The 2026 recipient of the George Fischer International Student Travel Award is Zi-Qi Chew, a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at University of California, San Diego. By integrating marine sediment core records with zooarchaeological analyses, she works to reconstruct coastal paleolandscapes and long-term human-fish interactions across regions ranging from Southern California to the Western Pacific (Taiwan). She earned her B.A. in Anthropology from National Taiwan University and remains committed to advancing research on the submerged coasts of Taiwan and neighboring regions.
Zi-Qi Chewm winner of the 2026 Fischer International Travel Award
Please join us in welcoming Zi-Qi during her presentation Tracking Human–Fish Interactions through Local Paleoecological Proxies: Otolith Records from the Taiwan Strait
Abstract: Marine sediment cores from the Taiwan Strait preserve fish otoliths—fish ear stones—that serve as localized ecological proxies for reconstructing long-term human–fish interactions in nearshore settings. This study analyzes otolith assemblages spanning the past ~150 years, examining shifts in fish populations associated with subsistence, colonial, and industrial phases. Variations in otolith accumulation rates and species composition provide high-resolution ecological baselines prior to intensive exploitation, offering critical insights into anthropogenic and climatic impacts. Developed in a high-sedimentation setting of the Taiwan Strait (~0.4 cm/yr), this replicable method enhances archaeological visibility in nearshore shelf regions where conventional material evidence is scarce. This novel method holds strong potential for future application to deeper stratigraphic layers of buried continental shelves, aiming to overcome data scarcity and limited archaeological visibility in submerged landscapes shaped by sea-level fluctuations and high sedimentation.