Gay Sheffield

Marine Advisory Program Agent, Nome

(907) 443-2397

Contact Gay

Bio page

Marine Advisory Program
400 East Front Street
Nome, AK 99762

Gay Sheffield

Expertise

Marine ecology, marine mammals, subsistence harvest of marine resources, foraging ecology and diet.

Education

  • B.S. Environmental Conservation, University of New Hampshire
  • M.S. Marine Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Experience

More than 20 years' experience as a marine mammal biologist working on multispecies marine mammal projects, often among coastal communities in western and northern Alaska, primarily in the Bering Strait region.

Affiliations

  • Arctic Institute
  • Society for Marine Mammalogy

Selected publications

  • Stimmelmayr, R. and G. Sheffield. 2022.  Traditional conservation methods and food habits in the Arctic. Pages 469-501 In: Tryland, M. (eds) Arctic One Health. Springer, Cham. 573pp.  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87853-5_22
  • Sheffield, G., A. Ahmasuk, F. Ivanoff, A. Noongwook, and J. Koonooka, 2021. 2020 Foreign Marine Debris Event – Bering Strait. Arctic Report Card 2021, T.A. Moon, M. L. Druckenmiller, R. L. Thoman, Eds. https://doi.org/10.25923/jwag-eg41
  • Sheffield, G. and J. C. George. 2020. Diet and Prey. Pages 429-456. In The Bowhead Whale: Biology and Conservation J. G. M. 'Hans' Thewissen and John Craig
    George (eds.), Academic Press. 640pp. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818969-6.00028-5
  • Sheffield, G. 2017. Collecting Dead Marine Mammal Parts While Beachcombing. UAF Alaska Sea Grant Pub No.: M-212PDF. 2 pp. https://seagrant.uaf.edu/bookstore/pubs/M-212.html
  • Stimmelmayr, R., G.M. Ylitalo, G. Sheffield, K. Beckmen, K. Burek-Huntington, V. Metcalf, and T. Rowles. 2018. Oil Fouling in Three Subsistence-Harvested Ringed (Phoca hispida) and Spotted seals (Phoca largha) from the Bering Strait region, Alaska: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Bile and Tissue Levels and Pathological Findings. Marine Pollution Bulletin 130(2018):311-323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.02.040
  • George, J.C., G. Sheffield, D.J. Reed, B. Tudor, R. Stimmelmayr, B.T. Person, T. Sformo, and R. Suydam. 2017. Frequency of injuries from line entanglements, killer whales, and ship strikes on Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort Seas bowhead whales. Arctic 70(1):37–46. https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4631
  • Lefebvre, K., L. Quakenbush, E. Frame, K. Huntington, G. Sheffield, R. Stimmelmayr, A. Bryan, P. Kendrick, H. Ziel, T. Goldstein, J. Snyder, T. Gelatt, F. Gulland, B. Dickerson, and V. Gill. 2016. Prevalence of algal toxins in Alaskan marine mammals foraging in a changing arctic and subarctic environment. Harmful Algae 55 (2016) 13–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hal.2016.01.007
  • Bodenstein, B., K. Beckmen, G. Sheffield, K. Kuletz, C. Van Hemert, B. Berlowski, and V. Shearn-Boschler. 2015. Avian cholera causes marine bird mortality in the Bering Sea of Alaska. Long Letter. Journal of Wildlife Diseases Vol.51, No. 4, (October 2015) pp. 934–937. http://dx.doi.org/10.7589/2014-12-273
  • Reeves, R., C. Rosa, J.C. George, G. Sheffield, and M. Moore. 2012. Implications of Arctic industrial growth and strategies to mitigate future vessel and fishing gear impacts on bowhead whales. Marine Policy 36:454–462. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2011.08.005
  • Moore, S.E., J.C. George, G. Sheffield, J. Bacon, and C.J. Ashjian. 2010. Bowhead whale distribution and feeding near Barrow, Alaska, in late summer 2005–06. Arctic 63(2):195–205.
  • Sheffield, G., and J.M. Grebmeier. 2009. Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens): Differential prey digestion and diet. Marine Mammal Science 25(4):761–777. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2009.00316.x
  • Dehn, L.A., G.G. Sheffield, E.H. Follmann, L.K. Duffy, D.L. Thomas, and T.M. O'Hara. 2007. Feeding ecology of phocid seals and some walruses in the Alaskan and Canadian Arctic as determined by stomach contents and stable isotope analysis. Polar Biology 30(2):167–181. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-006-0171-0
  • Koski, W.R., J.C. George, G. Sheffield, and M.S. Galginaitis. 2005. Subsistence harvests of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) at Kaktovik, Alaska, 1973–2000. J. Cetacean Res. Manage. 7(1):33–37.
  • Lowry, L.F., G. Sheffield, and J.C. George. 2004. Bowhead whale feeding in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea, based on stomach content analysis. J. Cetacean Res. Manage. 6(3):215–223.
  • Simpkins, M.A., L.M. Hiruki-Raring, G. Sheffield, J.M. Grebmeier, and J.L. Bengtson. 2003. Habitat selection by ice-associated pinnipeds near St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, in March 2001. Polar Biology 26(9):577–586. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-003-0527-7

Other thoughts

The Bering Strait region is the crossroads of marine resources, cultures, countries, and opportunities!

Nome's Automated Identification System (AIS)

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