Jason Cope, Ph.D.

Background

Jason received his B.A. in Integrative Biology with an emphasis in animal behavior and evolution from the University of California at Berkeley in 1997. At U.C. Berkeley, he had the pleasure of working in the lab of Roy Caldwell and closely with the late George Barlow. Post-undergraduate work involved studying the reproductive biology and behavior of seed beetles in the lab of Dr. Charles W. Fox at the Louis Calder Biological Station in New York state. He received his M.S. in 2002 from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in the lab of Dr. Gregor Cailliet. His thesis work included both genetic and population modeling approaches to describe the phylogeography, historical demography, and contemporary population dynamics of blue rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) populations in California. Jason completed his PhD from the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington in December of 2008. Dr. André Punt was his major advisor and his dissertation explored ways to approach assessing fish stocks in data-limited situations using simulation testing. Jason also served on the Pacific Fishery Management Council's (PFMC) Groundfish Management Team for 4 years.

Current Research

Jason has contributed to numerous groundfish stock assessments for the NWFSC since 2004 and is a member of the NWFSC's Integrated Fisheries Stock Assessment Team. In addition to supporting fisheries management through stock assessments, Jason is involved in a variety of research topics that include a) extensive involvement in the development, application, and teaching of methods for resource-limited fisheries (including the development of Shiny-based apps), b) improving estimates of basic life history characteristics (e.g. age and growth, mortality) of groundfishes, developing reference points, control rules and management strategies, and d) incorporating spatial dynamics into stock assessments. He is a member of the FishPath development team, a web-based decision support tool for developing harvest strategies. Jason also regularly serves as a reviewer for a variety of stock assessments around the world, as well as serves on the editorial board of Fisheries Research.