Latest News | Gulf Watch Alaska
Gulf Watch Alaska
Latest News
The
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
released 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, contaminating about 1,300 miles of coastline and exposing major gaps in ecosystem data. In response, long-term monitoring programs like
Gulf Watch Alaska
and the
Southwest Alaska Inventory & Monitoring Network
were established to track marine ecosystem health, species recovery, and environmental change. These efforts provide critical baseline data and document how wildlife populations shift over time in response to changing ocean and coastal conditions. Seasonal surveys in Kenai Fjords National Park reveal patterns in species distribution, from winter concentrations of sea ducks to notable observations like large harbor seal haul-outs and rare wildlife sightings. Together, this long-term monitoring has proven essential for understanding events like the Pacific marine heatwave and continues to inform resource management, conservation, and future planning in the Gulf of Alaska.
Read the full article here
Eelgrass in Kachemak Bay, particularly the large meadow in Mud Bay, is a vital yet vulnerable coastal habitat that supports diverse marine life and ecosystem health. It depends on clear, shallow water for sunlight, making it sensitive to pollution, sedimentation, and potential impacts from developments like the Homer Harbor Expansion. Long-term monitoring by Gulf Watch Alaska shows that eelgrass beds vary widely across locations and years but demonstrate resilience, often recovering after declines. Additional research led by NOAA and local scientists aims to establish detailed seasonal maps and better understand changes in eelgrass distribution. Students are also contributing through field studies that assess eelgrass as a foundational species supporting broader ecological interactions. Continued monitoring and community-driven research are critical for protecting eelgrass ecosystems amid environmental change and ensuring the health of coastal habitats and fisheries.
Read the full article here
A major marine heatwave in 2014, known as “The Blob,” had a severe impact on Alaska’s marine ecosystem and its resident killer whale population. New research shows that female killer whales that grew up during the heatwave are smaller, making them less able to store energy and less likely to have successful pregnancies. Long-term monitoring by researcher John Durban reveals that the population’s recovery, which had been ongoing since the Exxon Valdez oil spill, was largely reversed by the heatwave. While recent sightings of new, healthy calves offer hope, the effects of the 2014 heatwave still linger, and future climate-related events may further challenge the whales. The research highlights how apex predators, such as killer whales, serve as early indicators of broader ecosystem health and underscores the growing threat posed by climate change.
Read the full paper here
Harvest control rules (HCR) describe the factors used when determining when to fish.
raduate student
Josh Zahner at the University of Washington test
ed the impact of applying ten different harvest control rules on the Prince William Sound Pacific herring population to
see what would happen to the herring population if changes were made to the
fisheries
management plan
. The graph below shows the
predicted
biomass, each color representing a distinct HCR.
Applying t
he various HCR had little effect on the final population size
in his simulations
Read the full paper here
Researcher Sarah Traiger recently had an article published by Open Access Government featuring Sunflower Sea Stars and changes occurring in the nearshore environment. In addition to this written work, the CoRAL network and the Nearshore component worked together to produce a video detailing the effects of climate change on the nearshore environment. Together, these outreach tools provide audiences with a general understanding of Sea Star Wasting and some of the research being done by the nearshore component of the Gulf Watch Alaska team.
Read the article here
Watch the video here
Open Access Government published an article about the
Gulf Watch Alaska
program and its recent findings in its
April 2023 online magazine
. The organization’s website states that “Open Access Government is a digital publication that provides an in-depth perspective on key public policy areas from all around the world, including health and social care, COVID-19, research and innovation, technology, government, environment and energy.” They produce digital products for a broad international audience.
Read the article here
Members of GWA-LTRM’s Nearshore component team recently worked with other researchers to publish two papers in the journal,
Frontiers for Young Minds
Frontiers for Young Minds
is a peer-reviewed journal for children that includes scientific experts and young reviewers (children) in the peer-review process. One article focused on brown bear and sea otter interactions and the other compared the genetics of two populations of razor clams.
To read “Where Land and Sea Meet: Brown Bears and Sea Otters” follow the link below:
To read about “The Mysterious Case of the Missing Razor Clams” follow this link:
Marine ecologist, Heather Colleti, lead PI in the nearshore component, was asked to write an article about the Pacific Marine Heatwave for the winter issue of Park Science. For those not familiar, “Park Science is the flagship science magazine of the National Park Service. It covers research and stewardship related to our national parks. Discover the advances in science and technology that help us preserve, understand, and enjoy our public lands.” The article discusses the detrimental impacts on ecosystems and species the heat wave had in addition to exploring the question of why some were more resilient than others. Follow the link to read the article:
How Alaskan Marine Ecosystems Responded to a Massive Heatwave (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
In the latest volume of
Deep Sea Research II
more than 70 authors came together to present their most recent insights into the processes at work in the Gulf of Alaska. Highlighted works in the journal titled,
Understanding Ecosystem Processes in the Gulf of Alaska
, primarily examine shifting oceanographic conditions and the responses inhabitants are exhibiting. This is the 3
rd
volume in a series related to Gulf of Alaska Integrated Ecosystem Research Program studies funded by the North Pacific Research Board and complements a special issue volume published by Gulf Watch Alaska and Herring Research and Monitoring in January 2018.
