Tom Moran

A seafood success story

By Tom Moran | August 13, 2026

A smiling middle-aged man with big black and gray hair and a graying beard, in a blue shirt and black baseball cap.

A 14-hour shift can’t dampen Jake Merzoian’s enthusiasm for Alaska Sea Grant. “I’m really aspiring to get into upper management, and here’s this program that’s been able to help me…

Alaska Sea Grant announces 2026 State Fellows

By Tom Moran | August 4, 2026

Fifteen recent graduates from across the country will spend a year working with Alaskan agencies and organizations through the Alaska Sea Grant State Fellowship program. This year’s fellows will be…

Enhancing safety culture in mariculture

By Tom Moran | July 10, 2026

Three people sit inside a bulbous orange capsule designed for survival at sea.

There will likely never be a reality show called “Deadliest Kelp.” But even if mariculture in Alaska doesn’t have the same dangerous reputation as commercial fishing, it’s still a hazardous…

Alaska Sea Grant goes to school

By Tom Moran | June 23, 2026

A teenager stands in a classroom wearing an orange mylar bag with a face opening and arms.

Fish often congregate in schools. In Alaska’s coastal communities, so do potential fishermen. That’s why Alaska Sea Grant is increasing its emphasis on offering commercial fishing instruction to students in…

AKSEA program fosters educational collaborations

By Tom Moran | June 22, 2026

A woman holds up a jellyfish made of purple and yellow construction paper.

When it comes to crafting educational resources, four heads are better than one. That’s the idea behind the Alaska Knowledge, Science, and Education Alliance (AKSEA), which just concluded its first…

Lessons from Newtok

By Tom Moran | June 19, 2026

Two young Alaska Native women hold up a stained glass window. The window is made of around a dozen pieces of stained glass in blues and greens, some of which incorporate faint images and writing.

Towns don’t get much more different than Newtok, Alaska, and Provincetown, Massachusetts. But the recently relocated Yup’ik village near the Bering Sea coast and the resort town on the tip…

In a typhoon’s wake at WAISC

By Tom Moran | May 18, 2026

An Alaska Native elder in a blue sweater stands before a microphone, speaking to a crowd of people sitting at folding tables.

Ex-Typhoon Halong played itself out in the northern stretches of the Bering Sea more than six months ago. But the storm’s continuing power was evident at the 2026 Western Alaska…

Petersburg plans for landslides

By Tom Moran | April 16, 2026

Two men with backpacks look down the path of a landslide through a forest.

You can’t do much to stop a landslide. But in Petersburg, an Alaska Sea Grant-supported effort will help residents better understand which areas are most at risk. “We’ve seen a…

Fishing up marine debris with the Fosses

By Tom Moran | April 14, 2026

A man in a blue raincoat, orange gloves and black rubber suspenders - fishing gear - stands atop a fishing boat next to a giant plastic bag full of garbage. Another bag is below him.

In a typical summer, Sitka fisherman Jacquie Foss and her family travel hundreds of miles around Southeast Alaska, averaging only eight miles an hour. While their profession affords them countless…

Mariculture Conference draws a crowd

By Tom Moran | April 7, 2026

A fancy tray of oysters, with a hand in a blue glove holding an oyster shucker.

All photos by Jessica Whitney/Alaska Sea Grant Alaska’s enthusiasm for mariculture was evident at last month’s Mariculture Conference of Alaska. More than 300 people gathered in Anchorage for the three-day…