Usha Varanasi, Ph.D.
Science and Research Director, Acting
Dr. Usha Varanasi currently serves as the Acting Science and Research Director of NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center, as well as the Science and Research Director for the Northwest Fisheries Science Center. Dr. Varanasi has held the latter position since 1994, when she became the first woman to lead one of the NMFS Science Centers. With over 30 years of service in NOAA, Dr. Varanasi is committed to ensuring that management and recovery of living marine resources is science-based and to making science transparent and accessible to managers and public.
Dr. Varanasi’s early research on how marine organisms accumulate and process contaminants revolutionized the field, and led to the development of techniques that reduce the impacts of pollution on fisheries resources and ensure that seafood is safe for human consumption. Her numerous scientific publications include journal articles in Science, Nature, and Environmental Science. She has also edited two books, one of which received the Society of Technical Communication's 2000 Excellence Award. She serves on many expert committees and scientific boards, including representing the Department of Commerce on the West Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Health Executive Committee, and is the recipient of a number of distinguished awards, including the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service, Department of Commerce Gold Medal, and the NOAA Administrator’s Award.
Dr. Varanasi is deeply committed to the open communication of science, the education of students in the sciences, and the mentoring of young leaders. She received her Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Washington, where she now holds an affiliate professorship; an M.S. degree in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology; and a B.Sc degree from Bombay University in India.
Dr. Varanasi will hold both Science and Research Director positions until a permanent Director for the SWFSC is identified.
Kristen Koch
Deputy Science and Research Director
Kristen Koch has been the Deputy Science Director of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center since November 2009. Previously, Kristen was the Deputy Ecosystem Goal Team Lead in Silver Spring, MD (2007-2009) where she oversaw the permanent staff and NOAA’s $1.5 billion ecosystem portfolio. In this position, she was responsible for strategic planning and management of NOAA’s nine ecosystem programs crossing four NOAA Line Offices (NMFS, NOS, OAR and NESDIS). During the Administration transition, Kristen served as the Acting Deputy Director for the NOAA Fisheries Office of Sustainable Fisheries. Prior to assuming her duties as Goal Team Deputy, Kristen developed science programs for the NOAA Fisheries Directorate, including NOAA’s concept for integrated ecosystem assessments (2006-2007).
A ten year employee of NOAA, Kristen initially served in the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, where she directed the office managing OAR’s laboratories and grant programs (1999-2006). She has received numerous awards from the Department of Commerce for her service in NOAA.
A native of San Diego, she graduated with a B.A from Mills College in California and an M.P.A. from Columbia University.
Gary Sakagawa, .jpg?n=5343 "Gary Sakagawa")
Ph.D.
Assistant Center Director for Fisheries Management Programs
Gary Sakagawa serves as Assistant Center Director of Fishery Management Programs for the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), NOAA Fisheries Service. He is responsible for coordinating the Center’s scientific studies and activities in support of requirements of the Pacific Fisheries Management Council and international regional organizations involved with highly migratory species of the Pacific Ocean.
Gary joined the Center in 1971 and served in a series of supervisory and senior research positions before being appointment to his current position. His professional training and background is in fisheries biology and stock assessment and his research has focused largely on tunas and billfishes. He has served as co-editor for two books and associate editor for the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. He served as scientific adviser on numerous official U.S. delegations to international consultations and negotiations involving tuna and billfish fishery issues in the Atlantic (ICCAT), Indian (IOC) and Pacific (IATTC, WCPFC, South Pacific Tuna Treaty, U.S.-Canada Albacore Treaty) Oceans.
Gary has received several awards, including Best Paper Award, Fishery Bulletin (1974); Award of Excellence, American Fisheries Society (AFS) Western Division (2003); and NOAA Silver Medal (2005). His administrative and leadership skills have been recognized by his peers who elected him to serve as President of the American Fisheries Society (AFS) Marine Fisheries Section (1981-82) and AFS International Fisheries Section (1991-93), President of the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists (1998-2001), Chairman of the International Science Committee for Tuna and Tuna-like Species of the North Pacific Ocean (2005-present) and Board of Director of the Japan Society of San Diego and Tijuana (1998-2008). He holds fisheries degrees from the University of Michigan (M.S.) and the University of Washington (Ph.D.).
