FISH 600 – Short Course for Sustainable Fisheries Extension in the Pacific Islands (2 cr, two-week intensive followed by monthly meetings in Sem 1): [Not a requirement for Graduate Certificate students]

This course will consist of a two-week intensive in-person component (estimated to take place 2 weeks before the start of incoming Fall semester), followed by monthly online meetings during the Fall semester. It will introduce students to diverse aspects of the field of fisheries within Hawaiʻi and the Pacific Islands, while building cohort connections and offering the opportunity to connect with collaborators. The course will start with a foundation of a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning and will draw on key concepts for pilina (relationship) building within the University, Hawaiʻi, and the broader Pacific region. Students will gain exposure to a variety of fisheries extension concepts and skills that can be applied to their own areas of expertise, while also gaining cultural competency. They will additionally be exposed to experiential learning opportunities focused on fisheries biology and ecology, the social and geo-political context of fisheries, and fisheries management with a focus throughout on the tropical Pacific. A key component of the course will be on- or in-water participatory experiences that will allow for exposure to multiple field settings.

FISH 601 – Fish and Fisheries (3cr lecture, Sem 1): This course will introduce students to fisheries biology, ecology, taxonomy, oceanography, ecosystems and climate, statistics, and stock assessments. Students will learn a broad range of methods and case studies, with an emphasis on tropical fisheries. Students will be able to explain the basics of fish life history, including the diversity of life history strategies among fished taxa throughout the globe, with a particular emphasis on Hawaiʻi and the Pacific Islands. They will understand how fisheries data are collected and how it is used in stock assessment, and they will be able to translate various fisheries catch and effort data into different forms of surplus production and yield-per-recruit models. Finally, students will be able to compare and contrast ecosystem dynamics affecting nearshore versus pelagic fisheries, including how climate variability and change affects species distributions, fisheries accessibility, and food webs.

FISH 602 – Human Dimensions of Fisheries (3cr lecture, Sem 2): Students will be exposed to an essential list of fisheries topics related to marine policy, economics, national and international law, governance, and human health and well-being. Students will build on the material from FISH 601: Fish & Fisheries to understand how specific information (e.g. stock assessments, local community goals) and policies (e.g. the USA Magnuson-Stevens Act, UNCLOS, and the UN Fish Stocks Agreement) integrate into the management and decision making process in fisheries. This will be achieved by understanding management structures, and the complexities of the decision making process that incorporates data but also the competing social, economic, and cultural demands of communities, countries, and international treaties. Through this course students will understand which agencies are responsible for carrying out the decision making process based on fisheries data from local to international scales, as well as the impacts of carrying out these decisions on communities and nations.

FISH 603 / PACS 655 – Community Fisheries in Oceania (3 cr lecture, Sem 2): This course will introduce indigenous peoples and local communities in the Pacific Islands region known as Oceania including their dependence and management of coastal fisheries resources. It will explore how aspirations, beliefs, reciprocal relationships, traditions, and cultural practices of these communities shape their understanding and utilization of the marine environment. This includes examining the innovative actions communities take to protect and maintain a way of life that ensures a sustainable future for present and future generations. The overall goal of this course is to broaden knowledge of the region and provide insights into Pacific Islander communities.

FISH 691 – Sustainable Fisheries Seminar (1 cr seminar, Fall and Spring): Each week will be a seminar by a guest lecturer who can share their expertise on a particular facet of sustainable fisheries, offering students broad exposure and the opportunity to network with faculty and professionals.

ASAN 413 / GEO 413* – Resource Management in Southeast Asia (3 cr): Challenges associated with the management of land, water resources, fisheries, forests and agriculture in modern Southeast Asia. Case studies are used to illustrate current problems and evaluate potential management solutions.

BOT 690/ NREM 690/ ZOOL 690 – Conservation Biology (4 cr): Theories and concepts of ecology, evolution and genetics for conservation of biological diversity. Topics will include restoration ecology, management planning, laws and policies, biological invasions.

ECON 409* – The Ocean Economy (3 cr): Examination of society’s interaction with the ocean. Topics include: ocean recreation, shipping, boat building, ports, offshore energy production, aquaculture, fishing, coastal construction, and coral reef protection.

ECON 637 / NREM 637 / SUST 637 – Resource Economics (3 cr): Analysis of problems of development and management of natural resources with emphasis on resources in agriculture and role in economic development.

ECON 639 – Marine Resource Economics (3 cr): Seminar on the economics of the marine environment. Topics include fisheries management, ocean recreation, shipping, and coral reef protection.

