Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium coming to Sitka April 16–18, 2024

Fishery managers, researchers, and seafood-industry professionals are invited to mark their calendars for the 33rd Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium to be held in Sitka next spring. 

The theme for the upcoming event is shifting distributions and phenologies: implications for fisheries. The symposium will bring fishery researchers and managers together to address political, jurisdictional, and survey management structures for adapting to environmental changes and shifting species distributions. Participants worldwide are invited to share case studies and contrast approaches in various regions. Discussions will be forward-looking and focused on solutions.

“Climate change is already shifting the distributions and phenologies of fish populations that support subsistence, sport, and commercial fisheries,” said Keith Criddle, chair of the conference’s science program committee. “These changes affect stock productivity and availability to fishers, the efficacy and efficiency of fishing and fish processing, and the resilience of fisheries management systems and fishery-dependent communities. The 2024 Wakefield Symposium presents an opportunity to participate in an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural exploration of biology, ecology, management, and human dimensions of evolving fishery social-ecological systems.”

The symposium will be held April 16–18, 2024, at the Harrigan Centennial Hall. Invited speakers and contributors from around the world will be on hand to share their expertise through presentations, facilitated discussion and poster sessions. Scientists, managers, non-government organization representatives, industry leaders, media and others are expected to join the three-day symposium.

The series is named in honor of Lowell Wakefield and his many contributions to Alaska’s fisheries. Wakefield, regarded as the founder of the Alaska king crab industry, recognized that for the fishery to survive, resource management must be based on the best available scientific data.

Alaska Sea Grant has been coordinating the Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium series since 1982, in partnership with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center, North Pacific Fishery Management Council, and North Pacific Research Board.

The call for abstracts and symposium registration will open in the coming weeks. For the latest information and updates, visit the 2024 Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium website.