As the Assistant Director for Fishery Management Programs is responsible for coordinating the SWFSC’s scientific studies and activities in support of requirements of the Pacific Fisheries Management Council and for international regional fisheries organizations involved with highly migratory species of the Pacific Ocean. Execution of this responsibility involves developing policies and procedures for delivery of research products and support as required under the Magnuson-Stevens Act and under international fishery agreements, such as U.S.-Canada Albacore Treaty, the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Convention (IATTC), the Western-Central Pacific Fisheries Convention (WCPFC) and the International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-like Species in the North Pacific Ocean agreement. Gary also serves as the Center’s primary point of contact with fishery management bodies and constituents, and assists in designing the Center’s research projects to address issues of concern to constituents. Gary serves as science advisor on the U.S. delegation to the IATTC, WCPFC and consultations for bilateral tuna agreements.
Jonathan Phinney, 
Ph.D.
Assistant Center Director for Ecosystem Research
Jonathan Phinney is the Southwest Fisheries Science Center’s (SWFSC) Assistant Center Director for Ecosystem Research where he manages the development of ecosystem-related research and the cross-Line Office development of the West Coast ecological observing system called PaCOOS. Previously, Jonathan worked in NOAA’s Office of Atmospheric Research (OAR) as Chief Scientist (Acting) for the Office of Ocean Exploration and in the Office of Planning. Prior to NOAA, Jonathan was Executive Director of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography. Jonathan received a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a M.S. in Marine Ecology from the University of Maryland. After graduating college with a degree in History, Jonathan competed on several international rowing teams culminating in bid for the Olympics.
As the Assistant Center Director for Ecosystem Research, Jonathan oversees the development of the SWFSC’s ecosystem research program that includes an ecological observing and forecasting system for the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem, an area that spans from Vancouver Island, Canada, along the entire U.S. west coast to Baja California, Mexico. His role is to facilitate the development of scientific tools, such as the next generation of ecological forecasts and assessments, that support ecosystem based management of living marine resources through partnerships across NOAA and with state, academics and industry scientists and managers. In the California Current, climate and ecosystem forecasts are being developed in a program called PaCOOS - the Pacific Coast Ocean Observing System - an international partnership of government agencies, academic institutions and nongovernmental organizations from all three West Coast states as well as British Columbia, Canada, and Baja California, Mexico. Jonathan’s role is to coordinate efforts between the Southwest and Northwest Fisheries Science Centers which supports both ecosystem based management as well as the integrated ocean observing system, PaCOOS and IOOS®.
Roger Hewitt, Ph.D.
Assistant Center Director for Ships and Infrastructure 
Roger Hewitt serves as the Southwest Fisheries Science Center’s (SWFSC) Assistant Center Director for Ships and Infrastructure. Roger has led dozens of expeditions and field surveys throughout the world over a career spanning nearly 40 years. He has worked in the Bering Sea, the Aleutian Islands, the coastal archipelago of southeast Alaska and British Columbia, the California Current along the west coast of North America, the east and gulf coasts of the U.S., the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. For 16-years he led annual surveys of the Antarctic coastal ecosystem in the Scotia Sea and its archipelagos. Building on the results of this field research, he developed a variety of management options for the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). He was the long-term convener of CCAMLR’s Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management and served as the lead scientific advisor on the U.S. delegation to the Commission. His most recent appointment was Director, Fisheries Resources Division at the SWFSC, leading a group of biologists, oceanographers, population modelers, and economists providing advice on management of west coast marine fisheries.
Roger’s research interests include the use of acoustics to conduct resource surveys, foraging tactics of whales, seals, penguins and other seabirds in relation to their prey, biological responses to climatic variability, and resource management schemes that incorporate ecosystem considerations. He has authored over 100 papers, book chapters and reports.
Roger holds a Ph.D. in Marine Biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, U.C. San Diego, as well as a Ship Masters License from the U.S. Coast Guard and Professional Engineering and Land Surveyor licenses from the State of California. He is an expert in handling small boats, and his hobbies also include surfing and photography. Roger, his wife of 37-years, and two grown sons live in San Diego.
