Francisco (Cisco) Werner, PhD
Science and Research Director
Francisco (Cisco) Werner brings to NMFS a deep and broad blend of marine ecosystem research and science management expertise. His career spans more than 25 years and includes authorship or co-authorship of over 90 refereed publications. Cisco has spent his professional career in academia, with his research efforts spanning the study of the structure and function of marine ecosystems, ocean circulation physics, and the development and implementation of ocean and coastal observing and forecasting systems. Cisco earned his BSc in Mathematics from the University of Washington (UW, 1978) and an MSc and a PhD in Oceanography also from UW in 1981 and 1984.
Previously, he was the Director of the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences (IMCS) at Rutgers University. Prior to his joining Rutgers, he was on the faculty at Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering (1984-1989), the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (1989-1993), and from 1993 to 2008 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Marine Sciences Department (MASC). At UNC-CH, he served as Department Chairman from 2000 to 2007 and was the George & Alice Welsh Distinguished Professor. From 2002 to 2007 he served at the Chairman of the GLOBEC (Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics) International Scientific Steering Committee and co-Chaired the PICES MODEL Task Team. He is presently the co-Editor-in-Chief of Progress in Oceanography.
Kristen Koch
Deputy Director
Kristen Koch has been the Deputy Science and Research Director of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center since November 2009 and Acting Science and Research Director since October 2010. Previously, Kristen was the Deputy Ecosystem Goal Team Lead in Silver Spring, MD (2007-2009) where she oversaw the permanent staff and NOAA’s $1.5 billion ecosystem portfolio. In this position, she was responsible for strategic planning and management of NOAA’s nine ecosystem programs crossing four NOAA Line Offices (NMFS, NOS, OAR and NESDIS). During the Administration transition, Kristen served as the Acting Deputy Director for the NOAA Fisheries Office of Sustainable Fisheries. Prior to assuming her duties as Goal Team Deputy, Kristen developed science programs for the NOAA Fisheries Directorate, including NOAA’s concept for integrated ecosystem assessments (2006-2007).
A ten year employee of NOAA, Kristen initially served in the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, where she directed the office managing OAR’s laboratories and grant programs (1999-2006). She has received numerous awards from the Department of Commerce for her service in NOAA.
A native of San Diego, she graduated with a B.A from Mills College in California and an M.P.A. from Columbia University.
Roger Hewitt, Ph.D.
Assistant Center Director for Ships and Infrastructure
As Deputy Center Director for Ships and Infrastructure, Roger is currently managing a major renewal of the sea-going and laboratory infrastructure for the SWFSC. A new Fisheries Survey Vessel (FSV) is expected to be brought into service in 2013-14 replacing the NOAA Ship David Starr Jordan, which was retired in 2009 after 45-years of service. In addition, construction is underway to replace the La Jolla headquarters of the SWFSC across the street from its current location. Roger’s responsibilities include balancing available ship time against research priorities, developing realistic requirements for new ship construction, ensuring that temporary laboratory facilities will allow continued operations without loss of capability, ensuring that the detailed design of the new laboratory will meet our science requirements, and representing the SWFSC in discussions with partners at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, NOAA Fisheries and the NOAA offices involved with facilities and new construction.
Roger holds a Ph.D. in Marine Biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, U.C. San Diego, as well as a Ship Masters License from the U.S. Coast Guard and Professional Engineering and Land Surveyor licenses from the State of California.
Roger’s research interests include the use of acoustics to conduct resource surveys, foraging tactics of whales, seals, penguins and other seabirds in relation to their prey, biological responses to climatic variability, and resource management schemes that incorporate ecosystem considerations. He has authored over 100 papers, book chapters and reports.
Meghan Donahue
Director, Operations, Management and Information Division
Meghan Donahue serves as the Director of Planning and the Director of the Operations, Management and Information for the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries Service. Meghan started working at the Center as a volunteer in 1995. She spent the next seven years participating in field work, conducting research on marine mammals, serving as Editorial Assistant to the journal Marine Mammal Science and working with the Director of the Protected Resources Division on a variety of international and domestic marine mammal and sea turtle research and management issues. In 2004, Meghan became the Center’s Planning Officer.
As Director of Planning and the Director of the Operations, Management and Information Division, she ensures the Scientific Programs are well supported by managing the Center’s research planning and strategic development, administration and budget processes, performance management and oversight, environmental compliance and safety, graphics and editorial services, and human resource management.
Sarah Mesnick, Ph.D.
Science Liaison
Sarah Mesnick is the Science Liaison for the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), NOAA Fisheries Service, an ecologist in the SWFSC’s Protected Resources Division, and co-founder of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation (CMBC) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, U.C. San Diego. Her research focuses on the behavioral and molecular ecology of marine mammals and provides a behavioral framework within which to investigate population identity, population trends, and fishery interactions in marine mammals of temperate and tropical oceans.
