Posts Tagged ‘Alaska’
Volunteers trained to respond to whale entanglements
When whales get entangled in fishing gear or other marine debris, it’s a potentially life-threatening event that takes a group of trained specialists to provide help. And with whale entanglements on the rise worldwide, it’s becoming an ever-more pressing need. Last month, Alaska Sea Grant teamed up with Ed Lyman of the National Oceanic and…
Read MoreSheffield, Ahmasuk honored for seabird mortality response
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has honored Alaska Sea Grant’s Gay Sheffield and Brandon Ahmasuk of Kawerak, Inc. for leading a coordinated response to seabird mortality events across the Bering and Chukchi region. Since 2013, Sheffield, an associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, and Ahmasuk have…
Read MoreBristol Bay students learn lessons in state politics in Juneau
Alaska Sea Grant is helping lead a group of Bristol Bay students in the state capital this week. Our Dillingham agent Gabe Dunham, together with University of Alaska Fairbanks emeritus professor Mike Davis, is teaching a seminar called “Fisheries and the Legislative Process.” The class is offered annually by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Bristol…
Read More“We have never been here before” — Gay Sheffield, on ecosystem-wide changes in the Bering Sea
The Bering Sea is undergoing massive changes that include the dramatic loss of sea ice last winter. As Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory agent Gay Sheffield notes in the interview below, “we have never been here before.” Sheffield spoke to the Associated Press at the American Geophysical Union conference this week in Washington, D.C., saying…
Read MoreNew cohort of State Fellows start Alaska-based jobs
For the fourth year, Alaska Sea Grant has funded five graduate students to begin marine policy and science communications work with local host organizations this fall. Modeled after the highly successful Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship, the Alaska Sea Grant State Fellowship provides recent graduates with a unique professional opportunity to work firsthand on the science…
Read MoreGraying of the Fleet research wins national award
Alaska Sea Grant-supported researchers won a national award at Sea Grant Week in Portland, Ore., this month for a study on how to boost access to Alaska commercial fisheries by young and rural residents. The Sea Grant Association, comprised of Sea Grant program directors from 33 coastal universities, presented its Research to Application award to…
Read MoreNew artwork in Dillingham showcases water as a source of life and culture
The Dillingham School District recently installed a mural called “Water is Our Way of Life.” The mural highlights the important role water serves as a source of culture, food and recreation within the Bristol Bay community, where fishing is a key economic and cultural activity. Icicle Seafoods contributed $1,800 toward the mural’s creation. It was…
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 MoreSupport for Alaska’s blue economy signed into law
Alaska’s emerging mariculture industry is getting a boost. Gov. Bill Walker signed a bill this week making it easier for shellfish hatchery owners to access loan funds to grow their businesses. House Bill 76 amends the Alaska Mariculture Revolving Loan Fund so that non-profit hatcheries, not just individual farmers, can apply for loans to market seeds to grow seaweed,…
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