Smelting in the water

Cal Poly Humboldt fisheries professor is working with local tribes to create better fishing stewardship practices.

By Gabriel Zucker

Jose Marin Jarrin is a new assistant professor in the department of fisheries biology at Cal Poly Humboldt. He is leading a new form of fishery science in Northern California, using empathy and understanding when talking with impoverished communities. He is originally from South America and he never forgets where he came from. 

“Being Latinx, I’m also from a historically excluded community,” Marin Jarrin said. “So I saw a lot of similarities.”

Marin Jarrin was recently awarded a little over $1.1 million from the California Climate Action Seed Grant to research climate change resilience by looking at tribal fishery practices. His goal is to reinvigorate Northern California fishery research, while also building a center that will last for years. 

He is working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and multiple local tribes, such as The Blue Lake Rancheria, Resighini Rancheria, Tolowa Dee-Ni’ Nation, and other smaller indigenous communities. Each native group was able to pick a fish that has historical and cultural value to their tribe. The fish that are being mainly researched are green sturgeon and smelt. Five grad students are working with Marin Jarrin, acting as liaisons for the different Rancherias. On top of doing research all over Northern California, the tribes and researchers have a monthly meeting where they go over the progress and find where they can improve.

Creating a trusting relationship with the Indigenous communities is important. To solidify this relationship, Marin Jarrin signed a data sharing agreement with all of the tribes, giving them final say on what information is published. Historically this has not been the case, and some even admitted they had never been asked to do this before.

“The researchers would go in, ask the tribes to participate, and then the tribes don’t get a say on how the data is used,” Marin Jarrin said. “And so, one of the things we wanted to ensure is that the tribes had complete ownership of that data. For the most part, they’re not too concerned about fishery species, they’re more interested in preserving their cultural data and history. What they don’t want is for people to just take information from them and disseminate in ways that are sometimes not correct or hurtful to the tribe.”

Laurie Richmond is an environmental science and management professor at Cal Poly Humboldt. She has worked with the tribes for years, working a quarter time for California Sea Grant as an extension specialist. Where she connects local communities with coastal science knowledge. Her role for the study is in a partner advisory role, where she offers advice and direction when grad students need a new perspective. She has been working with Marin Jarrin since the beginning of the grant and is elated at the way he is going about his research.

“I think it’s a really new way to be a scientist that I think [Marin Jarrin] is pursuing,” Richmond said. “It’s really exciting and it requires a lot of skills that scientists don’t always have, like building partnerships and facilitating and thinking about ethics. He’s done a great job of trying to learn those things, and he has some of those because of his unique background that he brings as a scientist.”

To record the biodiversity of the fish in different areas, grad students are using environmental DNA metabarcoding techniques, giving them data about all of the animals that have come into that area.

“If a fish swims by, it’ll leave its DNA in the water column,” Marin Jarrin said. “If you were to collect a sample and filter out the DNA from that, you can identify what species of fish was there. The idea is that if you then go around taking samples throughout the whole coast, you can identify all the fish – actually, not just fish. From bacteria all the way to mammals.”

Before conducting this research, they had to work with the California Fish and Wildlife department. The advisor on the grant is Kenneth Oda, a former Humboldt State University student, who is with the Marine Region and works on the State Managed Finfish Research and Management Project. Oda gives advice and helps review the proposals before they are submitted. 

“I was just asked to be an advisor… we approve protocols, if they’re gonna be taking fish, we need to have that spelled out, and the methodologies as well,” Oda said. “We review their permit application and then approve it. I also help them with protocols regarding surf perch and red tail.”

Olivia Boeberitz, one of the graduate students on the team, just moved to Humboldt. She chose Humboldt partly because of this research project, and the opportunity to work closely with Indigenous tribes. She has been studying fisheries since 2020, focusing on fish that inhabit both freshwater and green water. This made the transition from inland to coastal easier. 

“I’m working specifically with Blue Lake Rancheria on green sturgeon… I’m designing a project to get some baseline information on how green sturgeon are using Humboldt Bay,” she said. “There hasn’t been much of any research, at all, of green sturgeons in this area.”

Boeberitz is in the methods phase of her research project. She is running through a couple ideas for data collection. She wants to use acoustic receivers, alerting if any previously tagged fish are using these areas. She is also planning to use satellite tags  on fish off the coast. None of the actual research will be conducted until the summer.

Right now, she is most excited about working and meeting with the tribes. She has worked with tribes before, but never one on one.

“I see and talk to them very frequently,” Boeberitz said. “As soon as I produce any drafts for my proposal, as soon as I come up with a schedule, they’re going to be incorporated every step of the way. Their feedback is both incredible and extremely valuable. I’m working on this project for them, they’re the center of this project. They’re guiding me – giving the guidance they need to start putting together what our goals are.”

Marin Jarrin is changing how people view the scientific process. He is finding paths of communication that are not usually seen in western science. He is not just doing research, he is creating positive social change.

“I want to help communities that have been historically excluded, to be better – better informed and the different techniques and methods they could be using to manage their fisheries,” Marin Jarrin said. “We want to empower people right. Our community to tribal communities, but to the community at large in the far north of California, so that they feel they are more capable of being stewards of their resources. But also, the students that we bring, we want to prepare the best students we can because they can go out… and bring this idea of diversity, equity, and inclusion to the next job that they take.”