In January when Ståle made me an offer that I could not resist, I did not quite know what I was committing myself into. Already now I can say that leading the Fisheries and Marine Biology Group has been an interesting and enlightening experience. Only by being part of the management does one get a full appreciation of the work that our colleagues do to keep things running.
We are a big and diverse group, with people at different career stages and with different interests and competences. There are exciting things happening research-wise (some of which we heard during the bioLUNCH on Thursday and will also be hearing later in the spring), and we are responsible for a number of cool courses that are popular among the students – most notably BIO325 Ocean Science, which includes a cruise module. Planning the next iteration of this course will keep many of us busy. I would like to also mention the new course BIO349 Theory and Practice of Sustainable Management of Living Marine Resources, which benefits from a special arrangement: the Institute of Marine Research is contributing by letting two of their scientists (Kotaro Ono and John Trochta) co-teach the course. Not only does this save our own resources, but this way the students get taught by actual practitioners of the methods that they are learning.
Demographically, the Fisheries and Marine Biology Group has been thinning, and we are facing some challenges that will only grow in the medium term. However, from this semester to next autumn our teaching staff will actually increase: Øyvind Fiksen will return from the faculty administration after summer, and Anne Gro Salvanes will be done with her sabbatical. We are already looking forward to seeing them more at BIO!
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Mikko Heino
head of the Fisheries and Marine Biology Group (faggruppe)