Nome – Alaska Sea Grant

Faces of Alaska Sea Grant: Gay Sheffield

By Kyle Kolda | October 29, 2026

A woman in a purple down jacket and orange Alaska Sea Grant hat stands in front of the ocean, with distant industrial equipment behind her.

Gay Sheffield is Alaska Sea Grant’s Marine Advisory Program Agent for the Bering Strait region, based in Nome. Gay works alongside the people and communities of Western Alaska to share knowledge, connect people and research, and support the region’s marine ecosystems, wildlife, food security and way of life. Learn more about her in this video.

Sharing science across Alaska

By Tom Moran | March 18, 2026

A montage of posters advertising public lectures on science topics.

What do walrus monitoring, the Tracy Arm tsunami and salmon bycatch have in common? All of them are important topics for audiences in Alaska’s coastal communities. Which is why each…

Hooking Nome students on HAB research

By Tom Moran | February 9, 2026

A high school student in a brown parka and black pants holds a small fish in his hand and smiles broadly. He sits on the ice with his other hand holding a stick with a line running into the hole. Beside him are a clipboard and a bucket.

Ice fishing is not the most common method of data collection. But for students at Nome-Beltz High School, a couple of afternoons in December spent jigging for tomcod was a…

Conference addresses rapid change in Western Alaska

By Kate Barber | April 24, 2024

woman talking to a crowd about indigenous languages

The 16th Western Alaska Interdisciplinary Science Conference was held in Nome this month, hosted by Alaska Sea Grant and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Northwest Campus. The four-day conference brought…

Raising awareness about algal toxins in the Bering Strait region

By Paula Dobbyn | July 31, 2019

Health care professionals and the public attended a two-day workshop in Nome last July to learn about the growing threat from algal toxins. More than 40 people participated in the…

KNOM: Unusual ice seal deaths reported in Western Alaska; NOAA investigating

By Alaska Sea Grant | June 13, 2019

According to Gay Sheffield with Alaska Sea Grant, last month, 12 dead ringed seals were found in Nome alone.

Nome Nugget: Slight uptick in Cesium-137 heralds arrival Of Fukushima plume in Northern Bering Sea

By Alaska Sea Grant | March 13, 2019

After the 2011 tsunami that caused the destruction of a nuclear powerplant at Fukushima, Japan, Bering Sea coastal residents anticipated that some radiation would show up in the region. Now it has, but at levels that are well below concern.

Gay Sheffield

By Dave Partee | October 24, 2017

Gay SheffieldMarine Advisory Program Agent, Nome (907) 443-2397 Contact Gay Bio page UAF Northwest Campus Marine Advisory Program 400 East Front Street Nome, AK 99762 Gay Sheffield Expertise Marine ecology,…