Monthly Report to the Dean - June July 2008

To: Denis Wiesenburg, Dean SFOS
From: Paula Cullenberg, Interim Director, Alaska Sea Grant and MAP leader

Alaska Sea Grant (including Education Services and the Marine Advisory Program)
Monthly Report, June and July 2008

Announcements:

Don Kramer’s retirement party was July 17, and his last day in the office was July 31. He taught HACCP through July. Don will move to Vancouver, British Columbia at the end of October. We look forward to publishing don party a few ASG publications on seafood quality that he promises to write in the coming year.

Terry Johnson will move into the Anchorage MAP office Sept. 1. He will be on sabbatical Aug. 17-May 16. Our Homer Marine Advisory Program office will close, although Carin Stephens, SFOS Public Information Officer will be based out of Terry’s old office.

The hiring committee for the Dillingham MAP agent includes Torie Baker (chair), Milo Adkison, Debbie McLean Nelson (Bristol Bay Campus), Fritz Johnson (BBEDC), and Molly Chythlook (BBNA).

ASG is revising our strategic plan. Carol Kaynor posted a Web survey for stakeholder input, and Advisory Committee members Jeff Stephan, Molly McCammon, Bill Streever, Arliss Sturgulweski, and Dorothy Childers met with Paula, Kurt Byers, and others this month to modify the plan. The survey can be found at www.alaskaseagrant.org

Upcoming:
August 12-14. Sea Grant West Coast Fisheries Extension Educator Conclave, Petersburg.
September 19, ASG annual report is due, electronically to National Sea Grant.
October 9-10, MAP annual meeting in Fairbanks. ASG staff and MAP will meet also.
November 20-21, ASG Advisory Committee meeting at the National Park Service office, Anchorage.

Highlights from June and July:

Ecosystems and Habitats
Gary Freitag surveyed for seabird remains near Ketchikan as part of COASST monitoring, and developed beach profile forms. He also recruited and trained Cheryl Fultz (planning manager for SEAPRO, an Oil spill response business) to be a COASST monitor. Gary is arranging to get lexan-mounted European green crabs for presentations. He deployed a trap for invasive green crabs at the Trident Seafood plant; he did not find any crabs.

Gary and Reid Brewer sampled for invasive tunicates. Reid found none near Unalaska, but Gary found the invasive tunicate Distaplia spp., which is the first time he has seen it in Ketchikan. He sent the data to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Laboratory.

Gary made a presentation aboard the cruise ship Statendam, describing the environmental issues of the cruise ship industry. With John Binkley, president of the Alaska Cruise Association, he discussed trace metal discharge requirements that are going to be imposed in two years. Of primary concern to the industry is the requirement of less than 3.1 parts per billion of copper.

Kate Wynne conducted an aerial survey of Steller sea lions in north Kodiak waters with NOAA/NMML, and made a monthly aerial survey to monitor marine mammal distribution in Uganik Bay and other north Kodiak waters. She also conducted gray whale research in Ugak Bay, and humpback whale research in Chiniak/Marmot Bay, including photo-identification and sampling.

Kate responded to several NOAA requests for assistance with whale carcass response to vessel strikes. She also provided information to NMFS, Alaska SeaLife Center, veterinarians, and managers for a strategy to examine increasing humpback whale carcasses in the Gulf of Alaska that may be related to a domoic acid “event.”

Kate was co-author on the following published article: B.H. Witteveen, R.J. Foy, K.Wynne, and Y. Tremblay. 2008. Investigation of foraging habits and prey selection by humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) using acoustic tags and concurrent fish surveys. Marine Mammal Sci. 24(3):516-534.

Kate presented two marine mammal training sessions for NMFS groundfish observers at the Observer Training Center, to a total of 43 students.

Heidi Herter drafted a planning design for a community-based Snake River monitoring project, for the Seward Peninsula Environmental Monitoring Program.

SFOS professor Keith Criddle convened 16 people representing Alaska stakeholders, to establish research priorities for the Aleutians. Peggy Merritt led the analytical hierarchy process, to prioritize survey input. ASG staff organized the meeting. The Aleutians research plan project is funded by National Sea Grant. More information is available at http://seagrant.uaf.edu/research/projects/initiatives/marine_research_plan/general/

Assisted by MAP agent Terry Reeve, young scientists from Quinhagak have deployed 5 satellite-tracked drifter buoys in Kuskokwim Bay to collect data on juvenile salmon. For more information on this summer's deployment in Kuskokwim Bay, see the Juvenile Salmon Dispersal: A Drifter-based View Web site. The project is led by SFOS faculty member Tom Weingartner.