Sarah arrived at the SWFSC in 1997 as a National Research Council (NRC) post-doctoral researcher to study the genetic structure of sperm whales in the North Pacific and in 2000 was awarded a NRC senior research fellowship to study the impact of the purse-seine fishery for tuna on the behavior of pelagic dolphins. In 2001, she joined the Scripps community to establish the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, a unique interdisciplinary graduate program in marine science and conservation, in partnership with the SWFSC. In 2003, Sarah was hired as the Academic Liaison at the SWFSC and in 2005 the position was expanded to encompass the Center’s external relations.
Sarah serves on the graduate committee of several PhD and masters students at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and at universities in Mexico. She has authored or co-authored 45 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and reports on the behavior and genetic structure of marine mammal populations. Recently, she and colleagues have focused on the value of acoustic characters in identifying populations of blue whales, social disruption in tropical dolphins, and North Pacific and global genetic structure of sperm whales. She is involved in collaborative research in support of the International Dolphin Conservation Program, Federal Protected Resources, the NOAA Fisheries Service’s Alaska and Southwest Region and the International Whaling Commission. Her research and academic work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Marine Mammal Commission, National Geographic and the North Pacific Research Board. She holds a doctorate (1996) and masters (1991) from the University of Arizona in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and graduated with honors from the University of California Santa Cruz (1983).
As the Science Liaison for the SWFSC, Sarah provides direction and support for the Center’s external relations and the dissemination of the Center’s science to a broad audience. Sarah serves as the SWFSC’s liaison with agency, legislative and external partners and works closely with the Director’s Office and research Divisions to build and support science and infrastructure initiatives. She serves as the SWFSC's liaison with academia, co-chairs NOAA Fisheries Service’s Higher Education working group and is a member of the NOAA Fisheries Education Council. Sarah is a member of the steering committee for CMBC at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and has twice received the U.C. San Diego's Vice Chancellor's award for promoting diversity. Sarah is a member of the NOAA Fisheries Communication Team and serves as the SWFSC webmaster and coordinates media relations. As outreach coordinator for the SWFSC, she directs scientific conferences and public events.
Rob Bistodeau
Regional Information Technology Coordinator
Director, Information Technology Services
Rob Bistodeau has served as the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), NOAA Fisheries Service (NMFS), Regional Information Technology Coordinator (RITC) since January 1996. In this capacity he provides advice, guidance, and direction on behalf of the SWFSC Director's Office on Information Technology (IT) usage and develops plans to implement and leverage new and improved IT tools and capabilities. He is also responsible for carrying out the day-to-day IT operations of the Center. Additionally he works with the NMFS Office of the Chief Information Officer and the NMFS Information Management Board to plan, develop, and carry out NMFS-wide mission critical information systems.
Rob has over 25 years of IT Specialist experience with the SWFSC. He has a diverse background in systems analysis and design, application development, programming, hardware and software specification, system administration, telecommunications, networking, and web technologies. Rob is the recipient of numerous agency special act awards including the NOAA Fisheries Service Employee of the Year (2004) and the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal (2003). He has a B.S. degree in Business Administration (with emphasis in Information Systems) and substantial Graduate Degree course work in Computer Science. Rob is a native San Diegan living in La Jolla and enjoys various outdoor adventure, sporting, and international travel related activities.
As Director of SWFSC’s Information Technology Services (ITS), Rob and his staff work directly on the behalf of the Director’s Office to manage and coordinate the Center’s IT systems. This includes providing localized Information Technology (IT) support to the staff at the two La Jolla laboratories, staff at the SWFSC’s Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz laboratories, the Southwest Regional Offices, and providing regional Information Technology coordination directly with the NOAA Fisheries headquarters staff, and providing support among other NOAA Fisheries Centers, Regional Offices, and collaborators. The primary areas of support include: Administrative Systems Support, Database Design, Administration, and Support, Helpdesk Support, Network Services, Regional Information Technology Coordination, Security, Scientific Application Development and Support, Shipboard Data Acquisition Systems, Telecommunications Management, Unix Administration, and WWW Implementation and Management.
George Watters, Ph.D.
Director, Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division
George Watters became Director of the Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division (AERD) in 2009; the division conducts research to advise the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) on the management of fisheries around Antarctica. George has been involved with Antarctic fisheries issues since 1991, when he first started work at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center as a GS-7 fishery biologist within the AERD and a Ph.D. student at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. George's research centers on the using quantitative tools, particularly ecosystem and population models, to evaluate hypotheses describing alternative views about the production of living marine resources and advise on strategies for their sustainable management. For example, he developed an ecosystem model that has been used to advise on the degrees to which various options for spatially distributing catches of Antarctic krill among a network of coastal and offshore management areas in the Scotia Sea may risk depleting krill-dependent predators like penguins and seals. George presently chairs the CCAMLR Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management. This working group advises the CCAMLR and its Scientific Committee on issues related to management of the Antarctic krill fishery and spatial management (e.g., marine protected areas).
