subsistence – Alaska Sea Grant

Helping Halong recovery, one freezer at a time

By Tom Moran | February 24, 2026

A number of foods sit in a cardboard box in ziploc bags and shrink wrap, including salmon filets, salmon strips and other subsistence foods.

Ex-typhoon Halong couldn’t have come at a worse time for residents of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta—or for their freezers. “It’s fall time when the storms usually hit,” explained Katie Basile, Alaska…

Shaping the science on beaver expansion

By Kyle Kolda | February 12, 2026

Beavers may be new to the Arctic, but they’re already leaving their mark. The industrious rodents are expanding their range as a result of environmental change, pushing their way north…

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…

New film documents community resilience in Western Alaska

By Tom Moran | December 11, 2025

A man in camouflage top, large backpack and red hat hold a camera and microphone. He is interviewing an older man in jeans, black down jacket, sunglasses and baseball cap. It is fall and they stand in dead brown grass along a wide river.

A new short film details ways that residents in Western Alaska are responding constructively to changes to their local environment. “Cumikluten (Pay Attention)” is a 36-minute documentary produced by POLARIS,…

Tribal and fishing communities share strategies for adapting to change

By Alaska Sea Grant | May 22, 2025

Very blue image of sky, mountains and commercial fishing boat in the water somewhere in Coastal Alaska. White birds are flying over water.

Rapid change in Gulf of Alaska fisheries are disrupting established subsistence and commercial fishing practices that thousands of Alaskans depend on for food, livelihood and cultural well-being. Regional community organizations,…

SitNews: Southeast Alaska tribal council develops climate change plan

By Paula Dobbyn | June 28, 2019

Plants and animals important for subsistence, cash and culture are at risk, according to a new report from Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Alaska Sea Grant is one of the organizations that assisted with the report.

2018 Western Alaska Interdisciplinary Science Conference and Forum

By Alaska Sea Grant | January 17, 2018

Sharing Science and Knowledge. The annual Western Alaska Interdisciplinary Science Conference (WAISC) will bring together local and indigenous knowledge of subsistence-based communities and other scientific research relevant to the Bering…

UAF student Maggie Chan awarded marine policy fellowship in DC

By Sue Keller | November 20, 2017

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.

Gay Sheffield

By Dave Partee | October 24, 2017

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