I became Executive Secretary of PICES on April 14th, 2020. For the twenty-five years prior to that I worked as a biological oceanographer for the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey firstly under the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS, where I was also Assistant Director) and then following its merger, with the Marine Biological Association, UK. I was Director of the North Pacific CPR survey which began in 2000. This survey came about mainly through PICES efforts, following the first PICES meeting I attended in 1998. I’ve been involved with PICES ever since, participating in scientific sessions and workshops, as a MONITOR ex-officio committee member, and a contributor to the North Pacific Ecosystem Status Reports (NPESR II and III).

Sonia Batten
PICES Secretariat
c/o Institute of Ocean Sciences
P.O. Box 6000 (mailing address)
9860 West Saanich Road (courier/institute address)
Sidney, British Columbia
Canada V8L 4B2
Phone: +1-250-363-6364
Fax: +1-250-363-6827
E-mail: sonia.batten@pices.int

My initiation to the PICES community was at the 2001 Annual Meeting when I was a postdoc researcher with the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). Through participation in long-term ecosystem change studies, such as global comparisons of zooplankton time-series and the North Pacific Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) project, and international programmes/frameworks such as the GOOS Biology-Ecosystem Panel and World Ocean Assessment II, I became an advocate of international collaboration in ocean science and communication across scientific disciplines. More recently, I was on secondment to the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre in the UK from 2016-2019, where I learnt practical methods to apply to the science-policy interface and its importance in marine social science. In summer 2021 I returned to the North Pacific Ocean when I was appointed as the PICES Deputy Executive Secretary. The timing coincided with the launch of the UN Decade of Ocean Science, and the emergence of the post pandemic paradigm in global society. I feel excited to see how PICES will shine and evolve in this new era of ocean science.

Sanae Chiba
PICES Secretariat
c/o Institute of Ocean Sciences
P.O. Box 6000 (mailing address)
9860 West Saanich Road (courier/institute address)
Sidney, British Columbia
Canada V8L 4B2
Phone: +1-250-363-6826
Fax: +1-250-363-6827
E-mail: Sanae.Chiba@pices.int

My career with PICES started more than 20 years ago. I was the Assistant Executive Secretary of the Organization from May 1, 1996 to May 31, 1999, the Executive Secretary from June 1, 1999 to December 31, 2014, and serve now as a Special Projects Coordinator. In this capacity, I have been responsible for coordinating activities related to the PICES 25th anniversary, managing several scientific projects supported by the Japanese Trust Fund (MarWeB – “Marine Ecosystem Health and Human Well-Being”, ADRIFT – “Assessing the Debris-Related Impacts From the Tsunami” and FishGIS – “Building Capacity for Coastal Monitoring by Small-scale Fishers”), preparing the symposia on “Drivers of dynamics of small pelagic fish resources” (March 6-11, 2017, Victoria, Canada) and “Understanding changes in transitional areas of the Pacific” (April 24-26, 2018, La Paz, Mexico), and assembling publications resulting from these projects and meetings. In 2016, I received the PICES Chair Award given for “dedication and hard work that were key drivers that have moved PICES from a regional North Pacific science organization to a well-respected and recognized truly global organization, leading important initiatives in climate change and marine ecosystem science.”

In my pre-PICES life, I graduated from the Moscow State University (Chemistry, with distinction), received my Ph.D. (in Analytical Chemistry) from the USSR Academy of Sciences (V.I. Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Moscow), and then spent more than 20 years working as a research scientist and head of the Marine Hydrochemistry and Geochemistry Laboratory at the V.I. Il'ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute in Vladivostok. My scientific interests have been focused on the carbon cycle in the North Pacific and its marginal seas. I was involved in national and international cooperation related to the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), and served as a member of the JGOFS Scientific Steering Committee, co-chairman of the JGOFS North Pacific Task Team, and chairman of the JGOFS North Pacific Synthesis Group.

TBA

Saeseul Kim
PICES Secretariat
c/o Institute of Ocean Sciences
P.O. Box 6000 (mailing address)
9860 West Saanich Road (courier/institute address)
Sidney, British Columbia
Canada V8L 4B2
Phone: +1-250-363-6878
Fax: +1-250-363-6827
E-mail: Saeseul.Kim@pices.int

I started working for the PICES Secretariat in 2003. I grew up in Azerbaijan, received my first degree in Moscow (B.A. in History, Moscow State University) and after moving to Canada (1992), I continued my education (M.A. in History, University of Waterloo and Computer Science, University of Victoria). I worked in the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project in Greece as a member of an international team of scientists and archaeologists, and later as a technician, translator/editor and programmer at various private sector companies. My major responsibility is the maintenance of PICES Database and Website; website design, web and database maintenance, and logistics for co-sponsored events. I also assist in production of PICES publications.

Julia Yazvenko
PICES Secretariat
c/o Institute of Ocean Sciences
P.O. Box 6000 (mailing address)
9860 West Saanich Road (courier/institute address)
Sidney, British Columbia
Canada V8L 4B2
Phone: +1-250-363-6366
Fax: +1-250-363-6827
E-mail: secretariat@pices.int