Reid Brewer made use of a giant Pacific hooked squid that washed ashore in Unalaska Bay as a teaching session for the Tide Pool Posse kids’ camp. It is the third squid of this species to wash up in Unalaska in the past four years. This one was only 7 feet long; previous strandings were 12 feet and 9 feet.

Reid provided logistics and outreach support for research projects near Unalaska: Halibut research, Andrew Seitz, SFOS, UAF; Killer whale identification and tissue sampling, Mike Britton, North Gulf Oceanic Society; Brand re-sights of Steller sea lions, Paul Tate and Lowell Fritz, AFSC; Sea urchin research, Brenda Konar, SFOS, UAF; Social vulnerability of coastal communities to climate change, Philip Loring, UAF; MACE Pollock Survey, Nicola Hillgruber, SFOS, UAF.

Adie Callahan oversaw the distribution of more than 900 copies of the book Rat Control for Alaska Waterfront Facilities, by Terry Johnson, and Beverly Bradley distributed 800 posters Rats Are Bad News, to Alaska coastal communities, ports, and seafood processing facilities. Deborah Mercy designed the posters. This project is part of the collaborative Stop Rats project. See our rat prevention and eradication Web page at http://seagrant.uaf.edu/map/conservation/rats/index

Heidi Herter worked with Wes Jones, Mark Hottman, and Greg Rosenkranz, ADFG, and Dan Doolittle, Katchemak Bay Research Reserve, to survey crab habitat off of St. Lawrence Island using a sled-towed video camera. Videos show intact habitats and use by commercially valuable blue king and opilio crabs.

Coastal Communities and Economies
Glenn Haight and Greg Fisk traveled to Elfin Cove in June to present 3 sessions on direct marketing. Trollers in Elfin Cove were focused on gaining direct market licenses for roe recovery. A successful roe season is estimated to be worth $5,000 in new revenues, with low costs. The sessions covered Direct Marketing 101, Filling out the Dang Permit/Licensing Forms, and Talking to DEC.

3,800 fuel efficiency brochures and 100 posters were mailed to harbormasters. Paula Cullenberg initiated the effort; Terry Johnson wrote the text, and Jen Gunderson managed production. Carol Kaynor and others put together a Web page to help address skyrocketing fuel costs for fishermen. Doug Schneider also wrote a press release. Sen. Murkowski’s office and Cordova District Fishermen United contacted us with appreciation for the work.

Fisheries
The AKCRRAB (Alaska King Crab Research, Rehabilitation and Restoration and Biology) group met in July for planning and organization. They formed a new steering committee and began long-range planning. The 2008 larval rearing studies were successful, and survival rates for crabs hatched in 2008 are good.

Gary Freitag participated in a meeting of the Pacific Salmon Commission Chinook Technical Team in Seattle. Gary wrote the coast-wide escapement assessment part of the 2007 CTC annual report. The report will be used by management agencies to set catch limits and policy for allocation on the Pacific Coast.

Terry Reeve presented 2 workshops on salmon quality, and arranged markets with 2 large wholesalers and many individuals in Anchorage for the Bethel catcher/sellers program. He organized an all-day workshop to help local fishermen decide what kind of organizing is best for them. Andy Crow and Hans Geier presented information. About 10 fishermen attended the workshops.

Terry Reeve helped Doug Drum get a smoke plant operating in Marshall, and Terry held a salmon quality class there as well. Terry Reeve also is helping 3 salmon roe operators, for start-up in 2009 season in Bethel and lower Yukon.

Glenn Haight published an opinion piece on organic certification in the July 2008 issue of SeaFood Business.

Heidi Herter and Reba Lean collected 100+ sockeye smolt from Glacial Lake for comparison with smolt from the fertilized Salmon Lake, on the Seward Peninsula.

Heidi’s M.S. thesis manuscript “Transport of Dungeness crab megalopae into Glacier Bay, Alaska,” by H.L. Herter and G.L. Eckert was accepted for publication in Marine Ecology Progress Series.

Heidi coordinates a project taking king crab blood samples from the Norton Sound region in partnership with NOAA AFSC, UAS, andADFG, for a statewide genetics project.

Seafood Science
Chuck Crapo traveled with FITC Director Murat Balaban to Sitka, Ketchikan, Petersburg, and Cordova to visit 14 seafood processors. With plant managers, they discussed a MAP/FITC role in meeting industry needs.

Chuck is working as intermediary between seafood smokers and DEC inspectors on requirements for an approved process for smokers in Petersburg, Talkeetna, Naknek, and Haines.

Adie Callahan oversaw distribution for the book International Smoked Seafood Conference Proceedings, edited by Don Kramer and Liz Brown. Sue Keller managed production of the book, and Jen Gunderson did the layout.

