CHARLES NATHAN CATHCART

Alaska Department of Fish & Game

333 Raspberry Road
Anchorage, AK 99518
Email: nate.cathcart@alaska.gov
Phone: 612-616-4663

EDUCATION

M.S. Biology (graduated 2014)

Department of Arts and Sciences at Kansas State University
GPA 3.5/4.0

B.S. Fishery Biology (graduated 2011)

Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology at Colorado State University
GPA 3/4.0

GRE score: 1200 (taken November 2011)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Habitat Biologist II October 2019 – Present
Joe Giefer 907-267-2336
Alaska Department of Fish & Game
- Manage the Alaska Freshwater Fish Inventory program.
- Select sites and river basins for sampling efforts.
- Sample fishes via electrofishing, aerial, snorkel, ground, angling, minnow
trapping and seining surveys.
- Collaborate with federal, state, and non-profit organizations.
- Supervise one technician.

Fish & Wildlife Technician III April 2018 – October 2019

Joe Giefer 907-267-2336
Alaska Department of Fish & Game
- Sampled streams as part of the Alaska Freshwater Fish Inventory program
- Maintained and acquired equipment.
- Acquired permits for access and worked with land managers from federal,
state, private, and tribal entities.
- Arranged travel itineraries for field work both via air travel to and from sites as
well as day-to-day routes via helicopter.
- Performed electrofishing, aerial, snorkel, ground, angling, minnow trapping
and seining surveys to sample fishes.
- Nominated qualifying streams to the Anadromous Waters Catalog
- Collaborated with other Alaska Department of Fish & Game partners and the
University of Alaska Fairbanks to gather samples of important fishes.
- Assisted other personnel within Division of Sport Fish to sample streams,
lakes, or organize projects such as the Kenai Cost Share habitat program.
Research technician May 2017 – December 2017
Dr. Jeff Falke 907-371-6651
Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
- Georeferenced and categorized all large woody debris jams in the Chena
River network listed under the Anadromous Waters Catalog as Chinook
Salmon habitat.
- Snorkeled and counted juvenile Chinook Salmon using randomly selected
large woody debris from our initial sample.
- Performed visual counts of other co-occuring fishes as well as spawning adult
Chinook Salmon and Chum Salmon.
- Rafted and jetboated the river and maintained safe sampling practices.

Research biologist September 2016 – December 2017

Dr. Peter Westley 907-474-7458
University of Alaska-Fairbanks, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences

- Analyzing Northern Pike diet data to assess the prey specific abundance of
their diets relative to populations in native and introduced ranges of Alaska in
conjunction with Alaska Department of Game and Fish, Bureau of Land
Management, and the United States Geological Survey.
- Collaborate with, mentor, and assist students on projects.
- Maintained and organized laboratory and field equipment.
- Trained students in aging northern pike with cleithra.
- Assisted other faculty at UAF with Chinook salmon studies exploring oceanic
movements via satellite tags. Field work was conducted out of Dutch Harbor
in November 2017 with Michael Courtney and the Dr. Andrew Seitz Lab.

Consulting/Contract Fish Biologist November 2015-March 2019

Self-employed

- Performed a field study on Razorback Sucker movement and recovery in the

San Juan River basin with partners from University of New Mexico (funding
recipient), Bureau of Reclamation (funding agency), and the US Fish and
Wildlife Service (began March 2016).
- Compiled and organized antenna and tagging data for fishes in the San Juan
River basin. Data were stored in Microsoft Access and Excel databases.
- Organize and operate the Western Native Fishes project within the Western
Division of the American Fisheries Society (unpaid).
- Conducted early life history analyses of Largemouth Bass in Kansas
reservoirs by aging individuals via otoliths (funded by the KS Cooperative
Fish and Wildlife Research Unit).
- Collaborated with Cutthroat Trout scientists to summarize a taxonomic review
that will guide conservation and management of all forms of the Cutthroat
Trout complex (Western Division of the American Fisheries Society, unpaid).
 - Implemented an experimental approach to larval razorback sucker stocking in
tributaries of the San Juan River (project began May 2019).

Contract Fish biologist October 2014 – November 2015

Dr. Mark McKinstry (mmckinstry@usbr.gov), Biological Scientist 801-524-3835
Bureau of Reclamation

- Continued and expanded on efforts described below that were a foundation

for my previous research in graduate school.
- Studied population dynamics of endangered fishes restricted by a newly
formed waterfall outside of designated critical habitat within the Colorado
River Basin.
- Explored ecology of sucker spawning migrations relative to larval hatching,
larval growth, predation by birds, and timing.
- Aged larval flannelmouth sucker otoliths and adult flannelmouth sucker fin
rays to determine population demographics of offspring and migratory adults.
- Collected and sectioned channel catfish spines as part of investigations into
management of invasive channel catfish in the San Juan River.

