Expanding the fisheries hui: New UH hires advance sustainable Pacific fisheries
NOAA diver Keo Lopes conducts research on a reef amidst a school of giant trevally / ulua aukea (Caranx ignobilis) at Pearl and Hermes Atoll. Credit: Andrew Gray/NOAA, 2017
With diverse expertise ranging from oceanography to economics to community-based coastal management, the University of Hawai‘i hired eight new faculty members to support sustainable Pacific fisheries efforts. The new cohort of hires will develop an innovative graduate program to advance fisheries research, education, and training for sustainable management in Hawai‘i and across the Pacific.
Fishing is essential to the way of life in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, providing 50–90% of the protein for Pacific Islanders. However, management strategies from the U.S. continent often fail here because they were designed for cold-water, industrial fisheries. Pacific fisheries are different—they operate in warm tropical waters, are multinational, and have far less scientific data, requiring a locally developed approach to ensure they can be sustained for generations.
“It is critically important to create knowledge relevant to the Pacific, foster local expertise, and train the next generation of fisheries researchers, stewards and managers,” said Megan Donahue, director of the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST). “The new faculty members in this cohort each bring unique perspectives and talent to the complexities we face here. In addition to their contributions to advancing research and sustainable management of Pacific fisheries, they will be a vital part of developing a fisheries graduate training program.”
New faculty hires
* Donna Dimarchopoulou, Fisheries Quantitative Biology
College of Natural Sciences/ School of Life Sciences
* Mary Donovan, Ecosystem-based Fisheries Science & Management
SOEST/ HIMB
* Erik Franklin, Fisheries Science & Management
SOEST/ HIMB
* Kanoe Morishige, Loko Iʻa & Indigenous Coastal Management
Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge/ Center for Hawaiian Studies
* Eileen Nalley, Fisheries Extension
SOEST/ Hawai‘i Sea Grant
* Justin Suca, Fisheries Oceanography
SOEST/ Department of Oceanography
* Ron Vave, Ocean Governance & Marine Resources
College of Arts, Languages & Letters/ Center for Pacific Island Studies
* Xiurou Wu, Environmental & Resource Economics
College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience/ Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management
Fisheries in Hawaiʻi are distinct in that they include a variety of sectors ranging from the open ocean longline fishery, which is the sixth largest fishery in monetary value in the U.S., to community managed fishponds or loko iʻa. Importantly, the majority of nearshore fisheries in Hawaiʻi are non-commercial, which requires unique considerations for management. This program seeks to build on existing work by faculty and practitioners across the UH System to understand the unique contributions of these diverse commercial and non-commercial fisheries to the economic, social, and cultural well-being of Hawaiʻi to ensure their longevity.
“This cohort of new hires will take fisheries at UH to the next level to better serve students, communities, fishers, government agencies, and conservation organizations across the Pacific,” said Jeff Drazen, professor in the SOEST Department of Oceanography. “Our vision with this cohort is to stand up a center of expertise and excellence to facilitate the synergistic work that UH is uniquely positioned to contribute.”
Given the uniqueness of Pacific Island fisheries, Donahue, Drazen, and other fisheries-allied faculty at UH Mānoa coordinated across six schools and colleges and the Hawai‘i Cooperative Fisheries Research Unit at UH Hilo to collaboratively hire faculty who will develop research capacity and graduate training for fisheries scientists and managers, specifically aimed at sustainable fisheries for island-ocean systems.
Developing the graduate education program
In Hawai‘i, the Division of Aquatic Resources, the Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council, and NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center have noted the need for greater local research and management capacity. UH Mānoa is poised to play a critical role in research around the ecology, cultural politics, and economics of Pacific fisheries from local to regional scales, and to train the next generation of managers.
“We are thrilled to welcome the new fisheries cohort, whose work will significantly enhance Pacific Island fisheries,” said Brian Neilson, Administrator of the Hawaiʻi Division of Aquatic Resources. By advancing research and cultivating the next generation of scientists, practitioners, and managers with social and cultural competencies tailored to Pacific Island communities, this initiative will benefit Hawai‘i and our island neighbors.”
This graduate program will be distinguished from others on the U.S. continent and elsewhere by allowing students to weave western science with Indigenous knowledge and having a focus on community collaboration to support community-based fisheries solutions and participatory governance approaches.
“It’s exciting to be creating a Pacific Island-serving research and education program that will develop our local talent,” said Charles Littnan, Director of NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. “By creating a nexus of tropical fisheries study, the program will promote collaborative efforts between UH, local resource managers, and experts from other nations around the Pacific rim.”
Read also on Hawai’i Public Radio, Popular Science, UH News, Yahoo! News, Seafood Source, and National Fisherman.