August 2012 - Alaska Sea Grant

Alaska Sea Grant: Research, Education Services, and Marine Advisory Program David Christie, Director • Paula Cullenberg, Associate Director • Torie Baker, Interim MAP Leader August 2012 Monthly Update On the schedule: Sept. 7-­‐9 Tongass Rainforest Festival, Petersburg Sept. 15 Home Canning Workshop, Dillingham Sept. 17-­‐18 MAP Annual Meeting, Anchorage/Girdwood Sept. 17-­‐22 National Sea Grant Week, Girdwood Sept. 26 Alaska Marine Policy Forum Conference Call, 1 pm Oct. 3-­‐6 Salmon-­‐in-­‐the-­‐Classroom Rural Alaska Teacher In-­‐Service, Fairbanks Oct. 4-­‐5 HACCP Workshop, Anchorage Oct. 21-­‐26 American Fisheries Society Alaska Chapter meeting, Kodiak Nov. 8-­‐9 ASG Advisory Committee Meeting, Anchorage Feb. 5-­‐6, 2013 Bering Strait Maritime Symposium, Nome Mar. 26-­‐29 28th Wakefield, Responses of Arctic Marine Ecosystems to Climate Change, Anchorage Highlights from August: HEALTHY COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS Gary Freitag was interviewed extensively by KRBD public radio on the tsunami debris/invasive issue in Alaska that aired statewide on APRN Alaska News Nightly. http://www.krbd.org/2012/08/27/tsunami-­‐debris-­‐threatens-­‐
marine-­‐life-­‐state-­‐budgets/ Gay Sheffield gave a presentation on results of post mortem findings among Alaska UME (Unusual Mortality Event) animals to the Alaska Northern Pinniped UME Working Group via teleconference. Attendees included Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans, USFWS, NMFS, and North Slope Borough. Gay also helped prepare gear and arranged travel and lodging for fall bowhead whale biological sampling crews in Kaktovik for the North Slope Borough’s Health Assessment program. Partners include USFWS, the borough’s Department of Wildlife Management, Native Village of Kaktovik, and Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission. This month, Gay received marine mammal stranding reports on a harbor porpoise, a gray whale, two unidentified whales, and eight walrus carcasses in the Nome area. Kate Wynne was notified of two dead whales in the Kodiak area. Both submitted data forms to NMFS. Also in Kodiak, Bree Witteveen assisted Ed Lyman NOAA with response to a humpback whale entanglement in Uyak Bay. Gay helped coordinate an USCG/Eskimo Walrus Commission/MAP coastal carcass survey between Nome and Cape Espenberg (280 miles) by helicopter; 20 whale and walrus carcasses were counted. SUSTAINABLE COASTAL DEVELOPMENT Gary was on a local escort team introducing UA President Gamble to Alaska maritime and fisheries industry sectors represented on Ketchikan’s working waterfront during the president’s visit. Among topics discussed were industry perspectives on training needs highlighted in UA’s Fisheries, Seafood, Maritime workforce development initiative. Visits included Trident’s new seafood processing plant, OceansAlaska, Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association’s hatchery and lab, the Alaska Marine Highway headquarters offices, and the Alaska Ship & Drydock facility. Izetta Chambers is teaching Personal and Business Finance this semester through the UAF Bristol Bay campus. The course is designed to help students develop personal financial goals and make purchasing decisions including those related to commercial fishing businesses. Five aquaculture apprentices were trained in Kake as part of a NOAA aquaculture development grant. Ray RaLonde taught an overview of shellfish aquaculture in Alaska, shellfish anatomy and biology, oceanography for shellfish aquaculture, and water quality monitoring. Rodger Painter Alaska Shellfish Association taught aquaculture business, and UAF graduate student Tom Fletcher taught farm management. SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD SUPPLY Terry Johnson participated as an advisor to Alaska commissioners at the annual meeting of the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission in San Francisco. Torie Baker, Chuck Crapo, and two UAF Institute of Northern Engineering faculty completed energy audits in two southeast Alaska seafood processing plants. They metered refrigeration, cold storage, and pump energy demands. This marks the end of the third sampling season for the project, which is being done in partnership with the Alaska Energy Authority. Final reporting is due later this fall. During a five-­‐day trip to the Shumagin Islands, Bree gathered fin and humpback whale photo-­‐identification data and biopsy samples. This is the 12th year of effort there. She also made a bimonthly aerial survey of marine mammals in northern Kodiak waters. Kate, Bree, and UAF postdoctoral fellow Lei Guo completed two five-­‐day cruises to document whale presence and absence and characterized prey availability to whales through acoustic surveys, in Kodiak’s Marmot and Uganik Bays. The objective of this data collection is to establish three index sites around Kodiak Island in areas frequented