To find a brief summary of what is featured in the journal follow the link below:
Follow the link below to check out the journal in its entirety:
Understanding Ecosystem Processes in the Gulf of Alaska: Volume 3, Deep-Sea Research II
In Alaska, Kachemak Bay is a sentinel site for the Gulf of Alaska, and one of NOAA’s Habitat Focus Areas, bringing together science, shellfish restoration and the community to better understand and address challenges from changing conditions. NOAA’s 5-minute
video
demonstrates the value of research and monitoring to better manage and conserve resources within Kachemak Bay.
The Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) and Herring Research and Monitoring (HRM) programs contribute 24 datasets annually to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Gulf of Alaska Ecosystem Status Report. The information provided by GWA and HRM are blended with marine data contributed by more than 100 scientists working for multiple agencies and organizations to tell a story about ecosystem conditions in the Gulf of Alaska that is used by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to make important management decisions. NOAA’s 5-minute
video
demonstrates the value of Ecosystem Status Reports to knowledge about Alaska’s marine ecosystem. The 2021 reports are available for download
online
Gulf Watch Alaska’s Forage Fish project is featured in a new US Geological Survey video about the recent marine heatwave in the North Pacific. Their work, along with GWA projects examining physical oceanography, plankton, and top marine predators such as seabirds contributed to the current understanding of the effects of the marine heatwave on the Gulf of Alaska ecosystem and food web. Click below to watch the video, or access it at:
Scientists in Homer and Seward have spent the last several decades tracking a population of mammal-eating killer whales called the Chugach Transients in the Gulf of Alaska.
There used to be 22 whales in the pod. But the year after they swam through the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, nine members died. Others went missing.
“And now there are seven of them remaining,” said Dan Olsen, a field biologist with the Homer-based North Gulf Oceanic Society.
Monitoring of the orca population has relied on funding from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, the group tasked with spending the $900 million civil settlement from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. This year, Olsen said, the council decided it will not continue funding the group’s research going forward.
To read the entire article published by
Sabine Poux, KDLL – Kenai
, read:
Tiny but mighty phytoplankton live at the base of the food chain in the Gulf of Alaska. They’re a food source for small crustaceans, which in turn feed small fish, then bigger fish, then seabirds and marine mammals.
Each spring and summer, a large concentration of phytoplankton blooms in the gulf. This year, researchers recorded the biggest bloom they’ve ever seen.
To read more about phytoplankton monitoring by Gulf Watch Alaska researchers in the Gulf of Alaska, the entire KTOO article can be accessed:
Chlorophyll levels in the Gulf of Alaska as measured by a satellite in April. (University of Alaska Fairbanks)
The Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) program and Principal Investigators (PIs) have been busy this summer preparing proposals and collecting data. Despite a persistent pandemic, many PIs have been happily out doing fieldwork – tending to their instruments, bagging and tagging samples, and appreciating the salty air.
A brief summary of our program’s second quarter activities and accomplishment can be found in the latest issue of the
GWA Quarterly Currents (vol 5.2)
Seventeen times to the moon and back –a record has been set for the greatest distance sampled by a marine survey!
Established by Sir Alister Hardy in 1931, the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey has been collecting information about the health of our oceans, in the form of “plankton sandwiches”, for decades. Now in its 90
th
year, the CPR survey have sampled over 7 million nautical miles of ocean – ample to be awarded the
Guinness World Record
for the greatest distance sampled by a marine survey!
Read the full article by the Marine Biological Association:
From 2014 to 2016, the Gulf of Alaska experienced the
worst marine heat wave
of the decade. From single-celled organisms to top predators, practically no level of the ecosystem was left unscathed. During the Pacific marine heat wave, tens of thousands of
dead seabirds
washed up on beaches, unusually low numbers of
humpback whales
arrived in their summer habitats, and toxic
algal blooms
spread along the West Coast of North America.
Now, a new
study
in
Scientific Reports
casts doubt on whether Gulf ecosystems will be able to return to their pre–heat wave conditions. This study—a collaborative effort between researchers at NOAA and several other government and research organizations—combined dozens of data sets to build a detailed picture of how many heat wave–induced changes have persisted. Thanks in part to long-term monitoring efforts by
Gulf Watch Alaska
, a program established in 2012 to assess the ongoing effects from the 1989
Exxon Valdez
oil spill, scientists were able to compare pre–heat wave and present conditions in several different sections of the ecosystem.
“We were able to show these impacts—from the intertidal out to the pelagic [open ocean] ecosystem, and from algae and phytoplankton on up to whales and commercial fisheries, and a lot of different species in between,” said
Robert Suryan
, a NOAA marine biologist and lead author of the study.
