Current Activities

Phil has been the director of the Auke Bay Laboratories (ABL) Division since 2005. Previously he served as Science Director for the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (EVOSTC) in Anchorage. At EVOSTC Phil led the development of the Gulf Ecosystem Monitoring (GEM) program and served as an editor and contributing author of a book for GEM, Gulf of Alaska Biology and Oceanography (2005). Also at EVOSTC Phil helped launch the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB), as a charter board member and advisor on integrated ecosystem planning and implementation, and he also served on the Steering Committee of the U.S. Global Ocean Observing System, which helped launch the nation’s Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) effort.

Phil’s emphasis as ABL director is to enable the observations and models needed for the ecosystem approach to fisheries management. Working with the NPRB, Phil was one of the authors of the Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Plan, a contributor to the development of the draft Gulf of Alaska Integrated Ecosystem Research Plan, and a contributor to the development of standards for selecting ecosystem-level models as a member of the NPRB’s Ecosystem Modeling Committee. Phil fosters international cooperation in ocean observing for fisheries as a member of the MONITOR Committee for the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES).

Background

Phil has a B.S. in zoology from University of Maryland, an M.S. in biology from the University of Alabama and a Ph.D. in fisheries from the University of Washington. Before joining EVOSTC Phil’s positions included Assistant Professor (Department of Oceanography, Old Dominion University), Associate Professor, School of Ocean and Fisheries Sciences, University of Alaska, Chief Fisheries Scientist, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and Science Program Director for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, (Portland, OR).

Phil has served as an adviser on fishery management to a wide variety of governmental organizations and private interests including the Pacific Salmon Commission, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the Alaska Board of Fisheries, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Northwest Power and Conservation (Planning) Council and Preston Gates and Ellis.