Graduate Research Assistant January 2012 – August 2014

Dr. Keith Gido (kgido@ksu.edu), Professor (785) 532-5088
Kansas State University

- Investigated habitat use and movement of native and nonnative fishes among
mainstem San Juan River and tributary habitats using PIT tags and antennas.
- Generated reports and communicated results at stakeholder meetings.
- Installed and maintained stationary and portable PIT antenna systems
throughout tributary and mainstem habitats in the San Juan River basin.
- Performed work in accordance with permits for endangered species, states,
and tribes.
- Maintained and analyzed multiple databases exceeding 10,000 records (and
up to over 100,000 records) of fish captures or tag detections.
- Assisted state, federal and private investigations throughout Colorado River
Basin including the Colorado River through Grand Canyon as well as the San
Juan River.
- Explored Kansas oxbow fish community structure over 5 decades of sampling
with known dates of lake origin and connectivity by performing contemporary
sampling (gillnetting, seining, and trapnetting) in 2014 and 2015 similar to
historic effort (1967-1994) to assess diversity and abundance while also aging
fishes.

Research Technician June 2011 – December 2011

Dr. Jesse Lepak (970) 472-4432
Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife
 - Performed laboratory and field studies as part of a statewide reservoir
research crew investigating diverse fish and limnology questions.
- Used otolith weight as an aging method for discerning kokanee salmon ages.
- Marked sportfishes with oxytetracycline as part of a preliminary study looking
into stocking identification of walleye and hybrid striped bass.
- Studied interactions between tiger muskellunge, white sucker and trout.
- Assisted in hydroacoustic sampling for kokanee salmon.
- Performed zooplankton, mysis shrimp, and limnology sampling.

Fish Technician August 2010 – December 2010

Dr. Ales Snoj
Balkan Trout Restoration Group, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

- Initiated and performed a genetic analysis of naturalized rainbow trout

populations in Slovenia compared to native populations in California.
- Assisted fishery managers in electrofishing and hook-line sampling.
- Conducted sampling efforts for conservation of marble trout.
Transition Zone Stream Fish Researcher May 2010 – August 2010
Independent research

- Designed and conducted a field study on fish community responses to

development of the North Fork Cache la Poudre River.
- Acquired funding through the Colorado Division of Wildlife, The Nature
Conservancy, and the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society to
conduct research.
- Collaborated with counties, cities, government agencies, private landowners,
water managers, and university researchers to implement a study used for an
Environmental Impact Statement on reservoir expansion.
- Sampled the fish community and the thermal regime to explore possible
limiting effects on native fish growth, spawning, and recruitment.

Volunteer Field Technician May 2010; March 2011

Eric Gardunio
CSU Department of Fish, Widllife, and Conservation Biology

- Assisted collection of burbot for a physiological ecology study exploring the

invasive ability of burbot using trammel nets and hook-line sampling.

Sport fish Management Laboratory Technician January 2009 – May 2010

Dr. Brett Johnson, Professor (970) 491-5002
Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, CSU

- Assisted researchers from state and academic agencies on sport fish

populations including northern pike, walleye, yellow perch, and burbot.
- Aged sport and prey fish using scales, otoliths, and dorsal fin spines as
part of a growth and diet study addressing mercury levels in fishes.
 - Processed sport fish, forage fish and crayfish to collect all usable material
for aging, growth, diet, and mercury data.
- Prepared otoliths for stable isotope analysis to determine origins.

Collaborative Researcher February 2009 – January 2010

Dr. Kurt Fausch, Professor (970) 491-6457
Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, CSU

- Collected thermal data for native fishes in the Front Range of Colorado.
- Compiled temperature data on native fishes to assist the Halligan-Seaman
Reservoir expansion project’s Shared Vision Planning group comprised of
engineers, city representatives, ecologists, and nonprofit groups.
- Provided data used in an Environmental Impact Statement for dam
modifications.

Volunteer Fisheries Technician December 2009

Vaughn Paragamian
Idaho Department of Fish and Game

- Monitored the native Kootenai River burbot using hoop nets, genetic
sampling, and PIT tags in British Columbia, Canada and Idaho.
- Tracked native redband trout in the Kootenai River using radio telemetry.

