Molly Ekstrom
Undergraduate Researcher and BLaST, DIPAC and Dean’s List Scholar (2018-2021)
Project Title, “Ageing market squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) using statolith structures.”
I was raised in the small community of Yakutat, in Northern Southeast Alaska. I am a second- generation commercial fisherman, and growing up I dinglebared for lingcod and power-trolled for King & Coho Salmon with my father. Our fishing grounds covered the waters from Yakutat to Baranof Island. In the summer of 2015 I was able to begin commercially fishing for California Market Squid off the coast of Central and Southern California with my father on the light boat he operated. After graduating high school a semester early, I spent part of the spring of 2018 squid fishing. I returned to Alaska in May to longline for Halibut and Black Cod in the Bering Sea, Central Gulf of Alaska, and around the Aleutian Islands with a family friend. I plan on graduating from UAS with a bachelor’s degree in Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. I want to one day work within fisheries research and management, investigating ways to ensure our industries remain sustainable for future generations.
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