Our EGT Staff

 

Beth Norton

Fisheries Biologist/Program Analyst

Beth Norton Beth Norton is a Fisheries Biologist serving NOAA's Ecosystem Goal Team (EGT) since 2004 as a Program Analyst. As a member of the EGT staff, she supports strategic planning (PPBES) and promotes Ecosystem Approaches to Management (EAM) across NOAA. Beth is a liaison to the Ecosystem Observation, Ecosystem Research (ERP), and Fisheries Management Programs. As a liaison, she assists Programs in the development of PPBES products and facilitates communication among Programs and with EGT leadership. Beth also coordinates the EGT fleet and aircraft requirements, observations and data management requirements, and is involved in other NOAA efforts such as developing ecosystem indicators of health.

Prior to joining the Ecosystem Goal Team in 2004, Beth was a Research Fishery Biologist for National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center in Tiburon and Santa Cruz, CA for many years. As a Research Fisheries Biologist, Beth lead several research projects on commercially important fish such as studies on endangered Pacific coast salmonid trophodynamics (feeding), energy metabolism and growth in both the estuary and the ocean environment and the nutritional status (health and survival) of the Pacific coast rockfish and relationships to environmental conditions. Beth's research experience includes study design, field collections, and analysis of fish, zooplankton and associated environmental data. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications advancing the understanding of early life history and recruitment in fisheries and has published in such peer-reviewed journals as Journal of Fish Biology and Fisheries Bulletin. Beth's extensive background the field including her experience aboard a variety of charter fishing boats and NOAA Fisheries vessels, as both a Cruise Leader and Chief Scientist has been an asset to the EGT.

Beth's experience extends beyond working for NOAA, where after graduating from University of California, Santa Barbara in Aquatic Biology, she gained experience as a diver for UCSB, and then worked as a Foreign Fisheries Observer in Alaska aboard several Japanese and Korean commercial fishing vessels. Following her work monitoring catches in the Bering Sea / U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, she relocated to Oregon and worked as an Education Sales Representative for a computer company before her desire for field work steered her back to California where she joined NOAA Fisheries.