About me and this place

Herring Scraps is the place where I go to share the urgently wonky findings of my bureaucr-archival trawl through histories of small fish, mostly herring, mostly in Alaska, but also in BC. It started because I wanted to understand how the scientists came up with their contentious estimates of herring abundance and commercial catch allowances. The rest is still spilling out from there. I've written forty-some of these things at this point, and I seem to have plans to write more.

I'm a geographer-in-training; my thesis is almost done. It traces and troubles the construction and development of the knowledge system which is used in Sitka, Alaska to publicly define herring abundance. The work I do draws on and attempts to contribute to a few academic traditions, notably Marine Historical Ecology, Science & Technology Studies, and Discard Studies. I think that there's a lot to learn from herring, and what they can and can't tolerate; I think paying attention to them can help us understand how to treat the ocean well.

Before buckling down to dig in archives, worry about herring, and learn to make maps, I worked for many inspiring years in community radio, arts, and humanities non-profits. I'm still worrying about herring and now I'm making maps, but usually not at the same time; sometimes I do other things besides.