The state has appointed retired fisheries biologist Reese Bender of Coos Bay to serve a four-year term on the Oregon Hatchery Research Center Advisory Committee.

Bender, who retired from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, spent 30 years working on the southern Oregon coast, a press release said. His experience included research related to the Elk River Hatchery program and a variety of hatchery and sport fishing projects in the Coos and Coquille watersheds.

Bender serves on the board of directors for the Southwest Oregon Chapter of the Northwest Steelheaders and is a board member of the Coos Watershed Association.

The 15-member committee advises the Research Center’s senior scientist on activities and functions related to the operation and maintenance. Committee members represent government, conservation and sport fishing groups, the commercial fishing industry, tribes and other groups.

The center is a cooperative research project between ODFW and Oregon State University to develop an understanding of the mechanisms that may create differences between hatchery and wild fish, and devise ways to reduce and manage the differences so that hatcheries can help in native fish conservation and management.

For more information about the committee, call Margaret Cleveland at (503) 947-6230 or e-mail to margaret.l.cleveland@state.or.us.

For more information about the research center, visit its Web site at http://www.dfw.state.or.us/OHRC.