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  Rebecca Rose Miller

Rebecca Rose Miller

Assistant Project Scientist

831-420-3966

 

Physical & Biological Sciences Division

IMS-Fisheries Collaborative Program
Institute of Marine Sciences

Assistant Project Scientist

Staff

Institute of Marine Sciences

Remote work location
110 Shaffer Rd

NMFS

2010   Master of Science -Fisheries Science major, Geography minor. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. Oregon State University, Corvallis. Is the past present?  Historical splash-dam mapping and stream disturbance detection in the Oregon Coastal Province. Thesis. 

2001    Bachelor of Science-Fisheries and Wildlife Science, Aquatic Ecology Emphasis, Department of Fisheries and   Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis.

Historical fisheries catches and the spatiotemporal abundance patterns of a variety of marine fishes and invertebrates in the California Current

My research interests include evaluating historical time-series and spatial datasets in fisheries management. Without considering historical information in modern-day environments, it may ‘mask’ the true status of an environment or population.  For example, in my previous research I found for stream environments when historical human impacts such as logging practices were taken into account, it explained differences for some in-stream variables (more bedrock, less deep pools for streams with a legacy of splash-damming).  In marine fisheries management, not including a historical spatial component (i.e. the spatial expansion of the fishery over time) may complicate the assumptions of fisheries stock assessment that assume spatially homogenous exploitation.

 

Long term spatio-temporal datasets are critical for understanding ecological conditions of the marine environment.  For example, the 40-year Rockfish Recruitment and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (RREAS) rarely encountered the pelagic tunicate, Pyrosoma atlanticum, in coastal waters off of California. However, during the 2015 marine heatwave, they experienced exponential population growth leading to mass occurrences. I was able to document the spatial temporal progression from the south to the north off the US West coast, where mean biomass occurred off Monterey in 2015, off Cape Mendocino in 2016, and off the Oregon coast in 2017.  Very little is known about pyrosomes, as they are typically found in low densities in the world’s tropical and subtropical oceans. When environmental conditions are favorable, however, they undergo exponential population growth leading to mass occurrences that are likely to have significant consequences on energy flow and marine community structure.

2019   Team Member of the Year – National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Santa Cruz, CA.

Field, J.C., Miller, R.R., Santora, J.A., Tolimieri, N., Haltuch, M.A., Brodeur, R.D., Auth, T.D., Dick, E.J., Monk, M.H., Sakuma, K.M. and Wells, B.K., 2021. Spatiotemporal patterns of variability in the abundance and distribution of winter-spawned pelagic juvenile rockfish in the California Current. 2021.  PloS one, 16(5), p.e0251638. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0251638  

 

Harvey, C., Garfield, N., Williams, G., Tolimieri, N., Andrews, K., Barnas, K., E., Bjorkstedt, Bograd, S., Borchert,    J., Brodeur, R., Burke, B., Cope, J., Coyne, Demer, D., deWitt, L., Field, J., Fisher, J., Frey, P., Good, T., Grant, C., Greene, C., Hazen, E., Holland, D., Hunter, M., Jacobson, K., Jacox, M., Jahncke, J., Juhasz, C., Kaplan, I., Kasperski, S., Kim, S., Lawson, D., Leising A., Manderson, A., Mantua, N., Melin, S., Miller, R., Moore, S., Morgan, C., Muhling, B., Munsch, S., Norman, K., Parrish, J., Phillips, A., Robertson, R., Rudnick, D., Sakuma, K., Samhouri, J., Santora, J., Schroeder, I., Siedlecki, S., Somers, K., Stanton, B., Stierhoff, K., W, Sydeman, Thompson, A., Trong, D., Warzybok, P., Whitmire, C., Wells, B., Williams, M., Williams, T., Zamon, J., Zeman, S., Zubkousky-White, V., Zwolinski, J. 2020. Ecosystem Status Report of the California Current for 2019–20: A Summary of Ecosystem Indicators Compiled by the California Current Integrated Ecosystem Assessment Team (CCIEA). U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-NWFSC-160.

 

 

Bizzarro, J.J., E.A. Gilbert-Horvath, E.J. Dick, A.M. Berger, K.T. Schmidt, D. Pearson, C. Petersen, L.A. Kautzi, R.R. Miller, J.C. Field, and J.C. Garza.  2020. Addressing cryptic species issues in stock assessments as exemplified by Blue Rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) and Deacon Rockfish (S. diaconus). Fish Bulletin. 118 (1), 37-55.https://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/pdf-content/fish-bull/bizzarro_0.pdf

 

Miller, R.R., J.A. Santora, T.D. Auth, K. Sakuma, B.K. Wells, J.C. Field, R D. Brodeur. 2019. Distribution of pelagic  Thaliaceans, Thetys vagina and Pyrosoma atlanticum, during a period of mass occurrence within the California Current. CALCOFI Reports. Vol. 60.  https://calcofi.org/publications/calcofireports/v60/Vol60-Miller.pdf

 

Miller, R.R., J. Field, J. Santora, Monk, M.H., R. Kosaka, C. Thomson. 2017. Spatial valuation of Californiamarine fisheries as an ecosystem service. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. Vol 74. Iss.11, pp. 1732-1748.  https://doi.1org/10.1139/cjfas-2016-0228

 

Dick, E.J., A. Berger, J. Bizzarro, K. Bosley, J. Cope, J. Field, L. Gilbert-Horvath, N. Grunloh, M. Ivens-Duran, R.R. Miller, K. Privitera-Johnson, B. Rodomsky. 2017. The combined status of blue and deacon rockfishes in U.S. waters off California and Oregon in 2017. Pacific Fishery Management Council, Portland, Oregon.  https://www.pcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/E8_Att9_BlueDeacon_FullDoc_E-Only_SEPT2017BB.pdf

 

Santora, J., W. Sydeman, I. Schroeder, J. Field, R.R. Miller, B. Wells. 2017. Persistence of trophic hotspots and relation to human impacts within an eastern ocean boundary marine ecosystem. Ecological Applications. Vol. 12, No.2.  DOI: 10.1002/eap.1466  https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eap.1466

 

Monk, M.H., R.R. Miller, J.C. Field, E.J. Dick, D. Wilson-Vandenberg, P. Reilly. 2016.  Documentation of a relational database for onboard sampling of the rockfish and lingcod commercial passenger fishing vessel industry in northern and central California, 1987-1998. NOAA TM-NMFS-SWFSC-558.  https://swfsc.noaa.gov/publications/TM/SWFSC/NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFSC-558.pdf

 

Marks, C.I., R.T. Fields, J.C. Field, R.R. Miller, S.G. Beyer, S.S. Sogard, D. Wilson-Vandenberg, D. Howard, R.M. Starr. 2015. Changes in size composition and relative abundance of fishes in Central California after a decade of spatial fishing closures.  2015, CALCOFI Report Vol. 56. pp.119-132.  

 

Miller, R.R., J.C. Field, J. Santora, I. Schroeder, D.D. Huff, M. Key, D. Pearson, and A. MacCall.  2014. A spatially distinct history of the development of California Groundfish Fisheries. Public of Library Sciences. Vol. 9. Issue 6. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0099758

 

Miller, R.R. and K.M. Burnett. 2010. Is the past present?  Historical splash-dam mapping and stream disturbance detection in the Oregon Coastal Province. Thesis. Oregon State University, Corvallis.  http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/18998 

spatial dataset can be found at --https://adaptwest.databasin.org/datasets/49602d6a89d34f479b59bd7e12187741/

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