Monthly Report to the Dean - April 2011
Alaska Sea Grant
Research, Education Services, and the Marine Advisory Program
Monthly Report, April 2011
David Christie, Director • Paula Cullenberg, Associate Director
News
ASG received fourteen research proposals for 2012-2014 funding from researchers at 4 institutions, requesting a total of nearly $3 million. They are currently in peer review and will be further reviewed by a panel in fall 2011.
Dave Christie traveled with Fred Schlutt, vice provost for extension and outreach, to Barrow to meet with the Dr. Brooke Gondara, president of Ilisagvik College; Peggy Cowan, ASG Advisory Committee member and superintendent of the North Slope Borough School District; and others, to explore whether an extension presence in Barrow would be useful.
On the schedule:
June-Aug. UAF Summer Sessions Alaska Land and Sea lectures by MAP faculty and ASG staff, Fairbanks
Sept. 7-11 Tongass Rainforest Festival, Petersburg
Sept. 14-17 Fishing People of the North, Wakefield Symposium, Anchorage
February 13-14 Alaska Young Fishermen’s Summit, Juneau
Highlights from April:
Healthy Coastal Ecosystems
Sunny Rice hosted Laura Baker from The Nature Conservancy, who conducted training on the ShoreZone Mapping Project. Laura trained three Petersburg H.S. biology classes, and ADFG and Forest Service employees, and gave a talk to 12 community members as part of the Thursday Science Series. In photo residents discuss a local bathymetry map after the community talk on ShoreZone Mapping.
Sunny was elected vice president of the board of the Petersburg Marine Mammal Center. Zac Hoyt gave a talk on the ASG otter project at the PMMC annual meeting.
Torie Baker completed an information packet and staffing for clean harbor activities during 2011 fishing closures. Outreach and dockside distribution of free bilge oil booms with disposal information will start in early June. Partners are Prince William Sound Oil Spill Recovery Institute, MAP, Copper River Watershed Project, Cordova District Fishermen United, and the City of Cordova Harbormaster.
In Kodiak Gary Freitag taught natural resources classes to 40 high school students, including invasive species, ocean acidification, and climate change. At a KAMSS workshop he trained attendees to identify and monitor marine invasive species.
Sustainable Coastal Development
Dr. Jodi Pirtle, recent SFOS PhD graduate returned to her hometown of Cordova and gave a science lecture to 52 residents. Jodi worked on the AKCRRAB project during her graduate education and is currently finishing a post-doc in New Hampshire and will return to do research in Alaska this summer. Torie Baker assisted in hosting Jodi’s presentation along with the Chugachimuit Heritage Program education coordinator.
Gary and other Oceans Alaska board members hired Tom Henderson as mariculture research and education director of Oceans Alaska. Tom currently runs Kake SeaAlaska.
“Introduction to the NEPA” course was taught by Izetta Chambers this month in Nome. There were 5 students enrolled in the class, and Peter Van Tuyn, an environmental lawyer and Gretchen Harrington of NOAA Alaska Fisheries participated as guest speakers.
Izetta facilitated and coordinated an event in Dillingham called “speed mentoring” which aimed to match mentors up with protégés at an event on the Bristol Bay campus called the “Economic Think Tank.” There were 17 participants, whose interests ranged from community gardening to alternative energy, tourism and fisheries.
Terry Johnson gave talks on fuel efficiency for recreational boaters at the Great Alaska Sportsman Show in Anchorage to 15 attendees and to six commercial fishermen at the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association meeting in Sitka.
Ray RaLonde taught a two-day Alaska Tribal Marine Science Workshop at the Kasitsna Bay Lab, on aquaculture, harmful algae blooms, PSP and domoic acid testing, and bivalves, to 22 people—a tribal environmental coordinator, instructors for the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, and an advanced high school chemistry class.
Safe and Sustainable Seafood Supply
ASG joined others in sponsoring the 2011 Southwest Alaska Salmon Science Symposium: Understanding Habitat and the Science of Sustainability, in Anchorage. The symposium highlighted recently published work by University of Washington researchers Tom Quinn and Dan Schindler, which emphasized that the strength of Bristol Bay’s salmon run is linked to the broad diversity in salmon streams and habitat. Other sponsors were ADFG, Nature Conservancy, Southwest Salmon Habitat Partnership, and USFWS. More than 100 people attended.
During a 3 day work session with Washington Sea Grant, Terry Reeve and Warren Jones of Quinhagak presented bleeding and icing techniques and use of slush bags, both traditional made by Nomar and a cheaper version developed in Bethel, on the Lummi Reservation outside Bellingham. Terry Reeve with a skiff manufacturer in Marysville, Washington, to create a design better suited to the rigors of Kuskokwim Bay, where Lunds have been a standby. He gave the manufacturer ideas from fishers in Quinhagak and Eek.
Quentin Fong helped crab fishermen do a feasibility analysis on direct marketing Dungeness crab to China. Quentin presented a talk to 62 people including Rotary Youth Leadership Award students, on Seafood: The Economic Engine for Coastal Alaska.
Torie Baker presented a lecture on omega-3 fish nutrition and Copper River salmon lipid profiles at the request of the Native Village of Eyak Elders Healthy Circle program. Alex Oliveira of FITC provided information to Torie.