ERTH 638 / OCN 638 – Earth System Science and Global Change (3 cr): Global view of the planet and how it functions as an integrated unit. Biogeochemical processes, dynamics, and cycles, and analysis of natural and human-induced environmental change. Chemical history of ocean-atmosphere-sediment system and co-evolution of the biota.

GEO 413 / ASAN 413* – Resource Management in Southeast Asia (3 cr): Challenges associated with the management of land, water resources, fisheries, forests and agriculture in modern Southeast Asia. Case studies are used to illustrate current problems and evaluate potential management solutions.

GEO 435 – Political Geography of Oceans (3 cr): The geopolitics of the oceans and the law of the sea as applied to regions of conflict and cooperation in marine resource development and preservation. Focus on Indo-West Pacific, South China Sea, Arctic Ocean.

GEO 621 / PLAN 623 – Coastal Planning and Management (3 cr): Theory and practice of coastal planning and management in the U.S. and abroad. Case studies investigate topics such as coastal land conservation, marine protected areas, coastal hazards, fisheries, and aquaculture.

HWST  456 – Kiaʻi Kanaloa-Guarding Our Ocean Resources (4 cr): Students will actively monitor and practice coastal and ocean stewardship in support of local communities and practitioners while also exploring how the Hawaiian worldview can plan a role in aloha ‘âina conservation movements.

HWST 631* – Pono Science: Ethical Implications of Science in Hawaiʻi (1-4 V cr): Support student dialogue on the foundations of pono science. Through discussions and structured guidance, students will explore Hawaiian ethics, implications of research, and decolonizing methodology.

HWST 650* – Hawaiian Geography and Natural Resource Management (3 cr): Seminar in geography of Hawaiʻi from a Native Hawaiian perspective that will enable the researcher to define and develop resource management methods consistent with Native Hawaiian understandings and traditions.

HWST 651 – ʻĀina Waiwai: Water, Food Sovereignty, and Ancestral Abundance (3 cr): Topical graduate seminar focuses on indigenous perspectives on water, food sovereignty, Hawaiian terrestrial and marine food production systems, and ancestral abundance. Seminar perspective to change each term.

HWST 652 / SUST 652*- Kānāwai Lawaiʻa: Hawaiʻi’s Ocean and Fisheries Laws (3 cr): Seminar on pre-contact, customary laws on fishing and ocean stewardship, their codification in written laws during the Hawaiian Kingdom period, and changes and impacts through U.S. annexation and statehood, including current models of ocean governance.

MBIO 610 – Mathematical Ecology of Marine Systems (3 cr): Introduction to a broad range of theories and techniques from mathematical ecology with an emphasis on marine systems. Students will learn to assess model assumptions, construct simple models, and apply analytical methods to describe system behavior.

MBIO 611 – Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Fisheries Science (4 cr): Fisheries and population models including growth, stock-recruitment, surplus production, age-structured and size-based, parameter estimation, uncertainty characterization, resampling methods, and scientific computing.

MBIO 612 / OCN 682 – Data Science Fundamentals in R (3 cr): Introduces project management, data analysis, and mathematical and statistical modeling using R as a platform. Students will learn principles and benefits of programming languages to apply skills to their own research.

MBIO 620 – Behavioral Ecology of Coral Reef Fishes (3 cr): Introduction to processes that affect animal behavior and their significance. Exploring a broad range of techniques for studying behaviors of fishes, students will use new techniques in their own research.

MBIO 668 /NREM 668 – People and the Sea: Exploring Multiple Perspectives for Coastal and Marine Systems (3 cr): Through readings and discussion, this course explores how the social sciences have engaged in marine and coastal spaces and how they contribute to advancing effective and equitable resource management and conservation initiatives.

MBIO 710 – Topics in Marine Fisheries and Natural Resource Management (V cr): Lecture, discussion, and/or projects on selected topics related to marine fisheries and natural resource management.

MBIO 715 – Topics in Marine Conservation Biology (V cr): Lecture, discussion, and/or projects on selected topics related to marine conservation biology.

MBIO 720 – Topics in Marine Education, Outreach, and Policy (V cr): Lecture, discussion, and/or projects on selected topics related to education, outreach, and policy of the marine environment.

MBIO 740 – Advanced Topics in Quantitative Biology (V cr): Reflects faculty expertise and needs for graduate training in quantitative methods for biology, including statistical, computational, and analytic approaches.

NREM 611 / SUST 611 – Resource and Environmental Policy Analysis (3 cr): Exploration of institutional and policy dimensions of natural resource development, management, allocation, markets and pricing, focusing on their environmental impacts. Emphasis on policy analysis using case studies and empirical findings. 

NREM 620 – Kaiāulu: Care and Collaborative Management of Natural Resources (3 cr): Engagement with theory and practice of collaboration to care for natural resources. Topics include community based management, common property, Hawaiian knowledge, co-management, and access through readings, discussion, and projects with Hawai‘i communities.

