“Start haul back,” the NOAA Corps watch officer says to the fisherman operating the winch controls. The officer monitors the helm and navigation settings to maintain a smooth ride while the fisherman, a NOAA wage mariner, begins the slow process of reeling in a trawl net from the depths. They’re aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson in […]
On a clear day last spring, fire sizzled on water at Poker Flat Research Range in the Chatanika River valley. There, scientists were spilling crude oil in a manmade water basin and torching it from above. A series of similar test burns were part of a team effort between university scientists and researchers with the […]
Though millions of sea stars along the West Coast have perished in the past several years from an apparent wasting disease, scientists still don’t know why. The iconic marine creature develops white lesions on its limbs and within days can dissolve or “melt” into a gooey mass. Last year, researchers identified a type of pathogen […]
A chemical signature recorded on the ear bones of Chinook salmon from Alaska’s Bristol Bay region could tell scientists and resource managers where they are born and how they spend their first year of life. This bone, called an otolith, accumulates layers as a fish grows, similar to trees. These “growth rings” are produced throughout […]