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Division:
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CB
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Status:
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Federal, NOAA Fisheries
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Job Title:
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Team Leader, Salmon Harvest Group
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Phone:
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206-860-5607
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Email:
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send e-mail
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Programs:
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Teams:
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NWFSC Publications
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Background
Norma Jean Sands received her undergraduate, MS, and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Washington (UW), in oceanography (B.A.) and fisheries (M.S. and Ph.D.). After receiving her B.A., and in-between her MS and Ph.D., Norma conducted research in Norway on zooplankton communities. After receiving her Ph.D., she worked for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for 13 years as a biometrician conducting analyses for salmon population assessment, harvest management, and issues related to the Pacific Salmon Treaty. In September 1999, Norma came to the NWFSC to assist the Center in its salmon recovery analyses and harvest related issues. Norma is a member of the Puget Sound Technical Review Team (PS TRT), is the Center's liaison with the States and Tribes Comprehensive Chinook program, and works closely with staff at the Northwest Region (NMFS) on harvest implications of State and Tribal fishery plans on listed salmon stocks for the Section 7 and 4-d rulings under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Norma is also a participant in the Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) Selective Fisheries Evaluation Committee and is co-chair of the PSC Data Sharing Committee.
Current Research
Norma's primary research focuses on salmon stock assessment and affects of harvest management on rebuilding stocks, especially for salmon that have been listed under the ESA. Research efforts focus on harvest and hatchery issues in Puget Sound and on ecological interaction and relationships between environmental variables and salmon abundance and distribution. As a member of the PS TRT, Norma is developing a simulation model to determine present risk of extinction for Puget Sound salmon populations under current and proposed management plans for harvest, hatcheries, and habitat. This model is also used in collaboration with Northwest Region staff and co-managers for developing rebuilding exploitation rates acceptable for listed chinook and chum salmon. In addition, Norma continues to work with ecosystem modeling of Bristol Bay sockeye systems that she began while working in Alaska using ECOPATH and ECOSIM.
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