After graduating from Jacksonville University in 2020 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Marine Science and a minor in photography, Anna Tripp immediately began a sequence of internships to gain field experience before pursuing graduate school. The first internship was with Mote Marine Laboratory’s Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program in Sarasota, FL and the second was with the Student Conservation Association as a Fishery Technician for the U.S. Forest Service.
Tripp was based in Sitka, Alaska as a Fishery Technician, part of a crew of four people who manned a remote salmon weir. She was accountable for collecting data on four Alaskan salmon species, zooplankton and phytoplankton, and studying the water quality and motor boat activity in Sitka. Sockeye Salmon, the species of salmon that Tripp closely studied, are a protected species. They are considered the biological foundation of river ecosystems, with other 130 animal and fish species depending on the marine rich nutrients that they provide.
Coastal human communities also depend on salmon for both food and income. The world’s largest sockeye salmon that run in Alaska are estimated to bring in $500 million each year for commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishermen; and in southeast Alaska, nearly 48 million wild salmon are harvested each year, with a combined economic value of nearly $1 billion annually.
Although Tripp had focused most of her studies on saltwater environments, she was prepared to work in the Alaskan freshwater fisheries due to her experiential training at the Marine Science Research Institute at Jacksonville University and the Mote Marine Laboratory.
This experience grew Tripp as both a field research scientist and artist, where she was able to photograph wildlife and landscapes, and incorporate the photography techniques she learned in her undergradaute studies into the scientific work that she loves. Now, her work is being published in a local Zine in Sitka and is being used in materials for the Forest Service.
"This experience was truly the perfect opportunity for me to grow as a field research scientist as well as grow as an artist. I very much enjoyed photographing the wildlife and landscapes around me while incorporating the photography techniques I learned from Ginger Sheridan when earning my minor in Photography."
Tripp is now not only a scientist and established artist, but also a featured scientist on conservationist Jeff Corwin’s ABC show called Wildlife Nation. In this episode, Tripp teaches Corwin and people around the world what the Forest Service does at Sitka, Alaska fisheries: sample and mark sockeye salmon, collect scale samples, and identify and measure the salmon. This is part of a larger conservation effort to protect salmon. The episode aired January 22, 2022.
“I was beyond thrilled to help and be a part of this episode. I had the opportunity to work along Jeff Corwin whose conservation efforts I have admired since I was a kid. It was even more special to have both my colleague and me in the episode since we are the only two women in the Fish & Aquatic Ecology Program in the U.S. Forest Service Sitka Ranger District,” said Tripp.
Tripp added, “It was quite comical watching Corwin “wrestle” these large salmon and he gained lots of respect for us and the work we do. He did not expect this job to be so physically demanding.”
