Reid Brewer prepares a dead sea lion for dissection in 2012. (Courtesy of Reid Brewer)

Marine biologist Reid Brewer left town this month to take a teaching position in Sitka. He spent almost ten years here, educating the community about ocean science through the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program, which provides for scientists like Brewer to live and work in coastal Alaskan communities.

Brewer’s job was to get Unalaskans interested in marine science.

“I’ve gotten people involved in some pretty unique experiences, whether that’s standing waist-deep in a whale or going out to Bogoslof Island to do population work with fur seals, to taking local divers on research trips all the way out to the end of the Aleutians,” he says.

Brewer also spent a lot of time in the classroom, teaching university-level classes, leading community workshops, and even coaching Unalaska’s high school ocean science bowl team.

Mandy Andersen is a first grade teacher at Eagle’s View Elementary School. She says she was amazed at the lengths Brewer went to, to make science lessons exciting for her students.

“He actually brought crabs into the classroom,” says Andersen. “He would dive that morning and bring them in. And he’d come in, you know, during recess. The kids would come back and it would all be set up.”

Brewer says that’s the point of the Marine Advisory Program -- to find out what the community wants, and to let the scientists figure out how to make that a reality.

“It’s such a win-win program, because everything you do, people love,” he says. “People are really excited and they want more. And so it’s been a really neat position that way.”

Brewer says his replacement will have a lot of freedom to re-shape the program, just like he did.

“I hope they’d make it their own. Each person in the Marine Advisory Program has a very different program and there’s no right way, it’s just how you can best serve your community,” says Brewer.

He's hopeful that Unalaska will have someone new by next summer. Right now, there’s state funding for a replacement. But the focus is on filling an open Marine Advisory slot in Dillingham first.

As for Brewer, his new job will be a change of pace. After ten years, he’s gotten used to being out in the field, using the ocean as his classroom.

Now, he’ll be running a distance learning program at Sitka’s University of Alaska Southeast. It’s focused on fisheries management and farming, and it’s meant to teach practical skills.

“We went to industry and said, ‘What do you need as far as a skill set?’ and designed courses around that. And so what we’re hoping to do is get people the training they need to build up the workforce in Alaska fisheries,” says Brewer.

They’ve got a special set of students in mind -- people who are already living in coastal communities, and want to stay there.

And in that sense, it's not too big of a leap for Brewer. He'll still be working to help coastal Alaskans understand the science behind their ocean resources. But now, they'll be the ones making sure that marine knowledge gets back to their communities.