Former CASG State Fellow Sara Hutto accepts job at NOAA Marine Sanctuaries

Sara Hutto, a 2012 California Sea Grant State Fellow, is the new sanctuary advisory council coordinator for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Since February, she has also been the ocean climate initiative specialist at the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.

“There is no way I could have secured either of these jobs, if it were not for the Sea Grant fellowship,” Hutto said. “A lot of the type of work I will be doing I did during my fellowship at the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.”

As the new advisory council coordinator, Hutto will handle all of the logistical aspects of organizing the council’s many meetings and will serve as a liaison between the council and sanctuary staff members. Her position at the Gulf of the Farallones is focused on helping the sanctuary develop a plan for protecting habitats and species under future climate change scenarios.

As a California Sea Grant State Fellow, Hutto worked on reducing ship strikes of endangered whales. She studied kelp forest ecology at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, earning her master’s degree in 2011.