NREM 625 –  ʻImi ʻIke: Social Science Field Methods for Environmental Research (4 cr): Students learn and apply social science research methods tailored to natural resource management and environmental issues to a class project with Hawai‘i community. Emphasis on qualitative and participatory approaches.

NREM 637 / ECON 637 / SUST 637 – Resource Economics (3 cr): Analysis of problems of development and management of natural resources with emphasis on resources in agriculture and role in economic development.

NREM 658 / SUST 658 – Advanced Environmental Benefit Cost Analysis (3 cr): Advanced environmental benefit-cost analysis will require that proficiency be demonstrated on fundamentals and address topics related to sustainability, including income equality, non-market goods, risk, cost of public funds, and the social discount rate.

NREM 665* – Coastal Resources Management (3 cr): Study of coastal systems, estuaries, and coral reefs. Emphasis on interdisciplinary science and integration of coastal ecology, geoscience, and social science. Coastal and marine wildlife-human interactions, environmental perturbations, and management strategies will be discussed. 

NREM 668 /MBIO 668 – People and the Sea: Exploring Multiple Perspectives for Coastal and Marine Systems (3 cr): Through readings and discussion, this course explores how the social sciences have engaged in marine and coastal spaces and how they contribute to advancing effective and equitable resource management and conservation initiatives.

NREM 690/ BOT 690/ ZOOL 690 – Conservation Biology (4 cr): Theories and concepts of ecology, evolution and genetics for conservation of biological diversity. Topics will include restoration ecology, management planning, laws and policies, biological invasions.

NREM 691* – Advanced Topics in Natural Resources and Environmental Management: Principles of Modeling for Natural Resource Management [*only this title] (4 cr): Online course based on Dr. Anthony Starfield’s Principles of Modeling for Conservation Planning and Analysis. Learn about the modeling process, how to think like a modeler, and how modeling fits into management decision-making. Develop practical skills in building and communicating about models. Covers a variety of modeling techniques applicable to resource management and conservation issues.

OEST 735 / SOCS 735 – Ocean Policy & Management (3 cr): Interdisciplinary approach to problems relating to humans and their interactions with the world’s oceans and coasts. Focus includes institutions for governing the world’s oceans and coasts at all scales and on the role of scientific knowledge in managing marine and coastal resources.

OCN 620 – Physical Oceanography (3 cr): Introduction to properties of seawater, oceanographic instruments and methods, heat budget, general ocean circulation, regional oceanography, waves, tides, sea level. Formation of water masses, dynamics of circulation.

OCN 621 – Biological Oceanography (3 cr): Factors governing productivity, population dynamics, distribution of organisms in major ecosystems of the ocean, emphasis on ecology of pelagic zone.

OCN 623 – Chemical Oceanography (3 cr): Chemical processes occurring in marine waters; why they occur and how they affect oceanic environments.

OCN 626 – Marine Microplankton Ecology (4 cr): Distribution, abundance, and ecology of marine microplankton, including bacteria, algae, and protozoans, with an emphasis on metabolic rates and processes.

OCN 627 – Ecology of Pelagic Marine Animals (4 cr): Ecology of pelagic animals including feeding, energetics, predation, and anti-predation tactics. Life-history strategies, vertical flux of materials, population dynamics, fisheries.

OCN 628 – Benthic Biological Oceanography (4 cr): Processes controlling the structure and function of benthic communities, including organism-sediment-flow interactions, sediment geochemistry, feeding strategies, recruitment, succession, and population interactions.

OCN 632 / FISH 660 – Fisheries Oceanography: From Physics to Landings (3 cr): How oceanographic processes influence the distribution, life history, and abundance of fishery-relevant species, centered on applications to Hawaiʻi, tropical/sub-tropical ecosystems, and the broader Pacific.

OCN 638 / ERTH 638 – Earth System Science and Global Change (3 cr): Global view of the planet and how it functions as an integrated unit. Biogeochemical processes, dynamics, and cycles, and analysis of natural and human-induced environmental change. Chemical history of ocean-atmosphere-sediment system and co-evolution of the biota.

OCN 640 – Observational Physical Oceanography (3 cr): Application of the scientific method; physical regimes in the ocean; ocean processes and observational strategies; resolution, sampling, array design and observing systems; models and data assimilation; major field programs; operational oceanography and climate prediction.

OCN 650 – Math Techniques for Oceanographers (5 cr): Introduction to numerical methods, data analysis, error propagation, box models, linear and nonlinear least squares, perturbation theory, numerical integration.

