Members of the whale entanglement project that won a regional Kellogg engagement award also received the 2024 OSU-Community Partnership Engagement Award.
February 17, 2026
Lightly edited by Oregon Sea Grant from articles by Chris Branam and Theresa Hogue
A collaborative research and outreach effort led by Oregon State University to protect whales and sustain Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery has been named the 2025 C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award winner by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The award goes to the Oregon whale entanglement project, a transdisciplinary team led by Leigh Torres of Oregon Sea Grant Extension and OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute.
The award was presented by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities at its annual meeting Nov. 9-11 in Philadelphia, and is named for C. Peter Magrath, a former APLU president and leading advocate for public universities embracing the concept of outreach and community engagement. Recipients of the Magrath Award receive a sculpture and cash prize of $20,000.
OSU Provost and Executive Vice President Roy Haggerty accepted the award on behalf of the project team.
“This recognition is not just about a project.It’s about demonstrating that rigorous academic standards and authentic community partnerships aren't competing values —they're complementary strengths,” Haggerty said in his acceptance speech. “We are grateful to the APLU for this honor, and even more grateful for the lasting partnerships and impact this work represents. It is proof of what’s possible when universities show up, listen and follow through.”
In August, the Oregon whale entanglement project was recognized as one of four regional winners of the 2025 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award, a precursor to the national Magrath award. This is the second consecutive year that Oregon Sea Grant and OSU received a Kellogg regional award.
“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 Extension 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 and Oregon Sea Grant Extension specialist.
- 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
- Troy Buell, Kelly Corbett, and Brittany Harrington, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
- The Magrath Award, named for former APLU president C. Peter Magrath, is the top national honor in engagement scholarship.