The Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network and the Anchorage Community faced frigid temperatures to observe the deceased whale. On the evening of November 16, the NOAA Fisheries Alaska Statewide 24-hour Marine Mammal Stranding Hotline received a report of a dead whale. It had been found on the beach near the Coastal Trail in Anchorage. The […]
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) have received numerous inquiries related to Alaska Native marine mammal harvest eligibility and policy under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). Eligibility is governed by section 101(b) of the MMPA and regulations developed by both FWS (at 50 C.F.R. § 18.3) and […]
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 […]