Monthly Report to the Dean - September 2007
October 9, 2007
To: Denis Wiesenburg, Dean, SFOS and Brian Allee, Alaska Sea Grant Director
From: Paula Cullenberg, Marine Advisory Program Leader
Re: Marine Advisory Program highlights, September 2007
Upcoming
- Seafood Marketing, Business Planning and Direct Marketing workshop, October 22-23, and 25-26, Nome and Sitka
- Financial management for Alaska Shellfish Farmers, November 1-2, Anchorage
- Alaska Young Fishermen’s Summit, Anchorage, December 11 and 12
MAP Highlights for September
Coastal Communities and Economies
- Paula Cullenberg, Bernice Joseph, Denis Wiesenburg met in Juneau with NOAA Fisheries and NPFMC staff to discussed how to develop a partnership to respond to Section 109 of the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The section instructs NOAA and the Council to develop educational programs designed to support involvement of coastal Alaskan residents, particularly Alaska Natives in a variety of careers in fisheries and seafood as well as increase the use of traditional knowledge in fisheries management.
- Heidi Herter sponsored a workshop on climate change at the Kawerak regional meeting in Nome. In attendance were 11 people from Nome, Teller, Shaktoolik, Unalakleet, Barrow, Shishmaref, Wales, Anchorage and Kotzebue. Participants discussed the group’s personal experiences with climate change and also the science behind how climate change works and why fisheries are changing.
- Heidi Herter participated in the first annual “Career Fair” in Teller as a fisheries biologist and Field Biology teacher.
- Sunny Rice, as chair of the Petersburg cold storage oversight committee, conducted two post-season wrap-up meetings with facilities managers and users.
- Ray RaLonde gave two presentations - "Intertidal Aquaculture in Alaska" for the Northwest Conference on Bivalve Aquaculture and the Environment, and "Alaskan Aquaculture Production in a State of Environmental Change" for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Arctic Science Division Annual Conference.
- Heidi Herter attended instructor training with the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA). MAP currently has six trained AMSEA instructors in our program. www.amsea.org
Ecosystems and Habitats
- Rick Steiner continued facilitation and participation with the Shipping Safety Partnership. More information is found on www.shippingsafetypartnership.org
- Rick Steiner provided a mass balance analysis for Lebanon oil spill at request of Lebanon Ministry of Environment.
Reid Brewer responded to a dead stranded humpback whale reported floating in Unalaska Bay. He towed the whale to a local beach near Unalaska City so that measurements and tissue samples could be taken and so that the community of Unalaska could see a 46 foot whale from 15 feet away. Fifteen measurements and 9 samples were taken for toxicology and aging work. Blubber was sent to Seattle for contaminant and dietary analysis work. A frozen eyeball and skin samples were sent to Juneau for aging and genetics work. Reid cleaned and polished 174 pieces of baleen that were presented to the Qawalangin Tribe for distribution to the Native Alaskan community. - Kate Wynne was an invited attendee at NMFS’ national Marine Mammal Serious Injury Workshop. Kate presented a summary of a whitepaper on the difficulties and subjectivity involved in assessing the outcome of reported large whale entanglements. The workshop focused on developing standards and means of determining when anthropogenic injuries should be considered lethal. This information affects how NMFS categorizes all US fisheries within their annual List Of Fisheries.
- Kate Wynne conducted the first monthly aerial survey to monitor marine mammal distribution in Uganik Bay and other north Kodiak waters.
- Ray RaLonde led a half day planning session with researchers from the National Estuarial Research Reserve to develop collaborative projects. Two projects currently being developed are life history aspects of recruitment, growth, and morality of the littleneck clam in Kachemak Bay and exploration of the potential for domoic acid toxin in Alaska.
- Kate Wynne took on a student intern from Kodiak College to assist with harbor seal research and foraging ecology for fall semester 2007. Kate will also guide her in development of an independent research project involving harbor seal behavior for use in her Animal Behavior and Independent Research courses.
Fisheries
- Torie Baker co-chaired a Sea Grant/American Fisheries Society Socio-Economic Section-sponsored symposium entitled, “Tangled Roles, Logjams, and Snarled Nets: How to Implement Integrated Ecosystem-Based Management in Fisheries” at the annual American Fisheries Society meeting in San Francisco. The symposium included 14 presentations, 3 keynotes and 11 posters. http://www.northeastconsortium.org/docs/2007/AFS_Symp_6_Program_Guide.pdf
- Terry Reeve held two meetings with local fishermen who are planning to be local Bethel catcher/sellers in 2008. He met additionally with ADF&G in Bethel, who have indicated will open the Kuskokwim fishery targeting just catcher sellers to promote this value added fishery.
- Quentin Fong continued to provide technical assistance to marketing of geoducks to members of the Southeast Alaska Regional Dive Fisheries Association.
- Glenn Haight organized a training with Kevin Klair, from the University of Minnesota Center for Farm Financial Management, to train MAP agents involved in fisheries business assistance (www.alaskafishbiz.org) on business management extension education.
- Torie Baker, in conjunction with the Oil Spill Recovery Institute and at the request of local fishermen, is working on an ADEC/local fishermen debriefing of diesel spill response to the recent grounding of the F/V Nordic Viking.
Marine Literacy
- Reid Brewer and Roger Deffendall offered a FOAMI lecture in Unalaska, “ The Aleutian Islands from the EMAP research project: Attu to Unalaska.” Attendance was 81, the largest attendance to date and marked the 50th community science lecture in Unalaska over the last 3 and ½ years. http://www.faculty.uaf.edu/ffrsb/outreach/foami.html
- Community-Based Coastal Observing in Alaska, Proceedings of the 2006 Aleutian Life Forum 2006 and edited by Reid Brewer was released by Alaska Sea Grant. http://seagrant.uaf.edu/bookstore/pubs/AK-SG-07-03.html
- Reid Brewer held two meetings to develop the 2008 Unalaska National Ocean Science Bowl team. 20-25 kids were in attendance for each meeting. Unalaska may send two teams to this year’s competition in Seward.
Seafood Science and Technology
- Don Kramer taught a 3 day basic HACCP course for 17 students around the state and a 1 day Seafood Plant Sanitation course for 7 students in Anchorage.
University Service
- Terry Johnson participated in the Faculty Appeals & Oversight Committee meeting.
- Ray RaLonde and Sunny Rice continued the process of hiring a Ketchikan Marine Advisory Program agent. By next month’s report, we should be able to identify our new agent.
Response
MAP faculty answered questions about MAP spreadsheets and shark surveys, and from a local reporter doing a story on women in commercial fishing. Provided a list of registered non-profit organizations in Cordova to assist in local organizers prepare for Exxon litigation settlement planning efforts, reviewed state loan applications with two fishermen, answered questions re: refrigeration system financing, assisted direct marketer with obtaining Marine Stewardship Council logo as required by his markets. MAP also answered walk and call-in questions regarding local sources of ice, DEC permitting, grant application help, general commercial fishing information sources, and bonding requirements for fish buyers, among others. In addition, MAP provided information on preventing hull corrosion in aluminum boats (from Florida), getting a license to operate passenger hovercraft on the Yukon River (Fairbanks), regulations pertaining to direct marketing halibut (Homer),how to file a recreational boat insurance claim (Anchorage), finding a boat to charter for a group of 12 to cruise the Alaska coast (Virginia).
