Franz Mueter

Franz Mueter

Chair, Department of Fisheries

President’s Professor of Quantitative Fisheries and Ecosystems

Commercial Fisheries
Fisheries Conservation
Fisheries Ecology
Fisheries Oceanography
Fisheries Population and Biometry
Fisheries Management


College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences
17101 Point Lena Loop Rd
315 Lena Point Bldg.
Juneau, AK 99801-8344
907-796-5448
907-796-5447 (fax)
fmueter@alaska.edu

Office Hours

Tuesdays & Thursdays
1:30–3:30 pm

Education

鶹 Fairbanks
Ph.D. Fisheries Oceanography
1999

鶹 Fairbanks
M.S. Statistics
1998

鶹 Fairbanks
M.S. Biological Oceanography
1992

Rhino-Westphalian Technical University
B.S. Biology

 

Curriculum Vitae

 

 

Recent Publications

PUBLICATIONS LIST HERE

 

Specialties

  • climate effects on fish populations
  • dynamics of exploited populations
  • ecosystem oceanography
  • quantitative ecology
  • marine fisheries
  • multivariate analyses
  • population ecology
  • biostatistics
  • fisheries management

鶹 Overview

My research interests include the effects of climate variability, climate change, and fishing on marine and anadromous fish populations, particularly in subarctic and Arctic seas. Most of my research has focused on commercial fish populations in the Gulf of Alaska and the Eastern Bering Sea, in particular the effects of variability in temperature and ice conditions on their distribution, productivity, and abundance. I am particularly interested in the mechanisms controlling the productivity of individual populations and in the interactions among different species and functional groups. Much of my current research is in the Arctic, in particular the life history and dynamics of Arctic gadids, the impacts of climate change on Arctic marine ecosystems and the implications of a rapidly changing environment on resource-dependent communities. 

I believe that a comparative, macroecological approach offers one of the more promising approaches to improving our understanding of marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Due to the complexities of marine ecosystems, a mechanistic understanding of populations in any given system based on detailed process studies is extremely challenging. However, evidence from individual species or systems, when compared and contrasted across systems, can greatly strengthen support for or against particular mechanisms. Much of my research draws on existing environmental and fisheries databases and on surveys conducted around the circumpolar north. Using multivariate and meta-analytical tools to quantify patterns of variability within and among different ecosystems, my research aims to identify the environmental drivers and the ecological principles that help shape marine ecosystems.

My ecological research, combined with active involvement in fisheries management issues, has contributed to the advancement of ecosystem-based approaches to the management of marine living resources in the North Pacific. In the face of global environmental changes that are more pronounced and are occurring more rapidly in the subarctic and Arctic, I am particularly interested in better understanding and enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of fish populations, coastal communities, and management frameworks in high-latitude regions.

 

Current 鶹 Projects

  • Top-to-Bottom early life snow crab ecology in a melting Northern Bering Sea. Bering Sea Crab Disaster Funds (Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission) (July 1, 2025 – October 31, 2028). A collaboration between ADF&G (PI: Jared Weems), UAF (PI: Franz Mueter, Co-PIs: Alexei Pinchuk, Sarah Hardy, Jenn Questel), and the Bering Sea Fisheries 鶹 Foundation (Scott Goodman).
  • Using a spatial consumption index to investigate the collapse of snow crab in the Bering Sea. Pollock Conservation Cooperative 鶹 Center (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026). (Co-PIs: Franz Mueter, Sam Comeau).
  • Measuring Bering Sea borealization to improve scientific advice for fisheries management. North Pacific 鶹 Board (April 1, 2025 - December 31, 2027). Collaborative effort among multiple institutions: Franz Mueter (UAF), Mike Litzow (NOAA), Dave Kimmel (NOAA), Trond Kristiansen (Farallon Institute), Jens Nielsen (UW), Kaitlyn O’Brien (UAF).
  • Improving data on fishery gear interactions with Bering sea crabs: stock-specific analysis to support dynamic management II (Jan 1, 2025 – Jun 30, 2027). Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, & Ecosystem Studies (CICOES, $177, 972). A collaboration between UAF (Franz Mueter, Sean Hardison) and NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center (Erin Fedewa, Mike Litzow).
  • (AMBON). Phase III of this ongoing project includes “Biodiversity in the Arctic” (9/2022-8/2027, funded by ONR) and “AMBON - linking biodiversity observations in the Arctic” (9/2022-8/2027, funded by NASA). Lead PI: Katrin Iken. UAF Co-PIs: Seth Danielson, Russ Hopcroft, Franz Mueter, Donna Hauser.

 

Affiliations

  • Co-chair, (ESSAS)
  • Co-chair, of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council
  • Member,
  • Contributing editor,