Fisheries Technician July 2009-August 2009

Dr. Carl Saunders, Post-doctoral researcher
College of Natural Resources, Utah State University

- Conducted three-pass depletions using electrofishing at night to test mark-

recapture methods on salmonids in mountain streams.
- Measured habitat parameters and characterized stream type.

Endangered Species Fisheries Technician July 28 – August 24, 2009

Dr. Kevin Bestgen, Director of the Larval Fish Laboratory (970) 491-1848
Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, CSU

- Collected daily drift net samples for larval Colorado pikeminnow and other
fishes of the Yampa and Green Rivers in western Colorado.
- Performed diel surveys to sample larval drift within a 24h period.
- Sampled native and nonnative fishes using hook-line sampling.

Fisheries Behavior Research Assistant June 2008 – November 2008

Dr. Casey Huckins, Associate Professor (906) 487-2475
Department of Biological Sciences, Michigan Technological University

- Assisted with a study of multiple ecological factors (i.e., temperature and

discharge) of coaster brook trout and the Salmon-Trout River.
 - Constructed and maintained a weir equipped with an infrared camera to
monitor fish passage.
- Recorded, analyzed, and entered data using FishTic software.
- Sampled brook trout using backpack electrofishing to collect fin clips,
scales, and adipose tissue as part of a genetic study to determine coaster
brook trout conservation status.
- Investigated young-of-year salmonid growth and tributary use.
- Worked with federal and state agencies within private property in an effort
to conserve the Salmon-Trout River.

Great Plains Fisheries Technician August 2006 – May 2008

Dr. Jeff Falke, Assistant Professor
Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Fairbanks, AK

- Explored effects of groundwater withdrawal on fish in the Arikaree River.

- Captured, dentified, measured, and recorded larval fish community data.
- Aged brassy minnow and fathead minnow larvae using otoliths to
determine hatching dates.

Fisheries Technician March 2006 – October 2010

Chris Myrick, Associate Professor (970) 491-5657
Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, CSU

- Sampled and tagged fishes using an electrofishing boat, trap nets, gill
nets, seining and hook-line sampling to estimate population sizes of
predators in a reservoir relative to water temperature data.
- Removed cleithra and otoliths from northern pike for age and growth.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Teaching Assistant
Division of Biology, Kansas State University
Icthyology Lab, BIOL542 (2012, 2014)
- Prepared and conducted classroom activities, lectures, and exams.
- Taught students a diversity of freshwater and marine fishes.
- Assisted lecture instructor with field trips, collections and maintenance.

Principles of Biology, BIOL198 Teaching assistant (2012, 2013)

- Prepared and conducted classroom activities, lectures, and exams.

Ichthyology Laboratory Teaching Assistant (Fall 2007)

Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, CSU
- Assisted instructor with undergraduate ichthyology course.
- Maintained collection, curated samples, and assisted students.

SOFTWARE EXPERIENCE
 - Microsoft Access, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
- FishTic by SalmonSoft
- ArcGIS 10
- FRAGSTATS
- Fish Bioenergetics 3.0
- R
- Sigma Plot

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

- American Fisheries Society, member since 2008

- Alaska American Fisheries Society, member since 2015
- Western Division of the American Fisheries Society, member since 2006
- Co-chair, Western Native Fishes committee since 2015
- Member of the North American Native Fish Association (NANFA) since 2011
- Alaska regional representative of NANFA since 2018
- Member of the Desert Fishes Council since 2012
- Member of the KSU subunit of the AFS (2012-2014)
- Secretary, KSU subunit of the AFS (2013-2014)
- President, CSU subunit of the AFS (Spring 2009 – Spring 2010)
- Secretary, CSU subunit of the AFS (Fall 2007- Spring 2008)
- CSU subunit of the AFS, member from 2005-2011

AWARDS

- Western Division of the AFS Young Professional Travel Award (2016, 2017)
- Frank Cross Scholarship, Outstanding Graduate Student, KS-AFS (2014)
- Ron Remmick Scholarship, Wild Trout Symposium (2010)
- Best student poster (co-author), Western Division of the AFS (2010)
- Western Division of the AFS Student Travel Award (2010)
- Student Membership to the AFS, CO-WY Chapter of the AFS (2009)
- Western Division of the AFS Student Travel Award (2008)
- Best Student Volunteer, CO-WY Chapter of the AFS (2008)

PUBLICATIONS

Cathcart, C. N., and E. M. Broder. 2010. The Gulf Oil Spill: What it means to the Gulf
and the future of fisheries biology students. Fisheries 1:2011 37-38.

