UAF CFOS
Marine educator retires after years of training teachers and students about Alaska’s seas and watersheds
Marilyn Sigman, Alaska Sea Grant’s longtime marine education specialist, recently completed her last day on the job and is now enjoying retirement in Homer. The faculty, staff and many collaborators miss her already. Sigman joined Alaska Sea Grant in 2009 and led marine education and literacy efforts across the state. While with Alaska Sea Grant,…
Read MoreNew video focuses on Alaska’s acidifying oceans
Ocean acidification is how scientists describe the lowering of the oceans’ pH. The oceans today are roughly 30 percent more acidic than they were during the Industrial Revolution some 300 years ago. The rise in ocean acidification (OA) is tied to higher levels of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere by fossil fuel burning…
Read MoreCordova urges support for Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
Cordova’s mayor is expressing strong support for the continued presence of an Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory agent in the Prince William Sound fishing community. Mayor Clay Koplin, in a column published this week in The Cordova Times, said the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program has had a presence in Cordova and the greater…
Read MoreLongtime Cordova agent poised to leave
After 15 years with the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program, our Cordova agent will be leaving us at month’s end. Torie Baker is resigning her post to turn her attention to family in the Lower 48. She’s not leaving Alaska permanently though. Baker says Cordova will remain her home. Over the years, Baker has…
Read MoreMarine advisory agents promoted
Julie Matweyou and Gary Freitag of Alaska Sea Grant’s Marine Advisory Program received promotions this month. Matweyou, the marine advisory agent based in Kodiak, received tenure and is now associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, where Alaska Sea Grant and the Marine Advisory Program are housed. Matweyou…
Read MoreScientists use app to engage citizens in ocean acidification study
Clam populations throughout Alaska have steadily declined for over 20 years, affecting subsistence, recreational and commercial harvesters. The exact causes of the decline are unknown. Suspected factors include habitat changes, environmental stressors, predation and, possibly, ocean acidification. Under the supervision of University of Alaska Fairbanks professor Amanda Kelley, PhD student Ashley Rossin is studying the…
Read MoreWhy are salmon shrinking? UAF professor tackles the topic at Rainforest Festival
When you hear the word rainforest, people often associate it with something tropical. Residents of Southeast Alaska might think differently though, since they’re surrounded by the 17-million-acre Tongass National Forest, a temperate rainforest. In Petersburg, the gifts of Alaska’s coastal rainforest were celebrated this month in a festival organized in part by Sunny Rice, Alaska…
Read MoreClams and climate change — new Alaska study examines the connections
SEWARD, Alaska — July fourth in Seward is known for its fireworks, festivities and the grueling Mt. Marathon race that draws elite athletes from around the world. But for a University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) graduate student, the holiday took on a whole different meaning this year. “It was the first time I was able…
Read MoreUAF student completes salmon predation study
Very few juvenile salmon return to spawn. Many are consumed by larger fish who eat them as they migrate from rivers or hatcheries to the ocean. That’s a problem for hatcheries that release millions of young salmon, called smolts, into the waters of coastal Alaska. Alaska Sea Grant funded research on chum salmon predation by…
Read MoreFellowship leads to job in governor’s office
An Alaska Sea Grant State Fellow has landed a full-time job as a policy and program analyst in Alaska’s Office of the Governor. “I will continue much of the work that I did as a fellow in policy research and stakeholder engagement, but with an expanded portfolio that includes climate change, marine resources, renewable energy…
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