To read the full article by Eos, Science News by AGU visit:
A new study provides a comprehensive and quantitative look at initial and lingering effects of the eastern Pacific marine heatwave on Gulf of Alaska coastal and marine ecosystems.
The eastern Pacific marine heatwave, which occurred from California to Alaska in 2014–2016, was the longest lasting heatwave globally over the past decade. A
new study
led by NOAA Fisheries scientists and partners looked at its effects. They found that the heatwave affected various components of the Gulf of Alaska marine food web from plankton to whales to humans. There have been various impacts, some positive and some negative. Some of these impacts persisted through 2019, when this study was completed.
For the full feature story by NOAA Fisheries visit:
The Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) program and Principal Investigators (PIs) continued with their research and monitoring during this first quarter of FY21. February 1 marked the beginning of the final year of the Trustee Council’s FY17-21 five-year funding cycle. FY21 marks the tenth year of monitoring under the GWA program. All hands were on deck this quarter as the program focused on completing annual reports and submitting a proposal package to the Trustee’s Invitation for Long-Term Research and Monitoring focus area. This Invitation potentially paves the way for an additional ten years (FY22-31) of research and monitoring, an unprecedented opportunity to better understand long-term impacts of the
Exxon Valdez
oil spill on injured resources and ecosystem health in a changing environment.
A brief summary of our program’s first quarter activities and accomplishment can be found in the latest issue of the
GWA Quarterly Currents (vol 5.1)
When a heat wave swept through the northeast Pacific ocean between 2014 and 2016, it changed the marine makeup of the Gulf of Alaska. The warm water decimated some commercial fish populations. Some species bounced back right away. But a recent study from NOAA finds others are rebounding more slowly. In this radio interview, Rob Suryan, Gulf Watch Alaska researcher, talk about the impacts of the heat wacy on marine species over time.
For the full article by the Central Kenai Peninsula radio visit:
News Release
published by the National Park Service
News Release Date: April 5, 2021
Contact:
Heather Coletti, Heather_Coletti@nps.gov
The recent Pacific Marine Heatwave (PMH) was unprecedented in its intensity and duration. Its spatial extent (the large area impacted), magnitude (how unusually warm it was), and duration (how long it lasted) made it the largest heatwave on record. While marine heatwaves have occurred in the past, they have become more prevalent and intense over the last century. The warm waters documented offshore also manifested in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Alaska. Changes from generally colder to warmer water anomalies were coincident with major changes in community structure at our intertidal sites. In the rocky intertidal, the
Gulf Watch Alaska Long-term Monitoring Program
documented changes in community structure across 21 rocky intertidal sites, covering four regions in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) in response to the warming. The intertidal zone is a biome considered to be resilient to environmental extremes (heat, desiccation, storm surges, etc.). Intertidal communities are generally structured by local-scale drivers, but the strength and duration of the PMH overwhelmed those local scale influences. The result was the homogenization of these diverse communities across the Gulf through a shift from autotrophic dominated species (macroalgae) to one of heterotrophs (mussels and barnacles). This homogenization of marine communities has been documented elsewhere as a response to prolonged marine heatwaves. The loss of
Fucus distichus
(rockweed), one of the primary macroalgae in the rocky intertidal in the GOA, also meant the loss of a foundational species that creates habitat for other species. While
Fucus
was replaced by two other foundational species that also create habitat, mussels and barnacles, the shift in community composition, and hence, ecosystem function, will have to be evaluated over time (
Weitzman et al. 2021
).
Two other recent papers, also stemming from the collaborative Gulf Watch Alaska Long-term Monitoring Program, documented biological responses in the northern Gulf of Alaska to the recent Pacific Marine Heatwave (PMH). These responses occurred across food webs and biomes, from nearshore to offshore, and, in some cases, have persisted beyond the duration of the PMH in the North Pacific. In many cases, the perturbation was strong enough to override typical drivers of the system and it is uncertain whether the Gulf of Alaska will return to a pre-PMH state (
Suryan et al. 2021
).
For example, disruptions to the transfer of energy in the pelagic food web were driven by the heat-induced collapse of forage fish populations. Through varying life-histories of these forage fish species, this food web can be resilient to fluctuations in forage fish species’ abundance. However, the synchronous collapse of key forage fish populations, along with shifts in age structure, size, growth, and energy content suggests that the forage community as a whole was unable to mitigate adverse impacts of the heatwave, leading to the starvation of many seabirds, marine mammals, and other fishes (
Arimitsu et al. 2021
).
In the winter of 2015-2016, researchers and volunteers counted 62,000 bird carcasses washed up on beaches from California to Alaska. Because not all dead birds wash up on the shore, we estimate the total to be as many as a million dead birds. They all starved; no evidence of other causes of mortality was found (
Piatt et al. 2020
).
