Ben Americus

Benjamin Americus is a 2022-2023 Alaska Sea Grant State Fellow and the Science Policy Coordinator with AFDF. His primary role is summarizing and contextualizing the results of the Alaska Hatchery Research Project (AHRP) for salmon sustainability assessment. He is the point of contact at AFDF for matters involving Alaskan hatchery salmon.

Ben hails from Cordova, where he grew up gillnetting for toothy chum salmon in Prince William Sound. Ben attended Montana State University, earning a B.S. in Microbiology in 2016, and working five consecutive summers on the Alaska Hatchery-Wild Salmon Interactions study. Ben attended graduate school at Oregon State University from 2017-2022, where he researched the genetics of salmon parasites and new fish health interventions. He is excited to return to Alaska to support salmon fisheries with AFDF.