As Deputy Center Director for Ships and Infrastructure, Roger is currently managing a major renewal of the sea-going and laboratory infrastructure for the SWFSC. The new Fisheries Survey Vessel (FSV) Shimada will be commissioned in late 2009. Although the Shimada will be home-ported in Seattle, the SWFSC expects to be allocated a major portion of her time. Another FSV is expected to be commissioned in 2014-15 to replace David Starr Jordan in San Diego, which will be close to 50 years old at the time she is retired. In addition, plans are well underway to replace the La Jolla headquarters of the SWFSC across the street from its current location. Dr. Hewitt’s responsibilities include balancing available ship time against research priorities, developing realistic requirements for new ship construction, ensuring that temporary laboratory facilities will allow continued operations without loss of capability, ensuring that the detailed design (and ultimately construction) of the new laboratory will meet our science requirements, and representing the SWFSC in discussions with partners at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, NOAA Fisheries and the NOAA offices involved with facilities and new construction.
Meghan Donahue
Director, Operations, Management and Information Division
Meghan Donahue serves as the Director of Planning and the Director of the Operations, Management and Information for the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries Service. Meghan started working at the Center as a volunteer in 1995. She spent the next seven years participating in field work, conducting research on marine mammals, serving as Editorial Assistant to the journal Marine Mammal Science and working with the Director of the Protected Resources Division on a variety of international and domestic marine mammal and sea turtle research and management issues. In 2004, Meghan became the Center’s Planning Officer.
As Director of Planning and the Director of the Operations, Management and Information Division, she ensures the Scientific Programs are well supported by managing the Center’s research planning and strategic development, administration and budget processes, performance management and oversight, environmental compliance and safety, graphics and editorial services, and human resource management.
Sarah Mesnick, Ph.D.
Science Liaison
Sarah Mesnick is the Science Liaison for the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), NOAA Fisheries Service, an ecologist in the SWFSC’s Protected Resources Division, and co-founder of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation (CMBC) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, U.C. San Diego. Her research focuses on the behavioral and molecular ecology of marine mammals and provides a behavioral framework within which to investigate population identity, population trends, and fishery interactions in marine mammals of temperate and tropical oceans.
Sarah arrived at the SWFSC in 1997 as a National Research Council (NRC) post-doctoral researcher to study the genetic structure of sperm whales in the North Pacific and in 2000 was awarded a NRC senior research fellowship to study the impact of the purse-seine fishery for tuna on the behavior of pelagic dolphins. In 2001, she joined the Scripps community to establish the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, a unique interdisciplinary graduate program in marine science and conservation, in partnership with the SWFSC. In 2003, Sarah was hired as the Academic Liaison at the SWFSC and in 2005 the position was expanded to encompass the Center’s external relations.
Sarah serves on the graduate committee of several PhD and masters students at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and at universities in Mexico. She has authored or co-authored 45 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and reports on the behavior and genetic structure of marine mammal populations. Recently, she and colleagues have focused on the value of acoustic characters in identifying populations of blue whales, social disruption in tropical dolphins, and North Pacific and global genetic structure of sperm whales. She is involved in collaborative research in support of the International Dolphin Conservation Program, Federal Protected Resources, the NOAA Fisheries Service’s Alaska and Southwest Region and the International Whaling Commission. Her research and academic work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Marine Mammal Commission, National Geographic and the North Pacific Research Board. She holds a doctorate (1996) and masters (1991) from the University of Arizona in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and graduated with honors from the University of California Santa Cruz (1983).
As the Science Liaison for the SWFSC, Sarah is responsible for overseeing the Center’s external relations and the dissemination of the Center’s science to a broad audience. Sarah serves as the SWFSC’s liaison with congressional staff and elected officials and with other NOAA, Department of Commerce and other governmental agencies. Sarah is responsible for developing the broader impact of SWFSC science programs and works closely with the Director’s Office and research Divisions to build and support science and infrastructure initiatives. She provides leadership for the SWFSC’s education and training programs and serves as the Center’s liaison with academia. Sarah is a member of the steering committee for CMBC at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and has twice received the U.C. San Diego’s Chancellor’s award for promoting diversity. She co-chairs NOAA Fisheries Service’s Higher Education working group and is a member of the NOAA Fisheries Communications team and Education Council. Sarah serves as the Center’s webmaster and coordinates media relations. As outreach coordinator for the SWFSC, she directs scientific conferences and public events.
Rob Bistodeau
Regional Information Technology Coordinator
Director, Information Technology Services
Rob Bistodeau has served as the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), NOAA Fisheries Service (NMFS), Regional Information Technology Coordinator (RITC) since January 1996. In this capacity he provides advice, guidance, and direction on behalf of the SWFSC Director's Office on Information Technology (IT) usage and develops plans to implement and leverage new and improved IT tools and capabilities. He is also responsible for carrying out the day-to-day IT operations of the Center. Additionally he works with the NMFS Office of the Chief Information Officer and the NMFS Information Management Board to plan, develop, and carry out NMFS-wide mission critical information systems.
