Updated April 29: download the PDF Agenda/Schedule and Abstract Book.

Updated April 18: see below for new listing of partnered activities for children and adults.

Updated April 19: The poster presentations are now available to view.

Registration

Registration is free and open to the public.

Register for KAMSS

Poster presentations

The poster presentations are available to preview and download on the KAMSS 2021 Poster Session page.

Partnered activities

Kodiak 4-H Marine Debris Fish Project
on display April 19–23

Kodiak 4-H partnered with Alaska Sea Grant to bring Kodiak youth the opportunity to come together, clean up our beaches and make a statement with their art during the Kodiak Area Marine Science Symposium and for Earth Day. The art will be displayed during the entire week of KAMSS (April 19-23) downtown at the Kodiak History Museum and the Kodiak Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. Photos of the display will be shared through the KAMSS 2021 Poster page and on the 4-H event page. Join us in celebrating our youth advocacy.

Buskin Beach Cleanup
Friday, April 23, 4–6 pm

Sponsored by Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak, Alaska Sea Grant, and Island Trails Network
In celebration of Earth Day 2021 the Suna’q Tribe of Kodiak and Alaska Sea Grant are organizing a beach cleanup. Meet at Buskin Beach Parking Lot and check in at 4:00 pm. Dress for the weather and bring a pair of gloves. Trash bags and hand sanitizer will be provided. Volunteers can assist with cleanup or help sort the debris for recycling. We will encourage social distancing and recommend masks as appropriate if you will be working alongside others. Day use parking fee will be waived for this event.

Kodiak Public Library
April 19–23

The Kodiak Public Library will be sharing marine resources and activities throughout the week. A children’s Glow in the Dark Jellyfish craft event will be held Tuesday April 20th at 4:00 pm on Zoom; packets are ready for pick up. Join us outside for story walk featuring Baby Whale’s Journey and sea poems. A display of children’s books about whales and sea life is available in the children’s room and YouTube StoryTime will feature Humphrey The Lost Whale. Please visit the Kodiak Public Library website for details.

Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge
April 19–23

The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge will be sharing marine fun facts, photos and art activities. Check out the Kodiak Refuge Facebook page during the week. Art supplies for take-home activities are available at our door and the Kodiak 4-H marine debris exhibit will be displayed. Find us at the Kodiak Refuge Visitor Center on 402 Center Avenue.

Event description

We are pleased to continue the Kodiak Area Marine Science Symposium (KAMSS) as a virtual event in 2021. Last year KAMSS was canceled due to COVID-19. This year we are happy to come together in April 2021 through our virtual event. KAMSS 2021 will be the 4th regional symposium that connects the Kodiak community to the marine science research around them.

Hosted by the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program with support from regional partners and contributors, KAMSS provides a forum for researchers to share findings within the research community and to the general public. The symposium offers opportunity for stakeholders to engage and understand how Kodiak’s marine environment and resources function, change, and affect our lives and livelihoods and offers a venue for researchers to plan for integrated, cooperative and community-inspired marine research.

Patterned after the preceding symposiums, KAMSS 2021 oral and poster presentations will span a variety of marine science and related fields pertinent to our healthy coastal  community. Sessions will be organized thematically and delivered over the course of the week via Zoom. The sessions will be based on abstracts submitted for KAMSS 2020.

Details from previous KAMSS events, including links to the programs and abstracts, can be viewed by visiting KAMSS 2017.

Keynote

Dr. Steven Barbeaux

Monday, April 19  •  6pm
Dr. Steven Barbeaux
Heatwave impacts on the Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod

Pacific cod has been an important food and economic resource in Alaska for millennia. The population declined through the mid-2000s, however a series of high recruitments starting in 2006 helped the stock recover. In the beginning of 2014, the future for Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) looked bright, with the fishery earning on average $103 million. From 2014–2016, an unprecedented warming event triggered changes in the GOA ecosystem, and continued declines resulted in the closure of the fishery in 2020. This talk will describe how changes in the ecosystem during the heatwave affected the GOA Pacific cod stock and how this stock may fair in a warming world.

A graduate of the University of Washington School of Fisheries, Dr. Barbeaux works as a research fisheries biologist at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, and is the lead stock assessment author for the Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod stock. Steve was raised in a fishing family on the Great Lakes, and still has close family fishing there. He began his career with NOAA as a contracted fisheries observer in Alaska in 1996, and has been employed as a research fisheries biologist with the Status of Stocks and Multispecies Assessment Program since 2002.

Call for abstracts

KAMSS 2021 will feature presentations submitted under the 2020 Call for Abstracts.

Steering committee

• Julie Matweyou (chair), University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program, Kodiak
• Julie Bonney, Alaska Groundfish Data Bank, Kodiak
• Robin Corcoran, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, Kodiak
• Brian Himelbloom, University of Alaska Fairbanks (retired), Kodiak
• Tyler Kornelis, Kodiak Area Native Association, Kodiak
• Mike Litzow, NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Kodiak
• Jo Ellen Lottsfeldt, Resident and MA student through Miami University, Kodiak-Anchorage
• Molly Odell, Alutiiq Museum, Kodiak
• Theresa Peterson, Alaska Marine Conservation Council, Kodiak
• Nick Sagalkin, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Kodiak
• Cindy Trussell, University of Alaska Anchorage, Kodiak College, Kodiak
• Matthew Van Daele, Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak, Kodiak
• Nathan Weber, Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association, Kodiak