's fisheries program.

Hilsinger, then a junior at the University of Washington, thought the research opportunities sounded appealing. He enrolled at UAF in 1972 and started out in the Department of Wildlife Management and Fisheries. He was interested in shellfish biology and UAF had a Sea Grant-funded project that would enable him to study Tanner crab in Prince William Sound.

"The Tanner crab fishery was very new and little was known about Tanner crab at that time, so it was an opportunity to do some groundbreaking research," he said.

Eventually Hilsinger moved to the Institute of Marine Science because it handled the research grant and Ted Cooney, his major professor and advisor, worked primarily in IMS.

Hilsinger's thesis focused on aspects of the reproductive biology of female Tanner crabs in Prince William Sound. The most intriguing aspect of the research, he said, was the crabs' terminal molt and the fact that female Tanner crabs store sperm.

Hilsinger started his graduate work interested in shellfish biology, but then became interested in studying how fisheries were managed.

"I especially became interested in the benefits of entry limitation because Alaska's Limited Entry law was passed and implemented while I was in graduate school," Hilsinger said.

Hilsinger intended to obtain his Ph.D., but decided instead to work full-time for IMS as a researcher on various projects. He did this for three years.

"I focused on growth of Tanner crabs in cooperation with biologists from the Department of Fish and Game," he said. "Based on our research, we proposed a minimum size limit for the commercial fishery that would protect crab until after they reached reproductive size."

The Alaska Board of Fisheries passed the proposal, and Hilsinger found that he wanted to be in the middle of where the decisions were made. After leaving UAF, Hilsinger worked as ADF&G's area shellfish management biologist in Sand Point. He was responsible for all the research and management for king and Tanner crab, Dungeness crab, and shrimp in the Chignik and South Peninsula management areas.

After six years, he moved to Anchorage and began working with salmon, herring and groundfish fisheries in addition to crab and shrimp. After working in Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, he joined the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region. Later, he worked in Bristol Bay. As director of the ADF&G's Division of Commercial Fisheries, he has been able to get to know Southeast Alaska better.

Hilsinger now supervises research and management of commercial, subsistence, and personal-use fisheries throughout the state. His division has nearly 800 employees and a $63-million budget. Commercial fishing is a $5.8-billion-a-year industry in Alaska that employs 78,000 people.

"A large part of my current job involves explaining to the public, the Alaska Legislature and the governor's office what steps we take to ensure sustained yield of fishery resources," he said. "I was fortunate to have an education that included studies of a wide variety of fisheries and fishery concepts as well as basic biology and ecology. I try to use that background to make decisions that are biologically sound and provide for sustainability of the resource."

Hilsinger says his educational experience at UAF provided a valuable legacy.

As he was working on his thesis, Hilsinger came to know commercial fishermen and commercial-fishing communities. "A big part of the reason I was able to connect personally with many of those folks was that they appreciated and respected the knowledge I had gained through my studies," he said. "This appreciation of the value of the fish and fisheries to the people of Alaska has sustained me through times when, in order to sustain fisheries, I have had to take management actions that I knew hurt people."

Hilsinger advises current and future SFOS students to ground themselves in the underlying biological and ecological concepts that govern productivity of fish and other aquatic organisms.

"Get as good an education as possible in the basic biology of the animals you would like to work with, but also study and understand the policies that govern their harvest," he said. "Together, this knowledge will help students be able to formulate fishery management decisions that will withstand challenge. And finally, never stop learning. Everything I know about salmon, I learned after I left college."

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Greetings from the Dean
It has been an amazing summer for SFOS with many changes, advances and new and exciting opportunities. In late spring, we learned that Dean Denis Wiesenburg was going to be leaving us at the end of May to become the Vice President for Research at the University of Southern Mississippi.

UAF establishes Ocean Acidification Research Center
UAF has created a new research center dedicated to studying ocean acidification in Alaska. Jeremy Mathis, assistant professor of chemical oceanography and an ocean acidification expert, is the director of the center.

New sea star species named after Howard Feder
One of the new species discovered by Stephen Jewett, Heloise Chenelot and Max Hoberg in the Aleutian Islands in 2006-2007 has been named after SFOS professor emeritus Howard Feder.

