With support from the Julia R. Brown Education and Research Fund, MAS Marine Biodiversity and Conservation student Tess Noone traveled to Portland, Oregon, to attend the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society’s annual meeting. The conference deepened her understanding of fisheries conservation, aquatic ecosystems, and policy, while also informing her capstone work with California Trout on a statewide CEQA monitoring framework. Through workshops, presentations, and conversations with conservation professionals, Tess gained new ideas and connections that will continue to shape her career in marine and freshwater conservation.
The Western Division of American Fisheries Society hosts an annual meeting where hundreds of scientists, students, and artists convene to discuss aquatic and marine-related topics. Various presentations, posters, workshops, and even films are shared discussing a wide breadth of topics. This year, the meeting was hosted in Portland, Oregon along the Columbia River, which felt like a perfect place to discuss some of the species in the spotlight. With the fortune of receiving this award, I had the opportunity to attend this year and can say with certainty – it will be one of the most memorable things from my graduate studies.
While I previously focused on tropical marine ecosystems, this year at Scripps exposed me more to the policy side of this field, leading me to partner with California Trout for my capstone project. For this, I have been creating a statewide monitoring framework for projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to assess the proximity to CalTrout’s work and how they may have an impact. It has been incredibly engaging and impactful to see how regulatory processes can impact conservation outcomes. Beyond this newfound passion, I have become familiar with anadromous fish and their incredible lifecycle along with the pressures they face, such as habitat fragmentation. This led me to learn about the Western Division of American Fisheries Society and the annual meetings they host, growing my interest in attending.
A highlight of the conference was attending a Gyotaku workshop, a traditional Japanese fish printing art form I had long wanted to try. Beyond being a wonderful creative experience, it underscored the long-standing role of art in conservation storytelling and was one of the best networking opportunities of the weekend. I also attended sessions on Klamath dam removal, wildfire impacts on aquatic ecosystems, and the relationship between kelp forest health and rockfish abundance, each reinforcing how connected these systems are across the Pacific coast.
The conference also gave me a chance to connect with California Trout staff from across the state and hear directly from CalTrout speakers about their most important work and its ecological outcomes. Discussing my CEQA project with other policy-focused attendees opened new angles on how to approach the work going forward. Early career professional sessions on cover letters and job applications were an added bonus at this stage of my degree.
After the conference, I traveled to Bend, Oregon to learn about inland fisheries conservation and met with a Trout Unlimited staffer doing similar work. Overall, this was an extraordinary experience and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the Julia R. Brown Fund, without whose support this trip would not have been possible. I will carry these lessons with me throughout my career.
Blog content and images provided by Tess Noone – thank you!