Rob has over 25 years of IT Specialist experience with the SWFSC. He has a diverse background in systems analysis and design, application development, programming, hardware and software specification, system administration, telecommunications, networking, and web technologies. Rob is the recipient of numerous agency special act awards including the NOAA Fisheries Service Employee of the Year (2004) and the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal (2003). He has a B.S. degree in Business Administration (with emphasis in Information Systems) and substantial Graduate Degree course work in Computer Science. Rob is a native San Diegan living in La Jolla and enjoys various outdoor adventure, sporting, and international travel related activities.
As Director of SWFSC’s Information Technology Services (ITS), Rob and his staff work directly on the behalf of the Director’s Office to manage and coordinate the Center’s IT systems. This includes providing localized Information Technology (IT) support to the staff at the two La Jolla laboratories, staff at the SWFSC’s Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz laboratories, the Southwest Regional Offices, and providing regional Information Technology coordination directly with the NOAA Fisheries headquarters staff, and providing support among other NOAA Fisheries Centers, Regional Offices, and collaborators. The primary areas of support include: Administrative Systems Support, Database Design, Administration, and Support, Helpdesk Support, Network Services, Regional Information Technology Coordination, Security, Scientific Application Development and Support, Shipboard Data Acquisition Systems, Telecommunications Management, Unix Administration, and WWW Implementation and Management.
George Watters, Ph.D.
Director, Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division
George Watters became Director of the Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division (AERD) in 2009; the division conducts research to advise the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) on the management of fisheries around Antarctica. George has been involved with Antarctic fisheries issues since 1991, when he first started work at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center as a GS-7 fishery biologist within the AERD and a Ph.D. student at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. George's research centers on the using quantitative tools, particularly ecosystem and population models, to evaluate hypotheses describing alternative views about the production of living marine resources and advise on strategies for their sustainable management. For example, he developed an ecosystem model that has been used to advise on the degrees to which various options for spatially distributing catches of Antarctic krill among a network of coastal and offshore management areas in the Scotia Sea may risk depleting krill-dependent predators like penguins and seals. George presently chairs the CCAMLR Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management. This working group advises the CCAMLR and its Scientific Committee on issues related to management of the Antarctic krill fishery and spatial management (e.g., marine protected areas).
Frank Schwing, Ph.D.
Director, Environmental Research Division
Franklin Schwing is an oceanographer with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, and has been Directorof the Southwest Fisheries Science Center’s (SWFSC) Environmental Research Division since 2005. He is also currently acting Deputy Director for the SWFSC. His research interests are in physical oceanography, ocean dynamics of coastal oceans, and climate variability and its influence on marine ecosystems and their populations. He is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications and has given over 150 presentations and seminars at scientific conferences and public forums.
Frank is a visiting professor in the Department of Oceanography, Naval Postgraduate School, and a fellow with the Joint Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Research at the University of Hawaii. He is a member of the NOAA Integrated Ecosystem Assessment Priority Area Task Team, PISCO Advisory Committee, and US GLOBEC Northeast Pacific Program Executive Committee.
Previously, Frank worked in the NOAA Climate and as a Special Assistant to the Senior Scientist for NOAA Fisheries. He served on the Ecosystem Interagency Working Group of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP). Frank was an Expert and U.S. Government Reviewer for the IPCC 4th Climate Assessment and a member of the Peer Review Committee for the CCSP SAP 4.2 - Thresholds of Change in Ecosystems.
Frank received his B.S. and M.S. in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina, and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has worked for NOAA since 1989, and was awarded the U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal.
Churchill Grimes, Ph.D.
