NOAA Fisheries is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which resides in the U.S. Department of Commerce. Federal fishery matters in the southwestern United States fall within the jurisdiction of the Southwest Region (SWR) office located in Long Beach, California. The Southwest Fisheries Science Center is the research wing of the SWR. The Fisheries Resources Division consists of eleven integrated Programs under the direction of the Division Director.
Director: Russell Vetter Ph.D.
Manages Division; directly supervises research on reproduction in fishes and airborne lidar surveys; coordinates links between the Division and international organizations, especially Mexico and Canada; serves as Acting CalCOFI Representative for the SWFSC.
Communications and Administration: Dale Sweetnam
Provides administrative assistance to Division Director and staff. Manages budget development, personnel matters and hirings. Coordinates travel, training and meetings. Provides editorial support and web development for Division.
Ecosystem Monitoring: Russell Vetter Ph.D.
Ship Operations and CalCOFI: David Griffith
Manages all cruises and data bases for Division; technical staffing of all cruises (supplemented by other Division employees); sorts all plankton collected by Division; provides data products to Division scientists; operates, maintains shipboard sampling gear (MOCNESS samplers, egg pumps, high speed trawls, CTD); develops /maintains shipboard and land-based data-entry systems; represents Division/SWFSC interests in vessel operations; provides guidance and expertise to Division on data processing and management issues.
In Situ Surveys: John Butler Ph.D.
Advanced Survey Technology: David Demer Ph.D.
Fishery Monitoring: John Childers
Fish Ecology: Russell Vetter Ph.D.
Conducts research on the physiological ecology and genetics of fishes; develops molecular techniques for larval identification; conducts research on the effects of anthropogenic and natural environmental stressors on the early life stages of fishes; provides guidance and expertise on physiology and molecular biology.
Molecular Genetics Lab and Aquarium: John Hyde Ph.D.
Small Pelagics Lab: Nancy Lo Ph.D.
Large Pelagics Lab: Suzanne Kohin Ph.D
Ichthyoplankton Lab: William Watson
Conducts research on ecological relationships of the early life history stages of fishes taken during CalCOFI and other ichthyoplankton surveys; provides basis for stock assessments by identifying eggs and larvae of fishes taken on CalCOFI, egg pump, and other Division field surveys; stages eggs and establishes egg staging systems for Daily Egg Production Method (DEPM) surveys and other projects; provides Division guidance and expertise on early life history of fishes for habitat and community ecology studies and stock assessments.
Analysis and Synthesis: Russell Vetter Ph.D.
Socio-Economics: Dale Squires Ph.D.
Economic evaluation of management options for coastal pelagic and groundfish stocks; represents SWFSC & Division in the Pacific Fishery Management Council 
; conducts research on fishery economics and provides guidance and expertise in fishery economics.
Population Modeling: Ray Conser Ph.D.
Stock assessment of coastal pelagic and groundfish stocks; represents SWFSC & Division in the Pacific Fishery Management Council ; conducts research on population dynamics and provides guidance and expertise in population dynamics. Develops new survey systems for measuring abundance or biomass of fishes; conducts research on age and growth of fishes; analyzes CalCOFI time series to provide insight into recruitment dynamics; develops indices of abundance from time series data; develops computational procedures for survey estimates: provides guidance and expertise on sampling design, statistics, and age and growth.
Fishery Oceanography: Sam McClatchie Ph.D.