Makah Fisheries Management (MFM) has been running an internship program since 2002. The MFM Summer Internship Program targets college-bound students with the goal of exciting them about environmental and fisheries science and enticing them to return to the Reservation as the future scientists and managers of the Makah Tribe. The first half of the internship is spent job shadowing with MFM staff and research partners from the University of Washington, the University of Chicago, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, and others. During this portion of the program, interns will also learn about the Treaty of Neah Bay, practice management procedures, and learn how MFM’s ecosystem-based management approach respects and incorporates traditional ecological knowledge.

The second part of the program requires interns to complete an independent research project with help from MFM staff. Past intern projects have included studies of the best methods to process whale oil from blubber, an examination of factors affecting common murres washing up dead on tribal beaches, examining temporal trends in sea otter diet, the best bait to use on a čibu·d, and trends in harbor porpoise observations in the Makah U&A. Interns present their finished posters at the Senior Center for friends and family and at the Makah Days Street Fair. Take a sneak peak of their posters below and check out their hard work here!

Poster by Charlotte Shaw on the occurrence patterns of common murres (Uria aalge) on the beaches of the Makah Indian Reservation. Supervised by Jonathan Scordino and Adrianne Akmajian.
Poster by Angelina Woods on sea otter (Enhydra lutris) foraging habits. This project used data collected by Jessica Hale, UW. Supervised by Jonathan Scordino.
Poster by Fidel Ramos on techniques to process oil from whale blubber. Supervised by Jonathan Scordino.
Poster by Laney Keyes on trends in harbor porpoise observations in nearshore areas of the Makah U&A. Supervised by Jonathan Scordino and Nicolas Pfeffer-Taggart.
Poster by Kaeden Butterfield on the best bait to use with a čibu·d. Supervised by Jonathan Scordino.

The information, data, or work presented herein was funded in part by the Bonneville
Power Administration. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.