Torie helped 200 new salmon permit holders better understand policy, hatchery, marine extension, and marketing associations, by mailing them a letter describing the missions, contact information, board cycles, etc., of four organizations: Copper River/Prince William Sound Marketing Association, Cordova District Fishermen United, MAP, and the Prince William Sound Aquaculture Association. As an invited speaker Torie reviewed EVOS project funding, 2011 USCG safety requirements, and Clean Harbor Project participation and goals, for the Cordova District Fishermen United board.
Gary finished teaching the 3 credit course, FT 120 Fisheries of Southeast Alaska. Several students hope to earn BS degrees in fisheries.
For an FITC reception/tour of the pilot plant and labs, Quentin made food arrangements and the faculty, staff, and students put on an excellent event. About 200 attended. Many community people said they had never been in the pilot plant before.
Peter Bechtel and Scott Smiley, editors of the book A Sustainable Future: Fish Processing Byproducts, were honored at the annual University of Alaska Fairbanks Authors’ Reception. ASG is the publisher.
ASG has a new book for crab researchers and managers. Biology and Management of Exploited Crab Populations under Climate Change, edited by G.H. Kruse, G.L. Eckert, R.J. Foy, R.N. Lipcius, B. Sainte-Marie, D.L. Stram, and D. Woodby, is the proceedings of the 25th Wakefield fisheries symposium. Sue Keller managed peer review and book production. Said book purchaser Kim Emond, Quebec, “I am working on the impact of climate change on snow crab recruitment in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for my doctoral degree. This book is exactly what I need.”
Hazard Resilience in Coastal Communities
Torie organized two 10-hour drill conductor courses in Cordova for an AMSEA instructor. Over fifty fishermen and crew participated. The photo shows 30 people in survival suits practicing staying together and signally while afloat in the recently ice-free waters of Lake Eyak.
Torie co-taught four Alyeska SERVS (Ship Escort Response Vessel System) oil spill response HAZWOP courses in Kodiak, with two PWS Community College instructors. 80 captain and crew participated in the 5-hour courses.
Sunny Rice shared a booth at the Wrangell Health Fair with Bob Gorman from Cooperative Extension. More than 500 adults and 300 kids came by. She distributed info on marine safety, PSP, and edible seaweeds, plus ASG publications catalogs and tide tables.
For the Alaska Interagency Workgroup on Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning, Ray wrote and distributed a talking points document. The purpose is to assure that all agencies are communicating the same PSP message to the public.
Marine Literacy and Stewardship
Kate Wynne was the main organizer of the Kodiak Area Marine Science Symposium. About 170 attended, including 65 students from local schools. Said NOAA researcher Dan Urban, “Fantastic job. It was one of the best symposiums I’ve ever been to.” Wynne also supervised logistics for associated events and helped conveners arrange workshops, including hers on Cooperative Fishery Research Opportunities. Kurt Byers hosted a display table at KAMSS to promote educational products. Paula Cullenberg, Beverly Bradley, Asia Beder, Gary Freitag and Reid Brewer all participated in the symposium. 
ASG was a key sponsor of the forums at 2011 ComFish Alaska in Kodiak. Thirteen talks were given, including Quentin Fong on diversifying seafood products, Terry Johnson on energy saving tips for vessel operators, Ray RaLonde on domoic acid, and Julie Matweyou on PSP. Kathy Kurtenbach hosted a booth at ComFish, offering ASG educational products on marine resources.
Terry Johnson presented a talk at the Eagle River Nature Center on walruses and the Walrus Islands State Game Sanctuary to 21 people.
Reid set up a booth at Unalaska City School District career day for the SFOS fisheries undergraduate program. A total of 254 students in grades 5-12 visited. Reid is also on an 8 person committee that worked for 3 days to designate $25,000 worth of scholarships to graduating seniors on behalf of the City of Unalaska.
Julie Matweyou and Kate Wynne provided education support to the Ocean Science Discovery Lab. At the invitation of the Rotary Club, Julie led a tidepool session on Woody Island for the Rotary Youth Leadership Award students.
Author Anne Salomon arranged a potluck book signing in Nanwalek to honor local contributors to Imam Cimiucia: Our Changing Sea, published by ASG. About 70 residents gathered to celebrate the project and the book and receive Salomon’s gratitude for their participation. Dave Christie attended the book launch.
COSEE news: Paula and other COSEE principal investigators hired Robin Dublin as director of COSEE Alaska. Robin has done education work at ADFG and will come on board at the end of June to work with Marilyn Sigman. Marilyn presented a Communicating Ocean Science workshop at KAMSS. The COSEE website has been updated, check www.coseealaska.net
Rapid Response
MAP faculty answered inquiries on jig fishing for sablefish, selecting a recreational boat and motor, buying a sailboat, buying a shellfish farm, direct marketing troll-caught salmon, the TAA shrimp program, octopus fishing, skiff safety for a new boater, otter harvest laws, jigging for cod in southeast Alaska, community cold storage landings, and identifying intertidal worms. They also processed a sea otter carcass, planned a whale pinger pilot study, sampled for invasive tunicates in Aleutians, sampled blue mussels for PSP, hosted science speakers, and suggested uses for an empty fish plant.
