Monthly Report to the Dean - November 2011
Alaska Sea Grant: Research, Education Services, and Marine Advisory Program
David Christie, Director • Paula Cullenberg, Associate Director
News:
Paula Cullenberg worked with Jeremy Mathis and Ann Ringstad from UAF on creating grassroots support for the University of Alaska’s Ocean Acidification Research Initiative capital budget request to the Alaska Legislature. For more information, see http://www.sfos.uaf.edu/oarc/funding.php
On the schedule:
Jan. 16 Communicating Ocean Science Workshop, Anchorage
February Applications for Knauss Sea Grant Fellowship due to Dave Christie
Feb. 12-15 Pacific Fisheries Technologists Conference, Anchorage
Feb. 13-14 Alaska Young Fishermen’s Summit, Juneau
Spring 2012 Bering Strait Maritime Symposium, Nome
June 24-28 National Marine Education Association annual meeting, Anchorage
Sept. 15-21 Sea Grant Week, Girdwood, Alaska
Mar. 26-29, 2013 28th Wakefield Symposium, Biological Responses of Arctic Marine Ecosystems to Climate Change, and Strategies for Adaptation, Anchorage
Highlights from November:
Healthy Coastal Ecosystems
Gay Sheffield traveled to Gambell to conduct a Steller sea lion survey at Sivuonok. Over 70 adult bulls were documented including one Medny Island (Western Aleutians) brand. She also facilitated getting a ringed seal, potentially sick with the currently undetermined disease outbreak, to Nome for necropsy by North Slope Borough veterinarians. Gay met with the Gambell IRA Tribal Council regarding Steller sea lions, seal disease, the upcoming Bering Strait Maritime Symposium, and the Marine Mammal Guideline booklet she is creating for subsistence hunters.
Gay also travelled to Diomede island to transport a bearded seal to Nome for necropsy and met with Diomede IRA Tribal Coordinator and members of the community regarding the seal disease. The North Slope Borough has filed with NOAA’s Office of Protected Species for a designation of an Unusual Mortality Event (UME) that potentially could lead to more resources to continue to track this disease and its impact.
Sunny Rice facilitated a meeting of NOAA Marine Mammal Observer Program staff, observer contractor Saltwater, Inc., and 12 local gillnetters in a discussion of the salmon gillnet marine mammal observer program scheduled to begin in districts 6 and 8 next summer. The observers will record many variables on marine mammal approaches to nets, use of deterrents by fishermen, and effectiveness at deterring marine mammals from entanglement in nets.
Kate Wynne responded to a request from a colleague in West Africa about an unusually high number of large whale strandings. After he forwarded emails and photos of strandings in Liberia and Ghana, Kate identified the whales and answered questions on the likelihood that the whale deaths were related to a recent oil spill in the region.
Sustainable Coastal Development
Bells Flats Poultry LLC of Kodiak is now in business. Quentin Fong and Chuck Crapo provided technical assistance with a business plan and processing law information.
Terry Johnson presented a report from the education and training subcommittee at the Alaska Forward Tourism Cluster meeting in Anchorage. Sunny Rice was invited to join the Southeast Seafood Regional Development Cluster, coordinated by the Juneau Economic Development Council.
Izetta Chambers authored a new Sea Gram, Safe and Legal Fish Waste Composting in Alaska. The four-page bulletin encourages soil production using fish waste, and teaches safety and legal aspects of composting fish.
Izetta provided technical assistance on two grant proposals - one on behalf of the Port of Bristol Bay for a conveying system for their ice machine and another proposal on behalf of Curyung Tribal Council for a BBEDC Block Grant. The tribe is interested in collaborating with the city and securing funds for the survey and site work on the small boat harbor, so that the City can lease out lots there. Eventually, the tribe would like to see a custom processor located in the harbor that could provide services to the direct market fishing fleet.
Asia Beder, MAP Americorps volunteer gave a presentation about the Alaska Marine Science and Fisheries Career Coalition at the Alaska Chapter of the American Fisheries Society meeting in Girdwood. Asia also interviewed Hazel Nelson, Director of Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Subsistence Division, as a role model for Alaska Native students interested in fisheries.
Safe and Sustainable Seafood Supply
A Marine Refrigeration workshop was offered by MAP in Kodiak at the FITC building to 27 fishermen and seafood processors. Torie Baker and Julie Matweyou coordinated the class and Integrated Marine Services staff taught it.
The Alaska Seafood Processing Leadership Institute has 18 
participants, employed by 12 companies from 11 communities. Part 1, a 9-day session in Kodiak, was spent reviewing science and technology of seafood processing, marketing, and plant management. Coordinators are Chuck Crapo and Paula Cullenberg. Chuck taught the Kodiak workshop, and other instructors were Brian Himelbloom, Quentin Fong, Alex Oliveira, Leo Pederson, Rich Weis (INE Fairbanks), Dave Green and Murray Park (Westward Seafoods), Chris Sannito, and Peter Bechtel. During winter, ASPLI participants will research a project with a mentor. In March they will reconvene in Anchorage for 5 days and then travel to the Boston Seafood Show. ASPLI funding is from participant tuition, UA Technical and Vocational Education Program funds (TVEP), and ASG MAP.
Fuel-Saving Measures for Fishing Industry Vessels, a new ASG bulletin, was authored by Terry Johnson. At Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle, 25 fishermen attended Johnson’s workshop, “Using an Energy Audit for Commercial Fishing Industry Vessels”. Johnson and Reginald Wren, PE, of Elliot Bay Design Group, worked through a draft of their energy self-audit template. Torie Baker assisted at the workshop as well.