To access the recent publications and interact with the
How Marine Heatwaves are Changing Ocean Ecosystems
story map (developed by NPS), visit:
The Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) Principal Investigators (PIs) continue their research and monitoring to the best of their capabilities as COVID-19 persists. The most significant achievements this quarter include presenting results from their projects at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium, publishing peer reviewed papers, and drafting reports and proposals. Nothing like a cold dark winter under a pandemic to inspire some serious computer time and productivity. Be well everyone!
A brief summary of our program’s fourth quarter activities and accomplishment can be found in the latest issue of the
GWA Quarterly Currents (vol 4.4)
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Seward Marine Center celebrated its 50th birthday this year, marking a half-century of becoming the premier research-oriented marine facility in Southcentral Alaska. In conjunction with this anniversary, the GAK-1 oceanographic monitoring site in Resurrection Bay also celebrates 50 years. Scientists have used the Seward Marine Center as a base for more than 400 occupations of GAK-1 since Dec. 10, 1970.
For the full article in the UAF news, see: https://news.uaf.edu/uafs-seward-marine-center-celebrates-50-years/
Located at the mouth of Resurrection Bay near Seward, Alaska, temperature and salinity versus depth profiles have been taken at oceanographic station GAK1 since December, 1970. This multi-decade time series is one of the longest running oceanographic time series in the North Pacific, and this month marks it’s 50th anniversary.
Data is the lifeblood of science. It provides scientists with a way to prove, refine, or disprove our ideas about how the world works. Data from the
University of Alaska Fairbanks
is providing valuable information for
oil spill
response,
public safety
and
economic development
efforts in the 49th state.
UAF passed a remarkable milestone this month, when scientists from the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences completed a half-century of regular observations at a Gulf of Alaska oceanographic station.
Station GAK-1
is located near Seward at the mouth of Resurrection Bay, and it has the longest set of sustained measurements of surface-to-seafloor temperature and salinity in all of Alaska’s coastal and offshore waters.
What does this mean for our state? GAK-1 is providing data to drive good decision-making and help us evaluate risks to Alaska’s marine ecosystem and economy as the ocean becomes warmer and more acidic due to climate change. This monitoring contributes to our understanding of melting glacier runoff in the ocean, variations in Alaska’s commercial fisheries, and the population status of marine mammals.
The entire Anchorage Daily News opinion piece written by GulfWatch Alaska PI Seth Danielson can be
accessed here
In light of the pandemic, the annual PI meeting was reimagined as a virtual collaboration event. Typically the three-day meeting is held inperson in Anchorage, Homer, or Cordova to discuss program updates and coordinate on synthesis activities. This year, the meeting utilized a virtual platform and diverse agenda to help make the meeting more inclusive, engaging and effective. In addition to the sharing of program and monitoring updates, the team took advantage of in-meeting polling to gauge reactions, virtual breakout rooms to foster discussion, and fun popup activities to spark team building and engagement. Special thanks to Donna Aderhold and Mandy Lindeberg for the effort to keep the team connected in these social distancing times.
The Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) Principal Investigators (PIs) continue their research and monitoring to the best of their capabilities as COVID-19 persists in our communities into fall and winter. The most significant achievements this quarter include completion of fall surveys, ecosystem indicators for the annual report to the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, and submission and approval of GWA FY21 Work Plans. The GWA program is now looking forward to the next and final quarter of monitoring
year nine.
A brief summary of our program’s third quarter activities and accomplishment can be found in the latest issue of the
GWA Quarterly Currents (vol 4.3)
The Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) program and Principal Investigators (PIs) are persevering as we continue to endure the COVID-19 pandemic. Some projects have lost data collection opportunities for FY20 because of state or federal agency mandates. However, numerous projects have developed methods to safely conduct field studies and the majority of datasets will continue with only minor gaps. Oceanographic, nearshore, marine bird, and marine mammal surveys have been successfully conducted at some level, maintaining long-term curation of our legacy datasets. The array of remote sensing instruments supported by GWA and the
Exxon Valdez
Oil Spill Trustee Council has also become an invaluable source of information while PIs are grounded from fieldwork. During these challenging times the tenacity and ingenuity of GWA scientists and the value of their long-term monitoring efforts has become even more evident. Stay healthy everyone!
A brief summary of our program’s second quarter activities and accomplishment can be found in the latest issue of the
GWA Quarterly Currents (vol 4.2)
The
Prince William Sound Science Center
is pleased to announce the release of the 2020-2021 edition of the
Delta Sound Connections
. This annual natural history and science news publication is dedicated to the ecosystems of Prince William Sound, the Copper River watershed, and northern Gulf of Alaska.
Delta Sound Connections
highlights various research and education programs taking place in our region, right now. In this addition are feature articles contributed by GulfWatch Alaska scientist about Prince William Sound humpback whales, marine birds, forage fish, zooplankton, and more. Enjoy exploring more about Prince Willian Sound in this lastest edition!
About 62,000 dead or dying common murres, the trophically dominant fish-eating seabird of the North Pacific, washed ashore between summer 2015 and spring 2016 on beaches from California to Alaska. A team of United States Geological Survey scientists have been researching and investigating the cause of this die off.
