Our Location
The Alaska Fisheries Science Center's Fisheries Behavioral Ecology Program is located at the Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon. The Hatfield Marine Science Center was created to serve the scientific needs of various organizations and government agencies and includes the Oregon State University building constructed in 1965 and the NOAA facilities which were completed in 1981. NOAA and Oregon State University staff at the Hatfield Center are currently located in two Federal government-owned buildings which are managed by the Northwest Fisheries Science Center.
What We Do
The Fisheries Behavioral Ecology Program conducts laboratory research on the behavioral responses of commercially important marine fishes to environmental factors that are critical to controlling distribution and survival from egg to adult. Research also focuses on defining the factors which affect post-capture survival and mortality of fish that are caught as bycatch. The experimental laboratories consist of more than 17,000 cubic feet of tank space housed in over 18,000 square feet of wet laboratory space supplied with 500 gallons per minute of high quality seawater, 200 gallons per minute of which can be chilled to 3° C. Species of current interest include walleye pollock, sablefish, and Pacific halibut.