by whales and to monitor interannual variation of whale/prey relationships and oceanographic conditions. At the Sitka Seafood Festival, Sunny hosted an informational booth in partnership with the UAF Cooperative Extension Service featuring university seafood extension services and answering questions. HAZARD RESILIENT COASTAL COMMUNITIES Julie Matweyou, Brian Himelbloom and a canine assistant collected shellfish at Kodiak Island’s Mayflower Beach for an NPRB-­‐funded paralytic shellfish poisoning project. During minus tides they collected butter clams, blue mussels, cockles, and littleneck clams for PSP testing later this fall (photo). At the Kodiak Alutiiq Museum Lecture Series, Julie was a featured speaker on PSP issues around Kodiak Island. She focused on State of Alaska epidemiology case studies, which led to an extended audience discussion. Ray RaLonde provided PSP training in Homer, Ninilchik, Port Graham, and Seldovia, for a community-­‐based monitoring program directed by the Kachemak Bay Estuarine Research Reserve. Torie led a Boating Without the Boys marine safety and small boat handling class for 11 participants in Cordova. She co-­‐taught the two-­‐day session with an USFS biologist/diver and a local boat rental business owner (Seawan Gehlbach, photo). Aimed at increasing women boater competency, the course covers navigation, trip planning, coldwater safety, emergency communication, outboard troubleshooting, anchoring, trailering, and line handling. Alaska Marine Safety Education Association assisted with registration. Julie was invited to the Kodiak USCG Auxiliary monthly meeting where she gave a presentation on MAP and discussed opportunities for collaboration, particularly marine safety training. This month the US Coast Guard announced mandatory compliance of all U.S. fishing vessels to complete USCG-­‐
authorized vessel safety inspections by October 15, 2012. In response, Torie assisted local fishing organizations and individuals by disseminating the notice, arranging for exams, and providing inspection checklists. Non-­‐
compliance will result in voyage termination. MARINE LITERACY AND STEWARDSHIP Gary participated in the SeaGlide workshop for teachers and students as part of the STEMS summer science camp series that took place in Ketchikan. High school students constructed and tested small automatous underwater vehicles (AUVs) utilizing a variety of skills including soldering, circuitry, principles of hydrodynamics, etc. Visiting MIT students assisting at the camp were testing a prototype AUV brought from their laboratory. To the delight and excitement of young and not so young, Gary recorded underwater video of the MIT AUV (photo) by “chasing” it with OceansAlaska’s ROV which allowed all to better understand remote technology applications. With the start of the school year, MAP agents in Petersburg, Dillingham and Unalaska/Dutch Harbor held meetings with prospective 2013 Tsunami Bowl high school teams and teachers. The theme of this year’s statewide competition is: “A Window into Freshwater Science”; fifteen schools have already signed up for the annual February contest in Seward including teams coached by Sunny Rice and Reid Brewer. Two Alaska Seas and Rivers (ASR) curriculum investigations were selected for inclusion in the National Science Foundation Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network collection of national educational resources. Two of ASR’s investigation segments within the grade 8 curriculums passed a rigorous review by climate scientists and educators. Only 480 resources were selected from 15,000 entrees. During curriculum development, Marilyn Sigman provided substantial writing and editorial support to the projects. In Nome, Gay hosted a Strait Science Series public talk featuring SFOS Institute of Marine Science director Dr. Terry Whitledge with a presentation entitled: “Science at Sea”. RAPID RESPONSE MAP and Kodiak faculty answered questions on halibut logbooks; pressure bleeding on a sport fishing boat; direct marketing salmon; dipnetting for salmon; sea otter research; questions from tourists; avian flu potential in Alaska seals; radiation levels; Pacific cod with skin lesions; marine debris; muskoxen; beachcast tusk salvage requirements; information on ocean conditions for expeditioner wanting to cross Bering Strait; TEK study in Bering Strait on effects of sounds on marine mammals (Statoil); local contamination of birds and other wildlife via public dumpsites (U. Southern Illinois); climate change project in Unalakleet (U. Washington); end of fishing season financial management decision-­‐making; financing options to buy into PWS and Southeast gillnet and seine salmon fisheries; fishing business transition planning and publications; provided information to NOAA on shellfish aquaculture in Alaska, for the Army Corps of Engineers nationwide permit program; advised on developing a Fairbanks specialty food business.