Chuck Crapo assisted Westward Seafoods in Kodiak in using a do-it-yourself energy audit kit for their surimi operation. The kits were developed with funding from the Alaska Energy Authority grant to MAP. http://seagrant.uaf.edu/map/seafood/energyefficiency/index.php
Chuck Crapo was awarded a grant from Howe Corporation, Chicago, to research ice additives for improving retail display shelf life for seafoods and vegetables. Brian Himelbloom and Katie Brenner will also work on the project.
Pouched salmon for compliance to U.S. military standards for salt and moisture content were tested by Chuck. The processor expects to sell the product to the U.S. military for their Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) foods in 2012.
Chuck gave a Brown Bag lunch talk on smoking seafoods at home to about 35 people in Kodiak.
Hazard Resilient Coastal Communities
Torie Baker attended her first meeting as one of two Alaskans serving on the USCG Fishing Vessel Safety Advisory Committee (FishSAC) where she made recommendations on the 2010 Coast Guard Reauthorization Act implementation. Torie is serving on the training subcommittee. Jerry Dzugan, MAP affiliate faculty and Executive Director of the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association chairs the group.
Gay Sheffield assisted the Savoonga Whaling Captains Association by editing a proposal to NSEDC for increasing marine safety among whalers with the acquisition of white-colored float coats. She provided a letter of support.
Marine Literacy and Stewardship
To spread the word about the 2013 Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship, Deborah Mercy, Kurt Byers, and others produced a video that features testimonials from seven former Knauss Fellows. The video quickly earned recognition on the national level from Sea Grant.
ASG held the 6th annual Holiday Open House with UA Press and UAF Marketing and Communications. Joining the festivities were 150-200 people, including UA President Gamble, Chancellor Rogers, and Provost Susan Henricks. ASG sold 110 educational items totaling $2,000. Sea Life of the Aleutians, by Brewer, Chenelot, Harper, and Jewett was the best seller.
Whalefest 2011 in Sitka in November featured two MAP faculty members. Bree Witteveen gave a talk “Tools Used to Explore Cetacean Foraging Ecology in a Dynamic Environment”. Reid Brewer’s talk was “North Pacific Giant Octopus Research in the Bering Sea”. Reid did promotional book signings at Whalefest marketplace, Olde Harbor bookstore, and the Unalaska Craft Fair for his book Sea Life of the Aleutians.
Reid Brewer was an invited instructor for the Scientists in the Schools program in Sitka. He taught seven classes of up to 35 kids on octopus biology, ecology, and anatomy.
Reid published the article, “Marine education above and below Aleutian Seas” in Current: Journal of Marine Education 27(3):2-4.
Gary Freitag, Reid Brewer and Izetta Chambers are all working with local National Ocean Science Bowl teams.
The OceansAlaska board (Gary is chair) has funded the Ketchikan team’s expenses this year to attend the competition in Seward from proceeds from the mariculture festival and dinner held this fall.
The Western Alaska Interdisciplinary Science Conference steering committee issued a call for papers for their meeting March 28-30, 2012, in Dillingham. Carol Kaynor is providing website services for 2012 WAISC. The call for papers is also out for presentations at the National Marine Educators Association conference, June 24-28, 2012, in Anchorage. Marilyn Sigman is chair of the conference steering committee, and Kurt Byers is on the committee.
Marilyn Sigman facilitated planning for the Arctic Ocean Workshop in May 2012 in Barrow. COSEE Alaska is partnering with ARCUS, NPRB, AOOS, and the North Slope Borough School District. A similar scientist-teacher workshop will be held in May/June in Kodiak. Marilyn gave a presentation about the rural Alaska Salmon-in-the-Classroom to the steering committee of the Alaska Marine Science and Fisheries Careers Coalition,
Terry Johnson gave a talk on walruses at the Anchorage Lions Club, to 15 people. Torie Baker hosted National Park Service historian Katie Ringsmuth in Cordova for a community lecture on ethnic cultural history and sociological analysis of Alaska cannery labor since 1900. Sunny Rice hosted a Thursday Science Series lecture in Sitka by Erik Hulabek on his research on Anolis lizards in Central America.
Rapid Response
MAP agents and ASG staff chaired and attended committee meetings, Obtained ABYC standards for community member from UAS instructor, helped plan a beach monitoring project, arranged for donation of survival suits to Valdez High School from seiner, gave feedback on marine hydraulics class to UAS, loaned infrared camera to evaluate home energy insulation; assisted fishermen with BOF testimony, received expired flares donated for AMSEA classes, worked with Alaska NOSB students, responded to marine mammal strandings, assisted grad student Julie Nielsen with halibut tagging research, wrote letters of recommendation, reviewed proposals and manuscripts and grad student thesis, worked on hiring committees, made SFOS lectures available in Sitka, planned conferences, wrote proposals, submitted annual report to National Sea Grant, surveyed for dead birds, taught classes, tended booth at Pacific Marine Expo, attended conferences, discussed possible Kodiak museum project on old whaling records, discussed whale pinger research, conducted bimonthly GAP aerial survey of whales.
MAP agents and ASG staff answered questions on AYFS model for New England planning effort (URI); Alaska Native direct marketing efforts for Montana USDA technical assistance; marine debris in the Aleutians, octopus bycatch, where to take marine mammal bones, marine safety courses, Sea Life of the Aleutians book, processing pickled fish and regulatory process, smoked salmon quality and safety, HACCP related to recently released hazards guide, recoveries of various seafoods, black cod quality, sea urchin processing, home canned and retort pouched salmon, gillnet hanging and mending classes, fishing loans and TAA for shrimpers, careers in marine science and fisheries, marine mammal graduate jobs.
