News
The latest news from Alaska Sea Grant
Some of the biggest seafood processors operating in Alaska sent their top cadre of workers to the Alaska Seafood Processing Leadership Institute in Kodiak this fall. The institute, called ASPLI, is one of the state’s leading training programs serving Alaska’s seafood industry, which employs nearly 57,000 workers. As the state’s largest manufacturing sector, seafood processors produced 2.7 billion pounds of Alaska products in Alaska in 2016, with a wholesale vaue of $4.2 billion, according to McDowell Group.
As investigators hunt for clues, tests show biotoxins in stomach contents and intestines of four walruses.
Quentin Fong, Alaska Sea Grant’s seafood marketing specialist, assisted federal efforts to crack down on seafood fraud. Scientists are developing a new method for matching protein to particular fish to prevent mislabeling, a problem that affects millions of consumers.
Maggie Chan, graduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, will head to Washington, DC, next year as a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow. She is in a select group nominated by Sea Grant programs nationwide who will start their fellowships in February 2018, and continues the recent success of Knauss applicants from Alaska.
Inventions and new research in seafood technology are the subject of an upcoming conference at the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska, near Anchorage.
Alaska Sea Grant’s latest annual report is now available. The report captures many of the highlights of our work over the past year in research, education and outreach to benefit the people, economies and ecosystems of coastal Alaska.
An underwater robot with a custom-built arm may become a useful tool in seaweed farming, an emerging industry in Alaska. Alaska Sea Grant’s Gary Freitag designed and modified the seaweed-plucking arm to help our state’s aquaculture industry expand its reach.
Alaska Sea Grant has received funding to help marine aquaculture businesses in the state find good locations, obtain geoduck seeds and avoid shutdowns after heavy rains.
Severe storms, loss of sea ice, crumbling shoreline. These are just a few of the impacts Alaska is experiencing as the result of climate change. Alaska’s governor and Lt. governor are preparing to release a new climate change strategy for the state. One of our fellows has been working to develop it from the halls of state government in Juneau.
Our Nome-based Marine Advisory agent Gay Sheffield stopped by the studios of KNOM-FM recently to discuss the federal government’s decision not to grant protections to the Pacific walrus under the Endangered Species Act. “Listing the walrus isn’t going to bring the sea ice back,” she said. Listen to the full interview here.