The Blob
, a short documentary by film artist Ben Collins, captures the heatwave research that has been underway as part of the Gulf Watch Alaska program in Cook Inlet.
Shared with permission from Ben Collins and produced with permission of the U.S. Gelogical Survey, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage.
For more information:
One GulfWatch Alaska project, the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey, is the longest-running marine science project of its kind. It began in 1931 when the scientist Sir Alister Hardy investigated how herring were influenced by plankton in the North Sea. This month the distance surveyed will reach an impressive 7m nautical miles, equivalent to 320 circumnavigations of the Earth.
Since that first tow from Hull to Germany 89 years ago, the equipment has hardly changed. So far a quarter of a million samples have been analysed, representing a vast geographical spread over the course of the past century. The immense scope has allowed scientists to see dramatic patterns in ocean health, across both time and space, building a much clearer picture of how our marine environments are changing.
To read more about how this research aides in understanding marine ecosystem change, check out this recent arcticle published in The Guardian:
Wow, things have certainly changed since the last installment of the GWA Quarterly Currents. The first quarter of monitoring year 8 was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic washing ashore in Alaska, which resulted in federal/state agency closures and restrictions from State of Alaska mandates for physical distancing. Most GWA team members shifted to working from home and developing contingency plans for postponing or in some cases cancelling field surveys. Let’s just say the suggestion of losing data is not easily accepted by principal investigators who are passionate about their research and have spent their whole careers nurturing legacy time series. Therefore, a great deal of effort is currently being put into
creative “plan Bs and Cs”. However, since the GWA program has diverse partnerships, not all data collection has been affected this season and the program continues with some successes not experienced by other researchers and organizations. A brief summary of our program’s first quarter activities and accomplishment can be found in the latest issue of the
GWA Quarterly Currents (vol 4.1)
Preparation for the research cruise in the northern Gulf of Alaska in May began in an unusual way for chief scientist
Russ Hopcroft
: 2 weeks of self-quarantine at home with his family.
Since the novel coronavirus put ocean-going research at a standstill, many scientists
wonder how they’ll ever sail again
. Research cruises have tight quarters, take scientists sometimes weeks away from land, and bring people from
all over the world
into the same cramped location. In March, the organizational body for U.S. universities, the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), halted all research cruises until 1 July.Oceanographers have returned to the same track for 22 years.That is, except for Hopcroft’s cruise. The weeklong jaunt on the University of Alaska Fairbanks’s (UAF) ship the R/V
Sikuliaq
was initially planned for 2 weeks in April. Scientists intended to measure the extent of the Gulf of Alaska’s
vibrant spring plankton blooms
. The annual measurements inform Alaska’s fishery management quotas for next year.
Oceanographers have returned to the same track, called the Seward Line, for 22 years, and missing out this year would have not only starved management agencies of data but caused greater uncertainty in that data.
To read the entire article published by Eos:
Citation: Duncombe, J. (2020), What it’s like to social distance at sea,
Eos, 101,
. Published on 12 May 2020.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the annual research cruise will continue uninterrupted along the Gulf of Alaska’s Seward line. The University of Alaska’s research vessel Sikuliaq set sail out of Seward on Monday, May 4. Researcher Russ Hopcroft talks about the special preparations that have been made to ensure safe operations amidst global health concerns. Hopcroft spoke with Alaska Public Media’s Casey Grove about the Sikuliaq’s 2020 sailing. Listen here:
There are numerous types of plankton in Prince William
Sound, and their abundance depends on factor such as time of year and
oceanographic conditions.
Plankton must over-winter (just like herring), and many
emerge in the spring as light levels increase and their phytoplankton food
begins to grow. Copepods of the genus
Neocalanus
, the most common
medium-sized zooplankton in the Gulf of Alaska, are a very important prey item
for herring.
A key part of work by the Prince William Sound Science Center
(PWWSC) is the connection between plankton and herring. Herring stocks in
Prince William Sound collapsed dramatically in the years following the
Exxon
Valdez
oil spill. Herring stocks remain at very low levels, and one
suggestion is that the amount of food available (including plankton) is at
least partially responsible for the lack of recovery. Without sufficient food,
herring will more likely to succumb to disease or predation.
In 2007, a plankton monitoring program began in the Sound,
supported by a grant from the
Exxon Valdez
Oil Spill Trustee Council (under
the Herring Research and Monitoring Program). Plankton populations were
surveyed in the spring (as herring juveniles recover from the winter and also
when herring larvae start feeding) and autumn (prior to over-wintering) to
monitor populations.
Beginning in 2016, researchers at PWSSC developed a plankton camera with Jules Jaffe and Paul Roberts at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, with funding from the North Pacific Research Board. The plankton camera was installed on an oceanographic profiler in Prince William Sound from 2016 to 2018, and has collected over 2.5 million images of individual plankters. Work was focused on training computers to identify the plankton in those images to produce very rapid estimates of the abundance of several important plankton types. The results of this work, including the classification accuracy and thresholds, were recently published in the
ICES Journal of Marine Science.
