Pacific cod support a large commercial fishery in the Gulf of Alaska. In 2017, NOAA Fisheries scientists at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center who monitor this fish stock reported a steep loss in adult fish. This followed a three-year marine heatwave, known as the ‘Warm Blob,’ which occurred from 2014 to 2016. Such losses have challenged the fishery, prompting […]
We’ve launched The end of June, four Saildrones left Dutch Harbor, AK and headed north. These ocean-going robots have started to carry out a 700-nautical-mile trip to Bering Strait, where they will enter the Chukchi Sea and begin their work in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, and the Arctic Ocean. NOAA Fisheries scientists at the […]
Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) biologists plan to begin aerial surveys of the Togiak district herring fishery in mid-April, weather permitting, with regular fishery updates to be communicated directly to processors. Based on a forecast of a 136,756-ton biomass, 27,351 tons of herring will be available for harvest. The breakdown is 1,500 tons […]
New research involving a University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist suggests that social behavior of salmon and other fish is an important puzzle piece that has been missing from fisheries conservation. Collective movement, which is the study of why and how animals move in groups, can explain many aspects of fish behavior. It may influence when […]