Our Mission

The mission of the Sustainable Fisheries graduate program is to foster ecosystem-based fisheries management and stewardship across the Pacific. This transdisciplinary program is built upon a foundation of experiential coursework that provides students with a baseline of quantitative, socio-cultural, and practical skills. Integrating Indigenous knowledge systems in a Pacific-rooted academic approach, this program’s unique emphasis on Oceania prepares students to successfully transition to fisheries management in Hawaiʻi and across the tropical Pacific.

What We Offer

Training students in sustainable tropical fisheries solutions will enable them to support communities and economies across the Pacific that are often heavily based on their marine resources, supporting workforce development and self-governance of natural resources. We will provide quantitative and qualitative training for tomorrow’s researchers, managers, and federal, state and local employees across Hawaiʻi, the U.S. Pacific region, and beyond.

Our transdisciplinary program will provide social as well as natural science aspects of fisheries. We will also provide multiple ways of knowing by encouraging students to weave local and indigenous knowledge systems with western approaches, with a focus on community collaboration.

The Sustainable Fisheries Graduate Program offers MS Plan A track (in-person only) and PhD track (in-person only).

Our Partners

This program takes advantage of the 20+ faculty members whose research interests span the study of fish biology and fisheries ecology, stock assessment and population dynamics, community-based fisheries management, ecosystem function, fisheries economics, ocean governance and marine resources, biocultural conservation, and fisheries management and policy.

We also partner with state and federal agencies such as the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center for NOAA, the Hawaiʻi Division of Land and Natural Resources, USGS, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to contribute to the teaching program by serving on graduate committees, participating in lecture and laboratory courses, and training graduate students directly.  Learn how you can get involved.