To access the article visit: R W Campbell, P L Roberts, J Jaffe, The Prince William Sound Plankton Camera: a profiling
in situ
observatory of plankton and particulates,
ICES Journal of Marine Science
, fsaa029,
You can learn more about the
PWSSC plankton monitoring efforts
on their website, or listen to
this podcast
A study recently completed by Gulf Watch Alaska researcher, Heather Coletti, and colleagues looked at Pacific razor clams in Lake Clark and Katmai national parks and preserves to see if they were physiologically similar and may be good indicators to monitor the health of nearshore marine ecosystems. Razor clams live embedded in the sand along the intertidal beaches and in subtidal areas. They are a source of food for bears, sea otters, other marine mammals, and people. Bivalves, such as clams and mussels, are used in environmental monitoring to better understand the local conditions and how they might be changing. Using molecular and genetic tests on bivalve physiology, scientists can detect the effects of environmental and anthropogenic stressors.
To read the entire article published by the National Park Service,
Katmai National Park & Preserve
Lake Clark National Park & Preserve
visit:
The journal article published in March 2020 is available here:
Bowen L, Counihan KL, Ballachey B, Coletti H, Hollmen T, Pister B, Wilson TL. 2020. Monitoring nearshore ecosystem health using Pacific razor clams (Siliqua patula) as an indicator species.
PeerJ
8:e8761
As October 2019 marked the completion of the 20th year of North Pacific Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) sampling, a celebratory workshop was held at the PICES Annual Meeting to look forward as well as review past accomplishments. Further, the two decades of work was spotlighted in the
PICES winter newsletter
(vol 28, no 1). The CPR program began to fill th gap for open ocean plankton sampling to better understand fisheries dynamics, especially salmonids that spend their early lives in the subarctic gyre ecosystems. At the progam onset in 2000, six monthly CPR tows during spring through summer on the California to Alaska route were undertaken; additionally, a single trans-Pacific transect from the west coast of North America to Asia was conducted. In 2002 onwards, additional funding led to three trans-Pacific transects in spring, summer and autumn, followed by transects into Alaska beginning in 2004 from Juan de Fuca Strait, across the Gulf of Alaska to Cook Inlet. Eventually, a funding consortium was set up, administered by PICES, so several agencies could contribute modest amounts in their area of interest (much less than the full costs of acquiring the data) and by the leveraging that this generated, ensured more financial security for the program. Contributors to the consortium over the years have included the North Pacific Research Board, the
Exxon Valdez
Oil Spill Trustee Council (through the Gulf Watch Alaska program), Fisheries and Oceans Canada, SAHFOS, the Marine Biological Association (UK), PICES, JAMSTEC, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, and Hokkaido University.
As of 2019, over 30,000 CPR samples have been collected and stored in the archive. One-third of the samples have been microscopically processed giving information on distribution and abundance for over 400 taxa (larger phytoplankton, some microzooplankton and mesozooplankton), and some additional components of the pelagic environment such as pollen and microplastics. Overall, the survey has achieved the vision of those who sought to bring it to PICES at the very first meeting, recognizing the need for seasonal plankton data in the open ocean and coasts of the PICES region. It has had a successful first 20 years, and is in a good position to contribute to PICES science for years to come.
Of the seabirds that overwinter in Prince William Sound (PWS), nine species were initially injured by the
Exxon Valdez
oil spill, including three species that have not yet recovered or recovery status is unknown (pigeon guillemot, marbled murrelet, Kittlitz’s murrelet). The majority of seabird monitoring in areas impacted by the spill has occurred during the breeding season when food is relatively abundant. However, the non-breeding season may be a critical period for seabird survival as food tends to be relatively scarce or inaccessible, the climate more extreme, light levels and day length reduced, and water temperatures cooler. Monitoring marine birds in PWS during winter is needed to understand how post-spill ecosystem recovery and changing physical and biological factors are affecting marine bird abundance and species composition, as well as their distribution and habitat use.
In an article published in March 2020, Gulf Watch Alaska researchers at the Prince William Sound Science Center discuss marine bird response to forage fish from wintertime monitoring in sub-bays. During the 5-year study, more fish schools were detected in early winter, and the marine bird community shifted from marbled murrelets (
Brachyramphus marmoratus
) and large gulls (
Larus
spp.) in early winter to common murres (
Uria aalge
) in late winter. This work indicates the importance of temporal, habitat, and fish school variables as drivers of marine bird presence and abundance, underscoring the complexity of predator–prey dynamics in the marine environment during winter .
The full article can be accessed here: Schaefer, AL, Bishop, MA, Thorne, R. Marine bird response to forage fish during winter in subarctic bays.
Fish Oceanogr
. 2020; 00: 1– 12.
