Research biologist Shiway Wang has been appointed as acting executive director of the Anchorage-based North Pacific Research Board.
Wang also serves as science director for the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trust Council.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder and master’s and doctoral degrees in marine biology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The NPRB, established in 2001, is authorized to recommend marine research to the Secretary of Commerce to be funded through a competitive grant program using a portion of the interest earned from the Environmental Improvement and Restoration Fund, part of a large settlement in the U.S. Supreme Court related to a land dispute in the Arctic known as Dinkum Sands.
The legislation requires that the funds be used to conduct research on or related to fisheries or marine ecosystems in the North Pacific Ocean, Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean. Guidelines require that this research avoid duplicating other research and emphasize study designed to address pressing fishery management issues or marine ecosystem information needs.
The NPRB hosts the annual Alaska Marine Science Symposium in Anchorage, which attracts many in the commercial fisheries industry, as well as researchers from all over the world. The 2021 symposium, a virtual event, was held Jan. 26-28.
The Oil Trust Council is tasked with restoring the damage done to the environment of the Prince William Sound area by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster. It was formed to jointly use the $900 million civil settlement to restore, replace, enhance or acquire the equivalent of natural resources adversely impacted by the spill.