Vol. 29, No. 9
September 2009
Clean Boating for Alaskans is a new 28 page booklet, published by Alaska Sea Grant, that will help all Alaska boaters ensure the quality of our pristine marine environment. The publication tells how boat operations can affect the environment and how to minimize their impact. Learn how to—immediately and in the future—operate a boat more efficiently and with more environmental responsibility, and save money at the same time. Tips include how to save fuel, keep the operation and maintenance green, mitigate marine debris, respect wildlife, and access the latest boat technology.
The booklet is a collaboration of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, National Park Service, and Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program. The text was written by Terry Johnson, with contributions from staff of AMCC, Cook Inletkeeper, Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation, Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, and Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. To get a free copy, go to http://seagrant.uaf.edu/bookstore/pubs/MAB-63.html.
Izetta Chambers, Bristol Bay MAP agent. B. Bradley photo.
Bristol Bay resident Izetta Chambers started work in August as the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory agent, to help users of marine resources. She is based in Dillingham at the UAF Bristol Bay campus, and serves Bristol Bay, the eastern Aleutians, and the Alaska Peninsula. A longtime resident of Naknek, Chambers recently returned from the University of Arizona with a law degree.
Chambers is embarking on several fronts at once. First, she is interested in helping people with seafood processing and seafood marketing businesses. For this she will be able to draw on her own experience—she and her family operate Naknek Family Fisheries.
Chambers also wants to reduce or eliminate the practice of grinding fish waste and dumping it into rivers and the bay. "One of my big long term goals is to move the entire Alaska seafood industry from very wasteful to zero waste," said Chambers. To do that, she plans to bring together seafood scientists, biologists, and economists to find uses for byproducts, such as garden fertilizer that bay residents can use to grow their own food. This year Chambers was one of nine winners in the Alaska Marketplace competition for her business making plant food from salmon processing compost.
Another issue that Chambers will explore with residents is mining and possible offshore oil and gas development. "I'll probably be organizing conferences and putting on workshops, and inviting people from both sides to state their positions and present data," Chambers said.
In addition, she wants to investigate the causes of outmigration from the region to urban areas in search of jobs and higher education. She notes that the high school student body in Naknek has halved since she graduated in 1993. Contact Chambers at 907-842-8323 or izetta.chambers@alaska.edu.
Michael Smith, high school student in Quinhagak, Alaska. R. Knecht photo.
Bethel MAP agent Terry Reeve serves as coordinator and planner for the Quinhagak ecotourism/archeology project in southwestern Alaska. During a two-week dig this summer, 2,000-3,000 artifacts were collected from one house pit site. Items of "museum quality" were discovered daily, including carved artwork, grass mats, rope, and weapons. According to lead archeologist Rick Knecht, of UAF and University of Aberdeen, Scotland, the crews produced the largest cache of Yup'ik artifacts ever collected on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Carbon dating of some artifacts is in progress.
The project began as an effort to develop ecotourism, based at the KRA camp near Quinhagak, to involve birding, tundra walks, village visits, and archeology dig participation by professionals and amateurs. With that focus, Qanirtuuq Inc. business manager Warren Jones was awarded an Alaska Federation of Natives Marketplace grant. GPS equipment was acquired to measure erosion related to changing climate. As erosion revealed more artifacts, the archeology aspect took on immediate importance.
This summer's Quinhagak collection, and items unearthed on Nunivak Island, will be shipped to Scotland for the dual purpose of processing and student training. All artifacts will be brought back to Bethel in spring 2010. Anthropologists and students from the University of Aberdeen and Bryn Mawr College will return to Alaska next season, and researchers from the University of Hokkaido, Sapporo, Japan, are planning to participate in 2010.
Local villagers were also engaged in the dig. "The village of Quinhagak got actively involved in the digs, with visits and active participation by elders and young folks. It was great to see the high level of interest and excitement," said Reeve.
Former MAP agent Craig Wiese visited the site for a week to assess ecotourism potential, with funding from a Developing Alaska Rural Tourism grant. In addition, MAP media specialist Deborah Mercy took photos and video of the digs. At the request of local residents, Alaska anthropologist Ann Riordan has scheduled a four-day session in Quinhagak this fall to capture oral histories with village elders that will become part of a book. Other partners include the UA Institute of Social and Economic Research, UAF Kuskokwim Campus, AmeriCorps, and Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development.
In 2003, Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory specialist Ray RaLonde began helping the Kachemak Shellfish Mariculture Association plan a $1.5 million facility to hold, ship, and sell shellfish. In 2008, when the project was close to the construction phase, it was challenged by a lawsuit. Testimony by RaLonde, MAP marketing specialist Quentin Fong, and others on the economic loss that would occur if the project were cancelled, contributed to a decision by the Alaska Superior Court of the 3rd District that allowed construction to proceed.
Today, after much effort by KSMA members, 13 farmers have a new building in Homer, Alaska, where they distribute their products, valued at more than $300,000 per year. Producers sold their first oysters at the facility in June 2009. The building will enable more efficient farm operation and facilitate industry expansion.
NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco and others visited Alaska in late August to observe arctic activities. At UAF they heard presentations on arctic science by David Atkinson of the International Arctic Research Center, and SFOS faculty Russ Hopcroft, Bodil Bluhm, and Rolf Gradinger, among others. With Lubchenco were ADM Thad Allen, U.S. Coast Guard; Nancy Sutley, chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality; Jay Riech, deputy chief of staff, U.S. Department of Commerce; Peter Jones, staff of Sen. Mark Begich; Kristen Sarri, Senate Commerce staff; and Buck Sharpton, UAF vice chancellor for research.
Alaska Sea Grant director David Christie transported the group to the NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) satellite downlink facility near Fox, Alaska, for the official groundbreaking of a new building. Lubchenco placed a time capsule in the foundation, to be opened in 50 years. A Sea Grant publications catalog was put in the capsule.
MAP agent Heidi Herter hosted the contingent in Nome, and Alaska Sea Grant Advisory Committee member Molly McCammon met with them in Anchorage.
Last month Cordova MAP agent Torie Baker taught a 10-hour recreational boating class for women, Boating Without the Boys. The class was full at 15 students and, despite torrential rain, they successfully completed sessions on emergency flares, outboard trouble-shooting, boat mooring, navigation and charts, survival suits, radio communication, and local weather and tides. One participant commented, "I'm now a lot more comfortable being out there, and won't have to rely solely on my husband and son in an emergency." The U.S. Forest Service Cordova Ranger District will cosponsor the summer 2010 class.