NOAA Fisheries releases their annual Ecosystem Status Reports including a new report card for the northern Bering Sea which shares some promising news about sea ice conditions The Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Island waters were on the warm side for a good part of the year. In fact, winter sea surface temperatures in 2023–2024 […]
Scientists are using samples from subsistence-harvested bearded seals to establish kin relationships (parent-offspring, siblings) and to produce population estimates. In its first application in Alaska, researchers are using close-kin mark-recapture methods to estimate the size of the bearded seal population. Close-kin mark recapture methods were developed by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Marine […]
Novel approach to study fish DNA collected from water samples enables researchers to estimate biomass of multiple Alaska fish species simultaneously. Around the world, standard ways to measure fish abundance and biomass to manage commercial, recreational and subsistence fisheries rely heavily on deriving estimates from fish caught in research surveys and commercial fishing nets and […]
Powerful tools reveal hidden structure of harbor porpoise population. Harbor porpoises are shy, elusive creatures that live in Alaska’s coastal waters and are vital parts of the marine ecosystem. But how these animals are distributed and connected across the vast Alaskan waters remains a mystery. A new study published in the scientific journal Molecular Ecology sheds light on the hidden […]