This week on Alaska’s Energy Desk, NOAA scientists and Gulf Watch Alaska researcher, Kris Holderied, talk about the warming trend in the Gulf of Alaska. For the full story from Alaska Public Media:
For more than a decade, researchers on a remote stretch of Alaska’s coastline have watched brown bears scavenge sea otters. But as
Dan Monson
, a federal scientist and sea otter expert based in Anchorage, Alaska, scrutinized the carcasses left on the beaches in Katmai National Park and Preserve, about 400 kilometers southwest of Anchorage, he started noticing a strange, unexplained trend. Many of the dead animals appeared to be in their prime—they weren’t the juvenile or older otters one would expect to find dead—and more and more of them were showing up.
Following years of research, Monson and his fellow scientists have now confirmed that at least one of Katmai’s brown bears is preying on live sea otters—a previously undocumented behavior that speaks to broader ecological changes driven by the rebound of Alaska’s sea otter population.
To read the full article published by Hakai Magazine visit:
The podcast
Conservation Connection
interviews today’s leading wildlife scientists and conservationists about their most recent findings. We were thrilled to host the producers Last Chance Endeavors, Chance and Sarah Kathryn, during the 2019 Sitka WhaleFest. Throughout this years festival many of our fabulous speakers, Jackie Hildering, Rob Suryan, Mayumi Arimitsu, Janet Neilson, Keisha Bahr and even a Science Center Education Director, Janet Clarke, were interviewed and have since been featured on the program.
Get access to podcasts featuring Gulf Watch Alaska researchers, Rob Suryan and Mayumi Arimitsu, here:
The Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) program and principal investigators (PIs) are closing out the fourth quarter of monitoring year 8 by finalizing contributions to various reports including a draft science synthesis report to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (EVOSTC). As numbers are being crunched this winter all have been keeping an eye on the weather, will warm conditions persist? A little sigh of relief could be heard as January 2020 brought a genuine polar freeze. Here is a brief summary of our program’s fourth quarter activities and accomplishments in the
latest issue
The Gulf Watch Alaska program participated from January 27-31 in the 2020
Alaska Marine Science Symposium
in Anchorage, Alaska. The symposium is Alaska’s premier marine research conference, bringing together over 700 scientists, educators, resource managers, students, and interested public to discuss the latest marine research being conducted in Alaskan waters. Each day of the conference highlights important Alaskan marine ecosystems, including the Gulf of Alaska session on January 28 that featured many Gulf Watch Alaska talks. The Alaska Marine Science Symposium uniquely convenes all presentations during one combined plenary session (as opposed to split sessions) to maximize the sharing of information with the entire audience.
Researchers from the Gulf Watch Alaska program were authors of two oral presentations and 12 posters featured in two different sessions. Presentations covered climate and oceanography, ecosystem perspectives, lower trophic levels, and new discoveries about the biology of plankton, infauna, fish, birds, and mammals. Highlighted was a presentation given by Rob Suryan, entitled “Ecosystem Response to a Prolonged Marine Heatwave in the Gulf of Alaska: Perspectives from Gulf Watch Alaska” about the impacts of the recent North Pacific ocean “heat wave,” 25 years of
Exxon Valdez
oil spill experience, newly discovered ecosystem connections, human/resource connections, and many other subjects of direct relevance to response and restoration in Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska.
Gulf Watch Alaska was featured in 17 posters at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium poster sessions on January 27 and 28 (photo credit: NOAA).
The following talks were presented by Gulf Watch Alaska researchers. A list of all the Gulf Watch Alaska presentations and posters can be found
here
Throughout the symposium, the Gulf Watch Alaska program also engaged in separate discussions with Alaskan colleagues on current and planned research and monitoring activities. Additionally, a program-wide meeting was held on January 28 as an opportunity to coordinate on program activities, share research updates, and plan annual activities.
The Gulf Watch Alaska program convenes in a special one-hour session at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium to coordinate on program activities and share recent research and monitoring updates (Photo credit: Stacey Buckelew).
A scientist with a cold beer in his hand, Rob Campbell settled into his Adirondack chair, contemplating the autumn sun from the deck of the Reluctant Fisherman, a popular watering hole above the Cordova boat harbor. …. As a principal investigator working for the Prince William Sound Science Center, last summer Campbell measured temperatures in the Sound that were 7 to 9 degrees above normal. To put that in perspective, that increase is significantly more detrimental than the same increases of temperature on land.
To read the full article from Anchorage Press about Gulf Watch Alaska researchers, Rob Campbell and Caitlin McKinstry:
Congratulations to the Gulf Watch Alaska team members who led and contributed to the seabird die-off paper published this week in PLoS ONE (
). A wide variety of news media have prepared articles and stories about this publications. A short list of the media attention includes the following:
Science News:
New Scientist:
Inside Climate
News:
New York
Times:
Washington
Post:
Newsweek:
The Guardian:
BBC News:
CNN:
USA Today:
Mother Jones:
Anchorage
Daily News:
Alaska Public
Media:
KTUU:
LA Times:
ABC13
(Houston, Texas):
The journal citation with the contributing GulfWatch Alaska team members are highlighted. The diversity of authors and their affiliations highlights the collaborative nature of our long-term monitoring program.
