Madison A. Heller-Shipley

Fisheries Researcher

Madison specializes in quantitative fisheries analysis and population dynamics modeling. An early career scientist, Madison has been at NRC for 6 years, working as an analyst initially, and is now starting to conduct her own research. She primarily works with Bering Sea crab stocks. Madison finished a Master’s degree in 2020 from the University of Washington, and as part of her thesis, she conducted a Management Strategy Evaluation on Bering Sea Tanner crab, exploring alternative harvest control rules for setting exploitation on the resource. Tanner crab management was updated in Alaska in March of 2020 based on her work. Madison is also active in the field, leading crab-related surveys in the Bering Sea twice a year. She is interested in exploring different methods of modeling and stock assessment and expanding her experience to other fisheries and systems. Before working at NRC, Madison worked at the Seaglider Fabrication Center at the University of Washington and the Acoustic Seaglider Lab in the university’s Applied Physics Lab. She has mechanical, and computer skills and also is one of NRC’s GIS experts. Madison has two Bachelor of Science degrees in both Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and Oceanography. In her free time, she enjoys combat sports, snowboarding, and painting.