Director,Fisheries Ecology Division
Churchill B. Grimes is Director of NOAA Fisheries Service’s Southwest Fishery Science Center, Fishery Ecology Division (FED) in Santa Cruz, CA, where he oversees the research program to provide the scientific basis for conservation and management of California demersal fishery resources and the recovery and restoration of anadromous species in California listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Before assuming his present position, Churchill served as Director and as Leader of Fishery Ecology Investigations of the Southeast Fishery Science Center’s Panama City Laboratory, and prior to beginning service with NOAA, was Associate Professor of Marine Fisheries at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
A native Tarheel, Churchill was born in Washington, North Carolina, and earned his bachelors and masters degrees in biology at East Carolina University and his Ph.D. in Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Churchill has had a active and wide ranging career as a research scientist, having authored or co-authored well over 100 publications on the life history and population dynamics (in particular habitat ecology, recruitment processes and fishery oceanography) of various marine and anadromous fishery resources in the Southern New England-Mid Atlantic Bight, U.S. South Atlantic Bight, Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean off California. Notably, he and colleagues pioneered the use of submersible and acoustic mapping technologies in deepwater fish habitat studies. Similarly, he and colleagues research contributions toward understanding the role of ocean environmental features, in particular estuarine fronts, on the success of fish reproduction and recruitment are widely appreciated. Recently, he and colleagues have been investigating the effects of ocean climate on the salmonid fishery resources of California, and striving to fully incorporate electronic tracking into NOAA’s scientific enterprise to provide the basis of sound resource and ecosystem management.
Churchill has served on numerous appointed international, national and regional scientific advisory bodies, e.g., the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea’s Recruitment Process Working Group, President’s Council on Natural Resources and Environment Gulf Hypoxia Working Group, several National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis working groups, and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council Scientific and Statistical Committee. He has been a member of the American Fishery Society since 1971 and served in many appointed and elected positions of the society, e.g., President of the Marine Fisheries Section. In recognition of his professional contributions Dr. Grimes has received several awards, including several NOAA Bronze Medals and the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society’s Outstanding Achievement Award.
Russ Vetter, Ph.D.
Director, Fisheries Resources Division
Russ Vetter oversees the diverse research of the Fisheries Resources Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries Service. This Division takes an ecosystem approach to the study of high seas and coastal pelagic fisheries of the California Current based on the visionary California Cooperative Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI). The CalCOFI approach is an ongoing, collaborative effort by SWFSC, Scripps Institute of Oceanography at UC San Diego, and the State of California, begun 60 years ago to understand the role of ocean productivity and climate, as well as fishing practices, on the dynamics of Pacific sardine and other oceanic fish populations. This integrated approach has received renewed interest as the Agency moves to Integrated Ecosystem Assessments and studies of climate change.
Russ’s personal research interests have focused on Molecular Ecology and Spatial Ecology of fishes as revealed by studies of population genetic structure, electronic tagging of migratory animals, and the application of biotechnology and physiology to investigate effects of environmental stress on natural populations. Before becoming Director, Dr. Vetter oversaw the Fish Ecology program and the Fish Conservation Genetics Program. The majority of his recent research has focused on determining population connectivity among rockfish meta-populations, the design and spacing of MPA networks, the effects of ozone depletion and increased ultraviolet (UV) irradiance on eggs and larvae, the movements of sharks and other large pelagic fishes and the bioenergetics of pelagic food webs.
Previous to joining the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Dr. Vetter was an Andrew Mellon Foundation Fellow and a member of the research faculty at Scripps Institution of Oceanography where he conducted research on the physiology and biochemistry of hydrothermal vent organisms. Dr. Vetter received his Masters in physiology from the University of Texas and his Ph.D in biochemistry from the Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia. Prior to graduate studies, he served in the Peace Corps where he was posted to Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa. He is the author of over 75 journal papers, several book chapters, and technical reports.
Lisa Ballance, Ph.D.
Director, Protected Resources Division
Lisa Ballance has been the Director of the Protected Resources Division at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries Service, since November of 2007. In this role, she is responsible for setting the research priorities in accordance with division mandates for seven programs and some 70 individuals, and for day-to-day management of division resources.
Lisa has been with NOAA Fisheries Service since 1988, when she joined the agency as a Graduate Research Associate working on her Ph.D. Her research focused on ecology of seabirds associated with yellowfin tuna and spotted and spinner dolphin schools in the eastern tropical Pacific. She obtained her doctoral degree from the University of California Los Angeles in 1993, and accepted a post-doctoral position the same year with the National Research Council conducting research on comparative cetacean ecology in the eastern tropical Pacific and tropical Indian oceans. She became a marine ecologist with the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in 1996, Chief Scientist of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Cetacean and Ecosystem Research Cruises in 1999, and Leader of the Ecosystem Studies Program in 2001. In addition to her doctorate, she holds a Master of Science degree from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (1987) and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California San Diego (1981). Her research has always included a strong ecological component and is heavily focused on cetaceans and seabirds in oceanic systems, ecological trends in space and time (at interannual to regime shift scales), and ecosystem-based approaches to management.
