Jake Gregg manages the research aquaculture system at the Western Fisheries Research Center's Marrowstone Marine Field Station, which produces Specific Pathogen Free marine fish.
Jacob (Jake) Gregg
Jake Gregg manages the research aquaculture system at the Marrowstone Marine Field Station which produces Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) marine fish. The availability of SPF fish over the past 21 years has led to new discoveries in disease ecology that are documented in dozens of peer reviewed publications.
Jake’s broad interests in physiology and ecology began during his undergraduate studies in human performance, and continued through graduate school, where he studied the early life history of lingcod, a top predatory fish of the western North Pacific Ocean. During his lingcod research, Jake adapted aquaculture techniques to a novel species. This experience led to his recruitment by the USGS, where he was asked to develop a research hatchery for Pacific herring, an important forage fish species. Over the past 21 years the hatchery at the USGS Marrowstone Marine Field Station has developed into mainstay of the research projects that occur at the center. Marrowstone regularly produces 20,000 post-metamorphosed herring for disease research. The hatchery has also raised other marine species to meet research needs. In addition to marine disease research, Jake has contributed to research in phylogenetics, age-and-growth, parasitology, contaminates, tagging, and habitat restoration. Jake has also been involved in K-12 educational outreach throughout his career. The most notable example, a collaboration between the USGS, the US Navy and local schools that documented fish assembly changes at a local restoration site using 8th grade students as the primary data collectors.
Professional Experience
2004-Present, Fish Biologist, USGS Marrowstone Marine Field Station
2024, Individual Assistance Specialist, FEMA Hurricane Helene Relief
2003-2004, Research Scientist 2, University of Washington
2003, Biological Science Technician, NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center
2002, Assistant Marine Technologist, UW Friday Harbor Laboritories
2000, Fishery Biologist, NOAA Manchester Field Station
Education and Certifications
M.S. 2003. Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle WA
B.A. 1999. Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle WA
B.S. 1997. Exercise and Sport Studies, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle WA
Science and Products
PCB Exposure and Disease Susceptibility
PAH Exposure and Disease Susceptibility
Effects of Nanophyetus salmincola on the Health and Survival of Puget Sound Steelhead
Genomic Mechanisms that Underlie Lack of Recovery of Prince William Sound Herring Following the 1990s Collapse
Herring Disease Program
Evaluation of Lethal and Sublethal Effects of 6PPDQ on Coastal Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii) (ver. 2.0, March 2025)
Caligus Clemensi prevalence and counts on Clupea pallasii from Port Angeles Harbor, WA and from a controlled laboratory experiment conducted at USGS Marrowstone Marine Field Station, WA
DNA sequences from Ichthyophonid parasites
Jake Gregg manages the research aquaculture system at the Western Fisheries Research Center's Marrowstone Marine Field Station, which produces Specific Pathogen Free marine fish.
Herring larvae 15 days post-hatch. Food in the gut appears orange.
Herring larvae 15 days post-hatch. Food in the gut appears orange.
Herring larvae 53 day post-hatch. Black pigmentation is evident.
Herring larvae 53 day post-hatch. Black pigmentation is evident.
Naturally-deposited herring eggs attached to submerged macrophytes. Coiled embryos are evident inside the eggs.
Naturally-deposited herring eggs attached to submerged macrophytes. Coiled embryos are evident inside the eggs.
Currently four age classes (0, 1, 2, and 4 year olds) of SPF herring are maintained at the Marrowstone Marine Field Station.
Currently four age classes (0, 1, 2, and 4 year olds) of SPF herring are maintained at the Marrowstone Marine Field Station.
Small herring spawning event in Puget Sound, evidenced by the presence of 'white water', caused by mass release of spawning products into the water.
Small herring spawning event in Puget Sound, evidenced by the presence of 'white water', caused by mass release of spawning products into the water.
Toxicity of crude oil-derived polar unresolved complex mixtures to Pacific herring embryos: Insights beyond polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Effects of elevated pCO2 on bioenergetics and disease susceptibility in Pacific herring Clupea pallasii
Effects of temperature on viral load, inclusion body formation, and host response in Pacific Herring with viral erythrocytic necrosis (VEN)
Biological responses of Pacific herring embryos to crude oil are quantifiable at exposure levels below conventional limits of quantitation for PAHs in water and tissues
Temporal, environmental, and demographic correlates of Ichthyophonus sp. infections in mature Pacific herring populations
Characteristics of a sea louse (Caligus clemensi) epizootic in wild Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii)
A phylogeny based on cytochrome-c oxidase gene sequences identifies sympatric Ichthyophonus genotypes in the NE Pacific Ocean
Annual recurrences of viral hemorrhagic septicemia epizootics in age 0 Pacific herring Clupea pallasii Valenciennes, 1847
Long-term shedding from fully convalesced individuals indicates that Pacific herring are a reservoir for viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus
Differential susceptibility of Yukon River and Salish Sea stocks of Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha to ichthyophoniasis
Pacific herring Clupea pallasii are not susceptible to vibriosis from Vibrio anguillarum or V. ordalii under laboratory conditions
Ichthyophonus sp. Infection in Opaleye (Girella nigricans)
Science and Products
PCB Exposure and Disease Susceptibility
PAH Exposure and Disease Susceptibility
Effects of Nanophyetus salmincola on the Health and Survival of Puget Sound Steelhead
Genomic Mechanisms that Underlie Lack of Recovery of Prince William Sound Herring Following the 1990s Collapse
Herring Disease Program
Evaluation of Lethal and Sublethal Effects of 6PPDQ on Coastal Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii) (ver. 2.0, March 2025)
Caligus Clemensi prevalence and counts on Clupea pallasii from Port Angeles Harbor, WA and from a controlled laboratory experiment conducted at USGS Marrowstone Marine Field Station, WA
DNA sequences from Ichthyophonid parasites
Jake Gregg manages the research aquaculture system at the Western Fisheries Research Center's Marrowstone Marine Field Station, which produces Specific Pathogen Free marine fish.
Jake Gregg manages the research aquaculture system at the Western Fisheries Research Center's Marrowstone Marine Field Station, which produces Specific Pathogen Free marine fish.
Herring larvae 15 days post-hatch. Food in the gut appears orange.
Herring larvae 15 days post-hatch. Food in the gut appears orange.
Herring larvae 53 day post-hatch. Black pigmentation is evident.
Herring larvae 53 day post-hatch. Black pigmentation is evident.
Naturally-deposited herring eggs attached to submerged macrophytes. Coiled embryos are evident inside the eggs.
Naturally-deposited herring eggs attached to submerged macrophytes. Coiled embryos are evident inside the eggs.
Currently four age classes (0, 1, 2, and 4 year olds) of SPF herring are maintained at the Marrowstone Marine Field Station.
Currently four age classes (0, 1, 2, and 4 year olds) of SPF herring are maintained at the Marrowstone Marine Field Station.
Small herring spawning event in Puget Sound, evidenced by the presence of 'white water', caused by mass release of spawning products into the water.
Small herring spawning event in Puget Sound, evidenced by the presence of 'white water', caused by mass release of spawning products into the water.