OCN 664 – Oceanographic Instrumentation and Technology (3 cr): Measurement techniques in physical oceanography, including pressure, temperature, salinity, oxygen, optical sensors, current meters, navigation systems, ocean acoustics, and mooring structures. Includes a laboratory research project.

OCN 680 – Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems: Biological-Physical Interactions in the Ocean (3 cr): Combined lecture/discussion examining biological and physical interactions in the oceans and their impacts on the functioning of marine ecosystems.

OCN 681 – Introduction to Ocean Ecosystem Modeling (3 cr): Introduction to modeling biological and physical oceanic processes by building a coupled model of the Pacific to investigate physical effects on biological production. Students will learn biological-physical dynamics, basic numerical methods, and programming.

OCN 682 / MBIO 612 – Data Science Fundamentals in R (3 cr): Introduces project management, data analysis, and mathematical and statistical modeling using R as a platform. Students will learn principles and benefits of programming languages to apply skills to their own research.

OCN 683 – Advanced Statistics in R (3 cr): In-depth introduction to the modern statistical methods necessary for analyzing biological/ecological data, including GLMs, GAMs, mixed models, ordination, etc. Students will learn how to perform these methods in R.

PACS 603 – Researching Oceania (3 cr): Creative and Conventional Methods of Inquiry: Graduate seminar. Literacy, theory and method in the creation of a Master’s research project. 

POLS 635E – Topics in International Relations (3 cr): (E) international organization 

PLAN 623 / GEO 621 – Coastal Planning and Management (3 cr): Theory and practice of coastal planning and management in the U.S. and abroad. Case studies investigate topics such as coastal land conservation, marine protected areas, coastal hazards, fisheries, and aquaculture.

SOCS 735/ OEST 735 – Ocean Policy & Management (3 cr): Interdisciplinary approach to problems relating to humans and their interactions with the world’s oceans and coasts. Focus includes institutions for governing the world’s oceans and coasts at all scales and on the role of scientific knowledge in managing marine and coastal resources.

SUST 611 / NREM 611 – Resource and Environmental Policy Analysis (3 cr): Exploration of institutional and policy dimensions of natural resource development, management, allocation, markets and pricing, focusing on their environmental impacts. Emphasis on policy analysis using case studies and empirical findings. 

SUST 637 / ECON 637 / NREM 637 – Resource Economics (3 cr): Analysis of problems of development and management of natural resources with emphasis on resources in agriculture and role in economic development.

SUST 652 / HWST 652 *- Kānāwai Lawaiʻa: Hawaiʻi’s Ocean and Fisheries Laws (3 cr): Seminar on pre-contact, customary laws on fishing and ocean stewardship, their codification in written laws during the Hawaiian Kingdom period, and changes and impacts through U.S. annexation and statehood, including current models of ocean governance.

SUST 658 / NREM 658 – Advanced Environmental Benefit Cost Analysis (3 cr): Advanced environmental benefit-cost analysis will require that proficiency be demonstrated on fundamentals and address topics related to sustainability, including income equality, non-market goods, risk, cost of public funds, and the social discount rate.

SUST 659 / HWST 659 – He Aliʻi Ka ʻĀina: Land, Resources, and Leadership (3 cr): Seminar focused on leadership challenges in Mālama ‘Āina to bridge ancestral and contemporary systems to better steward resources, produce abundance, work with and in community, and pivot large institutions for a better Aloha ‘Āina future.

ZOOL 620 – Marine Ecology (3 cr): Principles of ecology of marine biota and environment. 

ZOOL 625 – Evolution in Marine Systems (3 cr): Fundamental elements of modern evolutionary theory and research, with a strong focus on marine organisms and ecosystems. 

ZOOL 631 – Introduction to Statistical Modeling in Biology (4 cr): Statistical methods for biological research. Covers: probability; likelihood-based inference; hypothesis testing; linear and generalized linear models; common statistical tests; statistical programming. 

ZOOL 632 – Advanced Biometry (4 cr): Multivariate statistical methods: multiple regression and correlation; multiway anova; general linear models; repeated measures and multivariate anova; loglinear analysis and logistic regression.

ZOOL 652 / BOT 652 – Population Biology (3 cr): Theory and applications of population biology; behavior of population models, as revealed by analytical methods and computer simulation; application to population problems such as endangered species; discussion of classical and current literature in population biology. 

ZOOL 690 / BOT 690/ NREM 690 – Conservation Biology (4 cr): Theories and concepts of ecology, evolution and genetics for conservation of biological diversity. Topics will include restoration ecology, management planning, laws and policies, biological invasions.

ZOOL 716 – Topics in Fish and Fisheries Biology (V cr): Lecture-discussion of various aspects.