Lisa is an Adjunct Professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and primary adviser to three Ph.D. students. She is an editorial board member of Marine Ornithology, Past Chair of the Pacific Seabird Group (2002), and recipient of the Department of Commerce Silver Medal (2003) and NOAA Fisheries Supervisor of the Year (2007) awards. Her research, documented in 39 peer-reviewed publications and 34 Technical Reports, has been supported by grants from NOAA, the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, World Wildlife Fund, and International Fund for Animal Welfare.
William F. Perrin, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist for Marine Mammals
William Perrin is Senior Scientist for Marine Mammals at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries Service. Bill carries out studies of the systematics, ecology and conservation of whales, dolphins, porpoises and sirenians. He began his service with the agency in 1966 as a seasonally employed biological technician. Much of his career has involved research on the problem of unsustainable incidental kills of dolphins in the tuna purse-seine fishery in the eastern tropical Pacific and he published extensively on that problem.
Bill’s recent products include the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, co-edited with two colleagues (second edition, 2008). He has been heavily involved in national international organizations and activities aimed at the rational management of marine mammal resources, including as a U.S. scientific delegate to the International Whaling Commission, the Scientific Councilor for Aquatic Mammals in the Convention on Migratory Animals, the Chair of the Cetacean Red List Authority of the IUCN, Chair of the Committee of Scientific Advisors to the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, Convenor of Consultants Group on Small Cetaceans of FAO, and other roles. He has served as Editor of the journal Marine Mammal Science and Associate Editor of the Journal of Mammalogy. He received awards for the best paper in Fishery Bulletin in 1976 and 1977, the NOAA Scientific Research and Achievement Award in 1979, and a Department of Commerce Bronze Medal in 1994. Bill grew up in Wisconsin. After four years in the U.S. Air Force Security Service as a Czech language specialist (1957-1961), he obtained a B.S in biology from San Diego State University in 1966 and a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of California Los Angeles in 1972.
Robert L. Brownell, Jr., Ph.D.
Senior Scientist for Protected Resources
Robert L. Brownell, Jr. is Senior Scientist for Protected Resources at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), NOAA Fisheries Service, in Pacific Grove, California. He has conducted research on the biology and conservation of whales, dolphins and porpoises throughout the world with major studies in Mexico, South America, Japan, and Russia. Since 1995, Bob has led the U.S. side of the joint Russian-American research on the western gray whale off Sakhalin Island. He has published over 200 scientific papers, book chapters, and management documents on various aspects of whale, dolphin, and porpoise biology, conservation, and management. He has been a member of the U. S. delegation to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) since 1975 and served as Vice-Chair and Chair of the IWC’s Scientific Committee from 1985 to 1991. He also served as President of the largest international society for marine mammals, The Society for Marine Mammalogy, from 1987 to 1989. Before joining NOAA, Bob served as the Chief of Marine Mammal Research for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from the late 1970s to 1991. Between 1991 and 1993, he was the Science Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Oceans at the U.S. Department of State. In 1993, Bob became the Director of the Marine Mammal Division (now the Protected Resources Division) at the SWFSC in La Jolla, California, and then took up his present position two years ago. He has also been a member of the various marine mammal specialist groups under the IUCN (The World Conservation Union) for about 30 years and has served three terms as a Scientific Advisor to the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission.
Alec MacCall, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist for Fisheries
Alec MacCall is the Senior Scientist for Fisheries at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), NOAAA Fisheries Service. Alec has worked on fish population dynamics for nearly 40 years. He has focused on assessment and management of coastal pelagics and long-lived groundfish and has contributed to the successful rebuilding of several depleted stocks (California sardines, Pacific mackerel, and bocaccio which is well underway). He has written over 100 publications, and has contributed to assessment methodologies, ecological modeling (including the “basin model” of habitat selection), effects of interdecadal climate variability, and development of flexible harvest control policies. He received a Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of California’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1983. He joined NOAA Fisheries Service in 1982, after working 12 years for the California Department of Fish and Game. From 1988 to 1997 he was Director of the SWFSC’s Tiburon Laboratory in Tiburon, California. He is currently stationed at the Santa Cruz Laboratory, Fisheries Ecology Division.