By Chris Branam, OSU release - CORVALLIS, Ore. — A collaborative research and outreach effort led by Oregon State University to protect whales and sustain Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery has been recognized as one of four regional winners of the 2025 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award.  The Oregon whale entanglement project, a transdisciplinary team led by Leigh Torres, researcher in OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute and Oregon Sea Grant Extension marine mammals specialist, now advances to the national stage, where it will compete for the C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award and a $20,000 grand prize to further its work.  This is the second consecutive year OSU has received a Kellogg regional award and the third time in the university’s history.  “We are beyond excited when faculty like Dr. Leigh Torres get national recognition for their engaged scholarship,” said Marina Denny, associate vice provost for engagement in the OSU Division of Extension and Engagement. “This honor reflects the strength of OSU’s partnerships with our Oregon coastal communities and our shared commitment to environmental stewardship and economic resilience.”  The project began when Oregon’s largest commercial fishery faced a threat: rising reports of whale entanglements in fishing gear. Entanglement can drown whales, cause injury, and impair their ability to swim or feed.  Since 2016, OSU scientists have worked alongside the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), commercial fishing industry members and environmental organizations to identify high-risk areas and seasons for entanglement and develop strategies to reduce them.  Oregon Sea Grant convened the Oregon Whale Entanglement Working Group in 2017, uniting fishermen, scientists, state regulators and nonprofits to develop best practices and build trust. These efforts identified a significant knowledge gap about whale distribution in Oregon waters that limited informed and effective management to reduce whale entanglements.  The project team spearheaded research initiatives in direct response to this identified stakeholder need. Torres’ leadership ensured that co-created knowledge on whale distribution and overlap with fishing gear directly informed timely policy and management decisions, helping to protect Oregon’s iconic whales while ensuring the sustainability of the state’s commercial fishery and coastal communities. The research project produced findings that informed ODFW regulations adopted in 2020 to protect whales while sustaining the fishery’s economic health.  Researchers logged more than 42,000 miles of surveys over 376 days, flying in U.S. Coast Guard helicopters and working aboard OSU small boats and research vessels owned and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to track more than 3,500 whales. They combined these sightings with oceanographic data to map monthly whale densities from 2011 to 2020, then overlaid the maps with crab fishing locations to pinpoint “hot spots” of entanglement risk.  Findings revealed that risk peaks in nearshore waters during April, when whales move into Oregon waters for seasonal feeding, overlapping with the end of the crab fishing season. Risk also varied with ocean conditions, such as upwelling events and marine heat waves.  “Although there can be inherent tension between commercial fishing and whale entanglements, no one wants to catch a whale, and we all want a thriving, sustainable Dungeness crab fishery,” Torres said. “Our findings are an important step toward achieving both goals. I am so grateful for the trust our project partners — like fishermen and managers — have put in me and our research team to work together and produce results to inform solutions to this problem.”  The Oregon whale entanglement project team included:  Torres, associate professor in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences; Amanda Gladics, associate professor of practice and Oregon Sea Grant Extension specialist; Solène Derville, post-doctoral researcher, Marine Mammal Institute; Lindsay Wickman, post-doctoral researcher, Marine Mammal Institute; Craig Hayslip, faculty research assistant, Marine Mammal Institute; Scott Baker, professor, Marine Mammal Institute; and, Troy Buell, Kelly Corbett, and Brittany Harrington, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.  The W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award, presented by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and the Engagement Scholarship Consortium, honors institutions that have redesigned their teaching, research and outreach missions to foster deep, lasting partnerships with their communities.  Since 2007, four regional winners have been selected annually, each receiving a $5,000 prize to further their work. The Magrath Award, named for former APLU president C. Peter Magrath, is the top national honor in engagement scholarship. The three other regional winners are Indiana University, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and West Virginia University.  “Congratulations to the winners of the Kellogg Community Engagement Scholarship Awards,” said APLU President Waded Cruzado. “Community engagement is core to the public university mission, and we’re thrilled to recognize the critical work these institutions have done to help their communities tackle stubborn challenges and unleash the potential of their regions.”