Steven Bograd, Ph.D.
Director (Acting), Environmental Research Division
Steven Bograd is an oceanographer at NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Environmental Research Division, in Pacific Grove, California. He is currently serving as Acting Division Director while Frank Schwing is on assignment at the National Ocean Council. Steven’s interests are in physical-biological interactions, eastern boundary current systems, climate variability, marine biologging, and fisheries oceanography. He is the author of over 80 peer-reviewed scientific publications.
Steven is a Research Associate at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and a fellow with the Joint Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Research at the University of Hawaii. He is co-Principal Investigator of the Census of Marine Life Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) program, an Associate Editor at Fisheries Oceanography and an Academic Editor at PloS ONE, and has served on several committees of the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES).
Steven received B.S. degrees in physics and atmospheric sciences at the University of Arizona, a M.S. in atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, and a PhD in oceanography from the University of British Columbia in 1998. Steven worked for several years at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory on the Fisheries Oceanography Coordinated Investigations (FOCI) program, and held the CalCOFI post-doctoral fellowship at Scripps Institution of Oceanography from 1998-2000. He also served as acting CalCOFI Coordinator at SIO in 2000. Steven has been at ERD since 2001.
Steve Lindley, Ph.D.
Director, Fisheries Ecology Division
Steve Lindley became director of the Fisheries Ecology Division in 2011. Steve started as a research ecologist with NMFS at the Tiburon Lab in 1996, and was the founding team leader of the FED’s Landscape Ecology Team in 2005. He received a BA in aquatic biology from UC Santa Barbara, a PhD in biological oceanography from Duke University, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University before joining NMFS.
Steve’s research interests include population dynamics, ecosystem ecology, quantitative methods, and the linkages between physical and biological processes. His research with NMFS has focused on endangered anadromous fish such as Chinook salmon, steelhead and green sturgeon. He chaired the technical recovery team for Chinook salmon and steelhead in California’s Central Valley, has participated in numerous biological review teams to determine the conservation status of anadromous fishes, and led the investigation into the 2007-2009 collapse of the Chinook salmon fishery off California.
Russ Vetter, Ph.D.
Director, Fisheries Resources Division
Russ Vetter oversees the diverse research of the Fisheries Resources Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries Service. This Division takes an ecosystem approach to the study of high seas and coastal pelagic fisheries of the California Current based on the visionary California Cooperative Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI). The CalCOFI approach is an ongoing, collaborative effort by SWFSC, Scripps Institute of Oceanography at UC San Diego, and the State of California, begun 60 years ago to understand the role of ocean productivity and climate, as well as fishing practices, on the dynamics of Pacific sardine and other oceanic fish populations. This integrated approach has received renewed interest as the Agency moves to Integrated Ecosystem Assessments and studies of climate change.
Russ’s personal research interests have focused on Molecular Ecology and Spatial Ecology of fishes as revealed by studies of population genetic structure, electronic tagging of migratory animals, and the application of biotechnology and physiology to investigate effects of environmental stress on natural populations. Before becoming Director, Dr. Vetter oversaw the Fish Ecology program and the Fish Conservation Genetics Program. The majority of his recent research has focused on determining population connectivity among rockfish meta-populations, the design and spacing of MPA networks, the effects of ozone depletion and increased ultraviolet (UV) irradiance on eggs and larvae, the movements of sharks and other large pelagic fishes and the bioenergetics of pelagic food webs.
Previous to joining the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Dr. Vetter was an Andrew Mellon Foundation Fellow and a member of the research faculty at Scripps Institution of Oceanography where he conducted research on the physiology and biochemistry of hydrothermal vent organisms. Dr. Vetter received his Masters in physiology from the University of Texas and his Ph.D in biochemistry from the Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia. Prior to graduate studies, he served in the Peace Corps where he was posted to Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa. He is the author of over 75 journal papers, several book chapters, and technical reports.
Lisa Ballance, Ph.D.
Director, Protected Resources Division
Lisa Ballance has been the Director of the Protected Resources Division at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries Service, since November of 2007. In this role, she is responsible for setting the research priorities in accordance with division mandates for seven programs and some 70 individuals, and for day-to-day management of division resources.
