Fellowship spotlight: Alaina Plauché

Alaina Plauché is an Alaska Sea Grant State Fellow working as a fishery analyst with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council in Anchorage. She began her fellowship in September 2024 and will soon wrap up her year.

“Sitting at the intersection of science, politics and culture, the Council process has shown me what true stakeholder engagement looks like,” Plauché said. “I’ve had the privilege of learning from fishermen, processors, scientists, managers and tribal representatives who are all deeply invested in the future of these ecosystems.”

In addition to fishery analyses to inform management, Plauché has been conducting oral history interviews with longtime participants in the Council process to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Magnuson-Stevens Act—the legislation that established the nation’s eight regional fishery management councils.

These oral histories capture lived experiences and reflections and offer more personal insight than past retrospectives. The video and audio interviews are recorded and will be housed in the NOAA Voices oral history archive and the UAA/APU Consortium Library. A compilation video will highlight the Council’s deliberative, public and science-based approach to fisheries management.

Plauché has been learning about how resource decisions are being shaped through a collaborative, public process. “It’s been eye-opening to see how environmental policy plays out in real time, balancing ecological sustainability with the needs of diverse communities,” she said.

Plauché’s work and professional development have offered her opportunities to attend a meeting of the Council’s Climate Change Task Force in Juneau, a Marine Resource Education Program meeting in Kodiak, the Mariculture Conference of Alaska in Sitka, and the Council’s June meeting in Oregon.

Outside of work, she volunteers for an Alaska tax and loan assistance program, providing free tax services to residents of the rural communities of New Stuyahok and Savoonga.

Raised in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina, Plauché earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied public policy with a focus on city planning, environmental justice and food systems.

“I came into this fellowship with a passion for community-driven policy, and working in fisheries in Alaska has opened my eyes to the complexity, scale and urgency of marine resource management,” said Plauché.