Alaska Marine Safety

Education Association

Chair - Paula Cullenberg
University of Alaska, Marine Advisory Program (MAP)

Paula is Program Leader at the Alaska Marine Advisory Program. Based in Anchorage, she and her family have commercially fished in Bristol Bay for many years. Paula was previously head of the Observer Training Center in Anchorage and is an AMSEA instructor.

Vice Chair - Lance Ewers
Alaska Department of Public Safety Training Academy

Lance is a staff instructor at Alaska's Public Safety Academy in Sitka. Prior to becoming an Alaska State Trooper he served as a Deputy Sheriff, on the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Indian Reservation, in Lake County Montana. Lance lives in Sitka with his wife and two children.

Secretary/Treasurer - Troy Tirrell

Troy is a commercial fisherman from Cordova and he has fished many of Alaska fisheries. He is also an accredited marine surveyor and member of the Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors (SAMS).

Peggy Barry

Peggy became involved in fishing vessel safety after the death of her son, who was lost at sea. She was instrumental at getting the Safety Act of 1988 passed. She lives in Washington, DC.

Gordon Blue

Gordon has commercially fished from New Zealand to the Bering Sea and has been active in a number of fisheries organizations. He is now an Episcopal priest serving at Saint Peters by-the-Sea in Sitka. He also does respite support.

Jason Kohlhase

Jason is a lifelong commercial fisherman. He sits on the board of Bristol Bay Reserve, a self insured pool of Bristol Bay fishermen, and is the BBR representative on the United Fishermen of Alaska board. He is also a member of the Juneau/Douglas fish and game advisory committee. He lives in Juneau with his wife and two children and during the winter works as a professional ski patroller in Juneau and Washington state.

Kathy O'Gara
Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC)

Kathy is the health promotion manager for SEARHC. She is based out of Sitka and works with and in the 18 SEARHC communities throughout Southeast Alaska providing a wide range of injury prevention initiatives.

James Swift

James is a commercial fishermen who fishes out of Sitka. He has fished commercially since 1971, and is a past president of the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association. During the off-season he lives in Olympia, WA.

Advisory Members

Jennifer Lincoln
National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH), Division of Safety Research

Jennifer is the Deputy Director of the NIOSH, Alaska Pacific Regional Office in Anchorage. She conducts research on occupational injury prevention, specializing in fishing vessel safety.

Kenneth M. Lawrenson
17th District, USCG

Ken took over the position of Fishing Vessel Safety Coordinator in Alaska for the U.S. Coast Guard in 2006. Previous to his move to Juneau, Ken was involved in fishing vessel safety in Oregon.

Mike Folkerts
17th District MOC, USCG

Mike is the Recreational Boating Safety Specialist for the U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska. He is also active in the U.S. Coast Guard Auxilary.

Deborah Hull-Jilly
State of Alaska, Injury Prevention & EMS

Deborah is Alaska Public Health Department's Injury Prevention Unit Manager. She is charged with increasing public awareness and actions on behalf of injury prevention, and encouraging interventions statewide in injury prevention and control.

Hank Pennington
Technical Advisor

Hank is the retired Fishing Vessel Safety Specialist for the Alaska Marine Advisory program. He was one AMSEA's founding members and continues to be involved with AMSEA projects.