Chris: \u201cI would call myself a physiological ecologist,\nbut I work on almost anything that is interesting. The majority of the work in\nmy lab right now falls under fish passage and fish barrier design, as well as\naquaculture\u2026 It\u2019s all applied: I run an applied lab, I came out of an applied\nlab at UC Davis – and I like projects that solve problems on the ground.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bradley: \u201cReal-world implications.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Chris: \u201cYes, and nothing makes me happier than seeing\nwhere the results of a project get taken and used to change the way we do\nsomething. Eventually I try to get them published – I should probably try sooner\nand faster – but being able to walk out to a river and see a fish passage\nstructure that was designed using some of our research – that makes my day.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bradley: \u201cThat\u2019s related to something else that I was\ngoing to ask you. As a scientist, you specialize in physiology, but there are\ndefinitely some implications – I think – for fish habitat and management. What\nkind of implications do you see there?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Chris: \u201cFor me, physiology is the toolbox that I use to\napproach fish management problems. I just happened to come out of a fish\nphysiology lab at UC Davis, so I always think of things from a physiology\nstandpoint. But, say that you\u2019re looking at fish passage, and you\u2019re looking at\nhow fish are getting past some sort of fish barrier in a stream. Knowing how\nfast fish can swim doesn\u2019t help you get the fish upstream, until you modify the\nhabitat. So, if you\u2019re a physiological ecologist, I don\u2019t think that you can\nactually pull yourself away from the habitat side or the management side if you\nreally want to have an impact.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bradley: \u201cI have found that it\u2019s difficult for me to get\nexcited about some very cutting-edge research if I can\u2019t see the real-world\napplication for it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Chris: \u201cI guess you could say that I\u2019m sort of a \u2018simple\u2019 fish physiologist. We instrument fish sometimes, but we really like to do aquatic work, either in the lab or in the field. We like to solve problems. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we don\u2019t, but that\u2019s the science part.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bradley: \u201cSome readers may not realize that you are a Black-American biologist. This is relatively unusual; according to a 2016 study by Oregon State University (Arismendi and Penaluna 2016), only 10% of all fishery science manager and faculty positions were occupied by minorities in 2010, despite minority groups being 36% of the US population. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, on June 3 2020, AFS issued a public statement that called for greater racial inclusion in the fisheries profession. Given the statement\u2019s clear directives, it is a goal of AFS to increase racial equity in every section. It is also clear that much work remains for the accomplishment of that goal. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You have become a well-known and respected biologist that is also a member of a minority group. As an organization and as individuals, what do you think are actions that AFS can continue or begin taking to promote the inclusion and growth of minorities in fisheries?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Chris: \u201cMy experiences are definitely not those of a\ntypical black American. Because my dad was a US diplomat working for the State\nDepartment, I actually did not grow up in the US. I had the privilege of\ngrowing up elsewhere, and really didn\u2019t live in the United States until I\nstarted college, and I was essentially a black American who had not lived a\ntypical black experience in the US. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n My Ph.D. advisor was Joe Cech,\npossibly the most famous fish physiologist in the world – and I never got the\nsense that I was treated any differently than any of the other students. If I\nneeded someone to carry buckets of water, Joe would carry buckets of\nwater. I guess you would say that it\u2019s being treated as an equal. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As a faculty member recruiting\nstudents, I look at people first as potential colleagues \u2013 I want to see if\nthey will fit into the lab, regardless of who they are or what their background\nis. Coming from a particular background\nis not the sole factor that gets you considered \u2013 it can help, but it is not\nthe sole factor. Still, one challenge\nfaced by those of us who are looking to boost diversity in our profession is\nthat the pool of candidates from all backgrounds can be small.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, many people\njust don\u2019t even realize that our field exists. If you go into a school and ask\nkids what they want to do, they might list off a firefighter, or doctor, or\nbanker. It\u2019s going to be really rare to hear a kid say \u201cFish biologist.\nWildlife biologist. Conservation biologist.\u201d So one thing that we all need to\ndo is to go into these communities and tell them: this is what you can do.\nThere are actually jobs in that area. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A big thing for our profession\nto do is to realize that there is a large part of the American community that\ndoes not know that we exist, and that if we don\u2019t take the time and effort to\nmake ourselves known to them, then they will never know that we exist. Once\nthey know that we exist, then we can start to connect with them. If you look at\nminority communities, in many cases they do have connections to the outdoors.\nMaking sure that those connections persist is very important.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When you see someone from an underrepresented\ngroup, it\u2019s important to realize that their path to get to that stage is\nprobably not the same as yours. I can definitely say that\u2019s true for me – I\nstarted as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley with a pure Australian accent! Just\nunderstand that their experiences are probably going to be different, and not\ndiscounting them because of who they are or where they came from – that is\ncritical. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I was at UC Berkeley, a world\nclass institution, and I had no idea there was such a thing as fisheries\nmanagement – and I was a fish nerd! Just walked down a hallway and saw a light\nthat was on, talked to a fisheries management professor, changed my major 20\nminutes later, and have never looked back.. Don\u2019t be afraid to go and talk to\npeople that don\u2019t look like you, or don\u2019t come from your same background. But\ndo understand that they may have to surmount or climb over barriers that you\nnever experienced.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n AFS would like to thank Dr. Myrick for speaking with us. To view his “big flume” replicating streams in action, visit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A stonecat ascends the flume: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=td42vGdYaZU&feature=youtu.be<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/habitat.fisheries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/myrick.jpg\")