Jenna Keeton

Jenna Keeton

Overview

Jenna is a fisheries specialist at Washington Sea Grant. Her work addresses the needs of Washington’s seafood-dependent communities through targeted outreach, education, and community-building. Jenna’s overarching motivation is to strengthen networks among commercial fisheries, the broader seafood industry and seafood consumers. Specifically, she strives to support commercial seafood harvesters in developing economic resiliency and coordinating career development initiatives to encourage the next generation of the commercial fishing fleet.

Prior to joining WSG in 2021, Jenna studied and worked throughout the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and the Intermountain West. She began her career in fisheries as an undergraduate with the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington and studied with the Alaska Salmon Program in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Jenna expanded her foundational knowledge of commercial and tribal fisheries management while working at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, where she monitored salmon populations across the Columbia River basin. Jenna earned her Master’s degree in Aquatic Ecology from Utah State University and then worked with the agriculture industry in central Oregon to develop and implement water conservation practices. Jenna has always held fisheries close to her heart and she joined the commercial fleet in 2021 to spend a few summers as a deckhand in the Bristol Bay commercial sockeye salmon fishery.

Jenna provides seafood education to consumers, food buyers, and food system professionals, and encourages local seafood procurement. She supports fisheries workforce development initiatives like the Washington Fishermen’s Conference and is the coordinator for the Crabber-Towboat Lane Agreement.

Expertise

  • Commercial Fisheries
  • Seafood Industry
  • (Sea)Food Systems
  • Fisheries Economics
  • Fish, Aquatic, and Restoration Ecology

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