news – Alaska Sea Grant

Fellowship spotlight: Rachel French

By Kyle Kolda | May 28, 2026

A young woman wearing a winter cap and life jacket smiling at camera while holding up a piece of kelp. Blue sky is behind her.

For the past two years, Rachel French has supported Alaska’s growing kelp and oyster industry as an Alaska Sea Grant State Fellow with the mariculture team. She updated key oyster and kelp farming resources to strengthen connections to promote sustainable practices.

Arctic Research Open House booth bags a crowd

By Alaska Sea Grant | May 27, 2026

A woman in a pink hat stands by a table squeezing an ink tube. The table is covered with seven colorful trays of ink, each with a little roller.

Visitors to Alaska Sea Grant’s booth at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Arctic Research Open House were left holding the bag. Attendees at the May 14 event block-printed images…

Alaska Sea Grant announces research awards

By Alaska Sea Grant | May 26, 2026

A woman stands on the deck of a boat holding a crossbow. She smiles at the camera. She has an infant strapped to her chest. In the distance is a whale fluke.

Alaska Sea Grant’s latest round of research projects stretch across the state of Alaska and the scale of life on earth. The five projects selected to receive Alaska Sea Grant…

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…

Alaska Sea Grant announces 2026 Community-Engaged Fellows

By Alaska Sea Grant | May 14, 2026

A young woman in a lab coat and goggles hovers her hand above a water pitcher in a laboratory.

Six undergraduate students will get a leg up in their careers this summer while helping Alaska’s coastal communities through Alaska Sea Grant’s Community-Engaged Fellowship program. The fellows will work on…

Alaska Sea Grant at ComFish

By Alaska Sea Grant | May 5, 2026

Two men stand over a rope and tie orange floats to it with blue rope.

Kodiak fishermen brought their A-game to the city harbor last month for a timed skills competition. A dozen local fishers took part in the friendly contest, organized by Alaska Sea…

Old Harbor studies the old ways

By Kyle Kolda | April 21, 2026

A teenage girl in orange overalls and a black T-shirt leans over a hole in the dirt with a trowel. Beside her, another teenage girl in a maroon hoodie and blue pants crouches over the hole, also holding a trowel.

Old Harbor is turning to its past to plot out its future. With support from Alaska Sea Grant, a group of researchers are partnering with the Alutiiq Tribe of Old…

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…