Lepak, J. M., K. D. Kinzli, E. R. Fetherman, W. M. Pate, A. G. Hansen, E. I. Gardunio,

C. N. Cathcart, W. L. Stacy, Z. E. Underwood, M. M. Brandt, C. A. Myrick, and B. M.
Johnson. 2012. Manipulation of growth to reduce mercury concentrations in sport fish
on a whole-system scale. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 1:122-
135.
Lepak, J. M., C. N. Cathcart, M. B. Hooten. 2012. Otolith mass as a predictor of age in
kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from four Colorado reservoirs. Canadian
Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 69: 1569-1575.

Lepak, J. M., C. N. Cathcart, and W. L. Stacy. 2014. Tiger muskellunge predation on

stocked sportfish in Colorado reservoirs. Lake and Reservoir Management.30:250-257.

Cathcart, C.N. 2014. Common Shiner, Luxilus cornutus Mitchell 1817.Pages 173-174 in
Kansas Fishes Committee. Kansas Fishes. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence.

Cathcart, C. N., K. B. Gido, and M. C. McKinstry. 2015. Fish community distributions

and movements in two tributaries of the San Juan River, USA. Transactions of the
American Fisheries Society 144: 103-1028.

Cathcart, C. N., K. B. Gido, M. C. McKinstry, and P.D. MacKinnon. 2018. Patterns of

fish movement at a desert stream confluence. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 27: 492-505.

Pennock, C.A., C.N. Cathcart, S.C. Hedden, R.E. Weber, and K.B. Gido. 2018. Fine-
scale movement and habitat use of a prairie stream fish assemblage. Oecologia 186:
831-842.

Pennock, C.A., S.L. Durst, B.R. Duran, B.A. Hines, C.N. Cathcart, J.E. Davis, B.J.
Schleicher, and N.R. Franssen. 2018. Predicted and observed responses of a nonnative
channel catfish population following managed removal to aid the recovery of
endangered fishes. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 38: 565-578.

Schultz, L.D., N.F. Thompson, C.N. Cathcart, and T.H. Williams. 2018. Where the
rubber meets the road: further research needs and implications for Cutthroat Trout
management in Cutthroat Trout: evolutionary biology and taxonomy edited by P. Trotter,
P. Bisson, L. Schultz, and B. Roper. American Fisheries Society special publication 36.

Cathcart, C.N. 2018. Flannelmouth Sucker: the ironhorse of the Colorado River Basin.
Fisheries 43: 318-321.
Cathcart, C.N., C.A. Pennock, C.A. Cheek, M.C. McKinstry, P.D. MacKinnon, M.M.
Conner, and K.B. Gido. 2018. Waterfall formation at a desert river-reservoir delta
isolates endangered fishes. River Research and Applications 34:948-956.
Cathcart, C.N., K.J. Dunker, T.P. Quinn, A.J. Sepulveda , F.A. von Hippel , A. Wizik ,
D.B. Young , and P.A.H. Westley. 2019. Trophic plasticity and the invasion of a
renowned piscivore: A diet synthesis of northern pike (Esox lucius) from the native and
introduced ranges in Alaska, U.S.A. Biological Invasions.
Cathcart, C.N., M.C. McKinstry, P.D. MacKinnon, and C.M. Ruffing. In press. A tribute
to tributaries: endangered fish distributions within critical habitat of the San Juan River,
U.S.A. North American Journal of Fisheries Management.

Cathcart, C.N., K.B. Gido, and W.H. Brandenburg. In press. Spawning locations within
and among tributaries influence Flannelmouth Sucker offspring
experience. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.

Cathcart, C.N. In press. Flying the Frontier: Perspectives from the Great Alaska
Freshwater Fish Inventory. Fisheries.

Technical reports available by request.

PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS

Over 20 professional organization presentations since 2011, two invited talks at student
AFS subunits, three guest lectures for undergraduate and graduate level classes, and
eight poster presentations since 2011 (six of them presented at AFS meetings). List of
specific titles available upon request.

REFERENCES

Joe Giefer
Habitat Biologist III, Alaska Department of Fish & Game
333 Raspberry Road
Anchorage, AK 99518
Email: joe.giefer@alaska.gov
Office: 907-267-2336

Dr. Mark McKinstry

Biological Scientist, Bureau of Reclamation
125 South State Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84138
Email: mmckinstry@usbr.gov
Cellular: 801-573-1161
Office: 801-524-3835

Dr. Jeff Falke,

Assistant Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
PO Box 757020
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775
Email: Jeffrey.Falke@alaska.edu
Office: 907-474-6044

Dr. Keith Gido

Professor, Kansas State University
Division of Biology
Ackert Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506
Email: kgido@ksu.edu
Cellular: 785-477-8180
Office: 785-532-5088