Weingartner wins Usibelli award for research
In April, Tom Weingartner, professor of oceanography at SFOS, received the 2010 Usibelli Distinguished Research Award.

New energy device to power oceanographic equipment
After two years of design and development, oceanographers at UAF have installed a new alternative energy device along the arctic coast of Alaska.

Cordova Marine Advisory agent recalls trip to Louisiana oil spill
by Doug Schneider
In 1989, Torie Baker was a commercial salmon fisherman in Cordova, Alaska, when the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, spilling 11 million gallons of heavy Alaskan crude oil onto some 1,500 miles of Alaska beaches.

Hollmen named interim science director at Alaska SeaLife Center
Tuula Hollmen, research associate professor at SFOS, has been appointed the interim science director for the Alaska SeaLife Center. Hollmen has worked as an SFOS faculty member at the Alaska SeaLife Center for eight years.

John Kelley retires after 40 years at UAF
John Kelley, professor of chemical oceanography at SFOS, has retired after 40 years of teaching, research and service at the University of Alaska.

SFOS remembers Senator Ted Stevens
by Michael Castellini, Interim Dean
We at the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences were saddened to learn of the death of former Senator Ted Stevens in August. It is difficult to enumerate the many contributions Senator Stevens has made over the years to fisheries and fisheries science in Alaska.

FEATURED FACULTY – Franz Mueter, Assistant Professor of Fisheries
Franz Mueter has been an assistant professor of fisheries at SFOS in Juneau since 2008. He received his Ph.D. in fisheries oceanography from UAF, where he studied changes in the groundfish communities in the Gulf of Alaska over time. He also received master's degrees in statistics and biological oceanography from UAF.

STANDOUTS – Faculty and Staff News

SFOS faculty to participate in Census of Marine Life final celebration
It has been a "decade of discovery" for the Census of Marine Life and several SFOS faculty who have worked on various Census projects over the years.

Marine Advisory Program secures funding
by Doug Schneider
Five Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program offices that faced an uncertain future earlier this year will stay open, and a sixth position will be filled, since Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell signed the state's 2011 operating budget.

FACILITY SPOTLIGHT – Freshwater fisheries lab opens in Fairbanks
In July, UAF celebrated a ribbon-cutting for a new fisheries laboratory complex in the west wing of the Arctic Health Research Building.

DEVELOPMENT – Why Give, How You Can Make a Difference, and How to Go about Giving
by Teresa Thompson, Development Officer

Crowley donates $20,000 to SFOS, UAF for scholarships
Crowley Maritime Corporation has donated $20,000 to the University of Alaska Foundation to fund four $5,000 scholarships.

Gliders pass test in Southeast Alaska, make history in the Chukchi Sea
Underwater gliders may change how scientists track fish.

Scientist says Chatanika whitefish are making a comeback
Humpback whitefish in the Chatanika River are recovering from a population crash in the 1980s, according to a scientist at UAF.

R/V Sikuliaq Update
by Daniel Oliver, Director, Seward Marine Center

FEATURED STUDENT – Miranda Westphal, M.S. Fisheries
by Tara Borland, Proposal Coordinator
Miranda is a fisheries student working toward her master's degree in fisheries. Miranda earned a bachelor's degree in marine science at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida. She came up to Alaska in 2008 to research juvenile red king crabs.

STANDOUTS - Student News
MESAS and SELMR students, faculty hold retreat.

BON VOYAGE – Congratulations to our spring, summer 2010 graduates!

FEATURED ALUMNUS – John Hilsinger
by Tracy Kalytiak
Nearly 40 years ago, John Hilsinger listened as one of his friends talked about how he wanted to attend graduate school in UAF's fisheries program. John Hilsinger is the director of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game's Commercial Fisheries Division.

FEATURED PHOTO
Graduate students Jesse Coleman and Christine Woll work in the field on the Kulukak River in southwest Alaska. Coleman and Woll are collaborating on a juvenile salmon habitat mapping project while working towards their master's degrees in fisheries with advisor Trent Sutton. Photo Courtesy of Jesse Coleman.

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