Knauss Fellowships
Graduate students in all marine-related fields are invited to apply for the 1999 Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship. Since 1979, the Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship program has provided a year's educational experience in Washington DC for 345 students. Each year 20-25 fellows in the program get valuable on-the-job training, gain access to professional networking, and develop close friendships with other fellows. Applications are due in the Alaska Sea Grant office in early September 1998, for the fellowship term beginning February 1999. For more information contact Sue Keller 474-6703.

Ecosystem Symposium
An international symposium on Ecosystem Considerations in Fisheries Management will be held September 29-October 3, 1998 in Anchorage. It is the 16th Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium and the 1998 joint meeting of the American Fisheries Society Western Division, Alaska Chapter, and North Pacific International Chapter.

The goal of the symposium is to gather world experts on how to incorporate ecosystem knowledge into fishery management, and how to advance fishery management beyond the single species model. The Lowell Wakefield program is organized into sessions on Physical and Environmental Effects, Species Interactions, Concepts and Tools for Management, Anthropogenic Influences, Habitat and Spatial Considerations, and Whole Ecosystem Approaches. For Wakefield information, visit our Sea Grant conferences web page.

Presentations for the AFS program are on Lake Fertilization, Influence of Spawning Anadromous Fishes on Freshwater and Terrestrial Ecosystems, Sockeye Salmon Ecology and Management, Recent Developments in Modeling Salmon Populations, Riparian Ecology and Management, Rainbow Trout in Alaska, Ecosystem Management on Commercial Forest Land, Marine Fisheries Assessment and Management in the North Pacific, Pink Salmon and Oil, Adaptive Management for Fish Recovery and Enhancement, Mass Marking in Fisheries Management Research, and Effects of Urban Development on Fish and Their Habitat. For AFS information, visit the AFS Alaska Chapter web site at http://www.fisheries.org/afs-ak/.

The University of Alaska Sea Grant College Program has been sponsoring and coordinating the Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium series since 1982. The meetings are a forum for information exchange in biology, management, economics, and processing of fish species and complexes as well as an opportunity for scientists from high latitude countries to discuss their work. To register for the joint meeting go to our conferences page, or contact Brenda Baxter, phone 474-6701.

Athelstan Spilhaus
Athelstan Spilhaus, one of the "fathers" of Sea Grant, died March 29 at the age of 86 in Virginia. Spilhaus is credited with presenting the idea for Sea Grant Colleges at the 1963 meeting of the American Fisheries Society in Minneapolis.

Spilhaus was a geophysicist, meteorologist, and inventor who became the U.S. ambassador to UNESCO in 1954. He spent most of his career at the University of Minnesota, where he was a meteorology professor and dean of the university's technology institute. Spilhaus developed the bathythermograph to measure temperatures in the deep ocean.

Many know Spilhaus through his newspaper connection. He was chair of the scientific advisory committee of the American Newspaper Publishers Association, and wrote the "Our New Age" Sunday feature for youths, which appeared from 1957 to 1973. Spilhaus was known to many as an undaunted, resolute leader, a pioneer, and a patron of the oceans.

Kodiak Whale Fest
Kodiak Island residents have a unique opportunity to view gray whales this month as more than 20,000 of the 30-ton cetaceans make their way from Baja California to the Bering Sea. Marine Advisory specialist Kate Wynne has helped coordinate the second annual Kodiak Whale Fest, a community event to focus on the annual migration and educate the public. Wynne is giving public lectures, has promoted the event on radio and TV, and wrote a brochure for it. Events during the April 4-11 Whale Fest include lectures, art shows, a kite flying contest, a whale video contest, museum exhibits, movies, and more. SFOS professor Mike Castellini is also on the lecture schedule.

As many as 24 whales can be seen in one hour as the whales pass by Kodiak Island on their spring migration. Viewers are encouraged to report their sightings to a whale hotline hosted by the visitor bureau and reported on the radio. Susan Payne, who is directing Whale Fest, hosts a web site for the event at http://www.koc.alaska.edu/sprojects194l/whalefest/wf2.htm.

Radio Awards
UAF's Arctic Science Journeys radio series recently won awards in the annual competition of the Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE), a national group of university writers and communications professionals. The radio series won first place in the regular program category, the story "Trawling for Answers for Sea Lion Declines" won first place in the radio news category, and "Fly Away Home," about the spring migration of shorebirds through the Copper River delta, won second place in the features category.

Arctic Science Journeys is written and produced by Doug Schneider at Alaska Sea Grant. KUAC-FM's Robert Hannon and Debra Damron of UAF University Relations are hosts. The series highlights science, culture, and the environment of the Arctic, and is heard throughout Alaska, the Lower 48, and internationally on the Voice of America. Story text is available at the Alaska Sea Grant web site.

Publication Awards
Each year the editors of the State Publications column in the Journal of Government Information select 100 publications nationwide, notable for their content and presentation. Alaska Sea Grant's Solving Bycatch: Considerations for Today and Tomorrow was one of three Alaska publications selected for 1997. Patience Frederickson, head of Government Publications Services for the Alaska Department of Education, nominated the book. Solving Bycatch is the proceedings of a workshop held in September 1995 in Seattle. Papers cover the ecological impacts of bycatch and fish behavior, and panel discussions are included on management and methods used to reduce bycatch. Brenda Baxter and Sue Keller produced the book. AK-SG-96-03, 1996, 322 pp., $25, available from Sea Grant, phone 474-6707.

Alaska Fisherman's Direct Marketing Manual, edited by MAP agent Terry Johnson, was also selected as a 1997 notable government publication. Brian Paust and Craig Wiese contributed to the book as well. It is available from the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, (800) 478-2771.

Steller Sea Lion Video
MAP media specialist Deborah Mercy recently finished a video on Alaska's Steller sea lions, a joint project with Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The video describes how Steller sea lions live and explains what scientists are doing to unravel the mystery of the sea lion population crash. The video is geared to the school classroom and the public. MAPV-35, 27 minutes, $20.00, available at Sea Grant, 474-6707.

Fishlines is a monthly in-house newsletter reporting Alaska Sea Grant activities to staff, students, and principal investigators of Alaska Sea Grant and the Marine Advisory Program, and staff of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. For more information contact Sue Keller, (907) 474-6703, FNSK@uaf.edu.