Casey Willson

Casey Willson is serving as an Executive Knauss Fellow with the Climate Program Office’s Climate and Fisheries Adaptation team at NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. 

She graduated from American University and the University for Peace in Costa Rica where she earned two master’s degrees, one in International Affairs and the other in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development. Her graduate work included a practicum where she studied human rights due diligence in the seafood industry and the threat that illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing pose to human rights and the environment. 

Prior to her Knauss fellowship, Casey worked at a nonprofit called the North American Marine Alliance where she supported small and medium scale fishers as well as values-based aquaculture. She is passionate about supporting community-based fisheries and the importance of fishing communities to our nation’s culture and economy.