Lisa has been with NOAA Fisheries Service since 1988, when she joined the agency as a Graduate Research Associate working on her Ph.D. Her research focused on ecology of seabirds associated with yellowfin tuna and spotted and spinner dolphin schools in the eastern tropical Pacific. She obtained her doctoral degree from the University of California Los Angeles in 1993, and accepted a post-doctoral position the same year with the National Research Council conducting research on comparative cetacean ecology in the eastern tropical Pacific and tropical Indian oceans. She became a marine ecologist with the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in 1996, Chief Scientist of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Cetacean and Ecosystem Research Cruises in 1999, and Leader of the Ecosystem Studies Program in 2001. In addition to her doctorate, she holds a Master of Science degree from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (1987) and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California San Diego (1981). Her research has always included a strong ecological component and is heavily focused on cetaceans and seabirds in oceanic systems, ecological trends in space and time (at interannual to regime shift scales), and ecosystem-based approaches to management.
Lisa is an Adjunct Professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and primary adviser to three Ph.D. students. She is an editorial board member of Marine Ornithology, Past Chair of the Pacific Seabird Group (2002), and recipient of the Department of Commerce Silver Medal (2003) and NOAA Fisheries Supervisor of the Year (2007) awards. Her research, documented in 39 peer-reviewed publications and 34 Technical Reports, has been supported by grants from NOAA, the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, World Wildlife Fund, and International Fund for Animal Welfare.
William F. Perrin, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist for Marine Mammals
William Perrin is Senior Scientist for Marine Mammals at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries Service. Bill carries out studies of the systematics, ecology and conservation of whales, dolphins, porpoises and sirenians. He began his service with the agency in 1966 as a seasonally employed biological technician. Much of his career has involved research on the problem of unsustainable incidental kills of dolphins in the tuna purse-seine fishery in the eastern tropical Pacific and he published extensively on that problem.
Bill’s recent products include the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, co-edited with two colleagues (second edition, 2008). He has been heavily involved in national international organizations and activities aimed at the rational management of marine mammal resources, including as a U.S. scientific delegate to the International Whaling Commission, the Scientific Councilor for Aquatic Mammals in the Convention on Migratory Animals, the Chair of the Cetacean Red List Authority of the IUCN, Chair of the Committee of Scientific Advisors to the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, Convenor of Consultants Group on Small Cetaceans of FAO, and other roles. He has served as Editor of the journal Marine Mammal Science and Associate Editor of the Journal of Mammalogy. He received awards for the best paper in Fishery Bulletin in 1976 and 1977, the NOAA Scientific Research and Achievement Award in 1979, and a Department of Commerce Bronze Medal in 1994. Bill grew up in Wisconsin. After four years in the U.S. Air Force Security Service as a Czech language specialist (1957-1961), he obtained a B.S in biology from San Diego State University in 1966 and a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of California Los Angeles in 1972.
Robert L. Brownell, Jr. Ph.D.
Senior Scientist for Protected Resources
Robert L. Brownell, Jr. is Senior Scientist for Protected Resources at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), NOAA Fisheries Service, in Pacific Grove, California. He has conducted research on the biology and conservation of whales, dolphins and porpoises throughout the world with major studies in Mexico, South America, Japan, and Russia. Since 1995, Bob has led the U.S. side of the joint Russian-American research on the western gray whale off Sakhalin Island. He has published over 200 scientific papers, book chapters, and management documents on various aspects of whale, dolphin, and porpoise biology, conservation, and management. He has been a member of the U. S. delegation to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) since 1975 and served as Vice-Chair and Chair of the IWC’s Scientific Committee from 1985 to 1991. He also served as President of the largest international society for marine mammals, The Society for Marine Mammalogy, from 1987 to 1989. Before joining NOAA, Bob served as the Chief of Marine Mammal Research for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from the late 1970s to 1991. Between 1991 and 1993, he was the Science Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Oceans at the U.S. Department of State. In 1993, Bob became the Director of the Marine Mammal Division (now the Protected Resources Division) at the SWFSC in La Jolla, California, and then took up his present position two years ago. He has also been a member of the various marine mammal specialist groups under the IUCN (The World Conservation Union) for about 30 years and has served three terms as a Scientific Advisor to the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission.
Alec MacCall, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist for Fisheries
Alec MacCall is the Senior Scientist for Fisheries at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), NOAA Fisheries Service. Alec has worked on fish population dynamics for nearly 40 years. He has focused on assessment and management of coastal pelagics and long-lived groundfish and has contributed to the successful rebuilding of several depleted stocks (California sardines, Pacific mackerel, and bocaccio which is well underway). He has written over 100 publications, and has contributed to assessment methodologies, ecological modeling (including the “basin model” of habitat selection), effects of interdecadal climate variability, and development of flexible harvest control policies. He received a Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of California’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1983. He joined NOAA Fisheries Service in 1982, after working 12 years for the California Department of Fish and Game. From 1988 to 1997 he was Director of the SWFSC’s Tiburon Laboratory in Tiburon, California. He is currently stationed at the Santa Cruz Laboratory, Fisheries Ecology Division.