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2025 Wild Fish for All Scholarship Recipients

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We are happy to announce and congratulate the two amazing 2025 Wild Fish For All Scholarship Recipients!


It was incredibly difficult to select the two recipients of this year’s Wild Fish For All Scholarship from all the remarkably qualified students who submitted applications, but we are proud to recognize Elizabeth Ruiz and Maritza Gamez as this year’s amazing scholarship recipients.

Below, we hear directly from Elizabeth and Maritza about their dedication to wild, native fish and how this scholarship will help them to make a difference in their homewaters and beyond:

Elizabeth Ruiz

PhD student at University of California, Berkeley

Major of Study: Environmental Science, Policy, and Management

Elizabeth Ruiz (PhD student at University of California, Berkely)

"I am so thrilled and honored to be selected as a recipient of the Wild Fish for All Scholarship. I am in my first year of my PhD, so receiving this feels like an early autumn rain: like possibility before the salmon return home. This scholarship will support me while I focus on my research, which is centered on using long term data to guide recovery of resilient California salmon populations, and advance partnerships with agency collaborators. I am looking forward to being a part of the Native Fish Society and Trout Unlimited Tualatin Valley Chapter wild fish story!"

Elizabeth with a decaying Chinook salmon after it has spawned and completed its lifecycle

Though I was born in the Sacramento River watershed here in California, my father’s military career moved us all over, and beyond, the country. This upbringing left me feeling disconnected from my extended family and heritage, and without a true hometown. An opportunity to monitor wild coho salmon in coastal California during my early career shifted my understanding of place and home. Through the salmon’s magnificent journeys, physical transformations, and responses to seasonal rhythms, I came to understand myself and place in the world more fully.

Anadromous salmonids are mirrors with which we can better understand ourselves. As indicator species sensitive to environmental shifts, their responses to climate change give us a glimpse into our own futures. My aspirations for wild native fish conservation include abundantly flowing rivers, climate resilient communities, and a commitment to honor the original, current, and future relationships between fish, people, land, and water.

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Maritza Gamez

MSc student at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt

Major of Study: Biological Sciences

Maritza Gamez (MSc student at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt)

"Receiving the Wild Fish For All Scholarship truly means so much to me as a first-generation Latina graduate student. This scholarship helps me purchase essential course materials, such as books, allowing me to build my own academic resources and move forward with confidence in my studies and career."

Maritza conducting research on the Klamath Smallscale Sucker to study the impact of dams on fish populations

I’m a first-generation graduate student raised in the San Fernando Valley, where my passion for protecting waterways first took shape. Growing up, I learned how deeply environmental health is tied to community well-being, this understanding continues to guide my research.

I earned my undergraduate degree at Sacramento State, focusing on aquatic toxicology. After graduating, I worked at UC Davis Aquatic Health Program studying the endangered Delta Smelt. Holding an endangered fish in my hands, knowing its species could disappear was emotionally powerful in understanding the responsibility scientists carry to protect vulnerable ecosystems.

That sense of purpose led me to pursue a Master’s degree at Cal Poly Humboldt. My research focuses on the Klamath Smallscale Sucker, using 3D geometric morphometrics to examine skull variation in museum specimens and assess how dams have shaped fish populations. Through my work, I strive to give back to the communities and ecosystems that have shaped me, and to leave them better than I found them.

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Knowing there are students as bright and dedicated as Elizabeth and Maritz gives us hope for a strong future for wild, native fish throughout the Pacific Northwest!

Learn more about the WFFA Scholarship and read the 2025 recipients' full essays here.

Native Fish Society and the Tualatin Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited believe that supporting diverse voices builds a groundswell for the revival of abundant wild fish in the Pacific Northwest. To elevate these diverse voices and break down barriers to racial and gender diversity in fisheries conservation, we created the Wild Fish For All scholarship.