Cal Poly Humboldt is a neighbor to the Pacific Ocean, Humboldt Bay, and major coastal rivers and lagoons. We share these resources with a strong commercial fishing fleet and aquaculture industry, as well as countless recreational anglers.
Hands-on learning in these freshwater and marine environments gives you real-world experience and prepares you for a successful career.
Our program’s resources will give you the experiences of a lifetime. Our 90-foot ocean-going vessel, the “Coral Sea”, is to study the ocean and its fisheries.
Our on-campus fish hatchery is a unique classroom setting that gives undergraduate students research opportunities and familiarity with aquaculture technology and systems.
The Fish Collection, housed in the Wildlife & Fisheries Building, contains more than 50,000 specimens, with more than 1,200 catalogued species. The collection emphasizes northwestern California but there are holdings from throughout the world, including marine and freshwater specimens that are all searchable on a computerized database.
And just north of campus is the Telonicher Marine Lab. The lab has specialized facilities including a wet lab with high-quality seawater, an aquarium, a culture room, research-grade equipment, and more.
Our facilities and local resources set the scene for a crucial part of our Fisheries Biology program: fieldwork. You’ll get out on the water, putting your classroom knowledge into practice in a way that few programs do.
We stress development of a field-based understanding of the relationships between freshwater and marine fishes and the habitats upon which they depend, and the hands-on work you’ll do provides specialized training as well.
Freshmen Learning Community
As a Fisheries Biology major, you will participate in a free science program called the Klamath Connection. For one year, freshmen in specific science majors will explore the relationships between science, traditional ecological knowledge, the environment, and Native American communities all through the lens of California’s second largest river, the Klamath River. You’ll gain confidence and be more prepared for your future studies at Humboldt. You’ll also find the support to navigate college life, all while making new friends.
Fisheries Biology
1 Harpst St.
Arcata, CA 95521
Phone: (707) 826-3953
fisheries@humboldt.edu