Chuck Crapo helped Southeast and Dutch Harbor processors with a heat distribution study for their crab cookers. He also evaluated the need for antimicrobials in salmon spread, from an Anchorage food processor. Chuck provided seafood safety information to smokers in Seward, Talkeetna, Juneau, Kodiak, and Soldotna. He provided HACCP guidance to a Boston seafood company, and gave information to a Midwestern pet food manufacturer seeking fish enzymes for improving palatability.

Chuck assisted a Kodiak processor in a pasteurization process for flaked pink salmon, and consulted with seafood smokers in Seward, Kodiak, Petersburg, Old Harbor, Soldotna, Wrangell, Juneau, and Wasilla on process certification and product testing required by DEC. He provided information on struvite formation on canned salmon for processors and asked to participate in their summer testing trials. He provided heat distribution study results to a Homer processor, and gave information to a Seattle processor on preserving fresh shrimp.

Quentin Fong co-authored an article accepted for publication: F.J.M. Codero, Q.S.W. Fong, and M.C. Haws. 2009. Marketing extension and outreach in Sinaloa, Mexico: A preliminary analysis of preferences for oysters. Marine Resource Economics 26(1).

Ray RaLonde and Quentin Fong made the presentation “Transfer findings from the project ‘Economic feasibility of small-scale oyster farms in Alaska’” in the case Frank Grisold vs. City of Homer, City Clerk Jo Johnson and Kachemak Bay Shellfish Mariculture Association.

Marine Literacy
In June, Gary Freitag set up a booth at World Ocean Day at the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute in Juneau, where he talked to a hundred or so visitors about ASG MAP. ASG brochures, catalogs, and tide tables were distributed. He presented a lecture on invasive species and monitoring, which was recorded by KTOO and transmitted several times statewide on Alaska PBS.

Reid Brewer taught at the Tide Pool Posse intertidal camp, for the City of Unalaska. Thirteen grade pre-K-3 children participated in the 3-week camp. www.alaskanewspapers.com/content/pdf/DH_06-19-08.pdf

Reid was an instructor for the one credit UAF Climate Change class in Kasitsna Bay, along with Susan Sugai, John Walsh, and Dave Atkinson. Six teachers learned about climate issues as they relate to weather, coastal erosion, oceanography, and biology. The teachers took part in lectures, lab work and field classes, designed coastal monitoring projects, and presented the projects to the class.

Reid published an Octopus Ink articleThe Future of Water and Food Security in Alaskain The Dutch Harbor Fisherman, Cordova Times, and Anchorage Daily News. He also hosted two FOAMI lectures at the Museum of the Aleutians: Philip Loring (UAF), The Future of Water and Food Security in Alaska and Lara Huton (IPHC), Changes in Pacific Halibut Management.

Alaska Seas and Rivers: Eleven Alaska teachers participated in a two-week workshop at Kasitsna Bay Lab, led by Marla Brownlee. They learned about marine research in Alaska, and drafted three units of instruction for middle school students. The online units for grades K-5 are being used by teachers now.

Kurt Byers led ASG’s cosponsorship for the UAFAlaska Book Festival in June. He brought Ketchikan artist Ray Troll to Fairbanks as the featured author. Troll gave a talk to 350 people and presented sessions on creating art from nature. Kathy Kurtenbach, Adie Callahan, and Cooperative Extension staff did 2 campfire cooking and outdoor safety sessions, for 60 kids ages 8-12. The children put together survival kits based on ASG’sOutdoor Survival Training booklet. Gayle Hutson talked with about 30 people during ASG’s book exhibit at the festival.

Heidi Herter made a presentation on the king crab project (AKCRRAB) to an Elderhostel group from Fairbanks. She has invited 9 additional IPY speakers to Nome for 2008-2009 year for her successful speaker series.

Rapid Response
MAP agents answered questions from the public on fishery product development (patent issues, source of raw materials, and funding); seafood pricing strategies; live fish markets and regulations; killer whale ecotypes; starting a charter business in Alaska; measuring salinity at aquaculture sites; likelihood of spotting salmon sharks from shore; improved king crab pot design; how to build a Dungeness crab pot; smoking fish methods; SHARC cards; options for fish freezing equipment at a remote fishing lodge; and paralytic shellfish poisoning.

The best-selling ASG books are Beating the Odds, Guide to Marine Mammals of Alaska, Bering Sea and Aleutians Islands, and Ocean Treasure. This summer there is a high request rate for books on outdoor safety training. People who recently ordered books from ASG cited the following uses:
- Monthly Reports to the Dean - 2008