Piatt, J. F
., J. K. Parrish, H. M. Renner,
S. K. Schoen
, T. Jones,
M. L. Arimitsu
K. J. Kuletz
, B. Bodenstein, M. García-Reyes, R. S. Duerr, R. M. Corcoran,
R. Kaler
, G. McChesney, R. Golightly,
H. Coletti
R. M. Suryan
, H. Burgess, J. Lindsey, K. Lindquist, P. Warzybok, J. Jahnke, J. Roletto, and W. J. Sydeman. 2020. Extreme mortality and reproductive failure of common murres resulting from the northeast Pacific marine heatwave of 2014-2016. PLoS ONE.
Scientists say they now better understand how a Pacific Ocean heat wave known as “the blob” contributed to huge numbers of common murres dying across a swath of Alaska’s coastline in 2015 and 2016.
In 2014, the blob spread through waters up and down the Pacific coastline. The warmer water disrupted the seabirds’ food supply, leading to starvation, according to a
new study
published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.
In warm water, the small fish that make up the diving bird’s diet suffered, the study reported. The murres also faced more competition with larger fish that eat the same thing, according to John Piatt, lead author of the study and a research biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Alaska Science Center.
During a period of months in 2015 and 2016, scientists documented around 62,000 murres washed up on beaches from Southern California to the Gulf of Alaska.
For the full article published in the Anchorage Daily News see:
The Prince William Sound Science Center’s herring researchers have been working to compile a synthesis of existing information about Prince William Sound herring for the
Exxon Valdez
Oil Spill Trustee Council (EVOSTC). Integrated herring research started with herring surveys in 2009 and was followed by the
Herring Research and Monitoring (HRM) program’s research projects
that started in 2012. The goal of the HRM program is to improve the mathematical model that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game uses to predict herring biomass, and years of research has done this.
Herring Research and Monitoring program manager Dr. Scott Pegau says that the biggest breakthroughs toward improving the prediction model have been in tracking
disease
, particularly Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS). Although it is still an active area of research, VHS is suspected to have been involved in the most recent Prince William Sound herring population collapse. There was a spike in antibodies for VHS in 2015, suggesting that there may have been an outbreak between 2014 and 2015. Herring continued to decline from 2015 to 2018 when it reached an all-time low of about 3,000 to 4,000 tons. Hope was renewed in 2019 when a relatively large group of three-year-old herring joined the spawning population. Though the good recruit year nearly tripled the population, according to mile-days of milt surveys, the population is still very low. Scott holds out hope though; herring can build a very large population from a small one depending on how many youngsters join the spawning stocks in a given year. The population may be beginning to build again.
For the full article published by the Prince William Sound Science Center visit:
The University of Alaska Fairbanks has announced the winners of the 2020 Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching, Research and Service Awards. The Distinguished Research Award will be presented to Katrin Iken, a marine biology professor at the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.
Iken, who has taught at UAF since 2002, has earned a reputation as a committed researcher and a strong supporter of students. Her extensive, externally supported research program on Alaska’s ocean ecosystems in a changing climate has contributed to her publication record of more 100 peer-reviewed articles. Nominating letters also consistently mentioned her work guiding graduate students and helping them gain research experience.
“Papers and research results are important, but our future depends on how well we train our students,” wrote Michael Castellini, interim dean of UAF’s Graduate School. “In this case, Dr. Iken has done both the hard research and the setup to train future generations of scientists.”
For the full article published by UAF news and information, visit:
The Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) program has wrapped up a robust summer sampling season from Middleton Island, Prince William Sound, Kenai Fjords, Kachemak Bay, and the Katmai coast–with some of our efforts continuing into fall and winter. In early October we held our annual Principal Investigators meeting in Homer, Alaska, with approximately 40 attendendees. This meeting provides important facetime between investigators for discussions on their recent findings and setting goals for the next year. Yes, it was a highly productive gathering of science nerds.
A topic that dominated investigator discussions at the annual meeting was the Pacific marine heatwave (The Blob) which began in 2014, persisted through 2016, had a temporary hiatus in 2017, and returned in late 2018 through 2019. The graph below is from a recent article by NOAA Fisheries on the status of the marine heatwave. This marine heat wave is the theme for the GWA FY2020 science synthesis report to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (EVOSTC).
A brief summary of our program’s activities and accomplishments is available in this
latest issue
A comparison of the Pacific marine heatwave shown in September 2014 and 2019
(NOAA Fisheries).
A mild winter followed by an abnormally calm and sunny summer this year led to marine water temperatures that doubled the previous marine heatwave record in Prince William Sound. Science Center oceanographer Dr. Rob Campbell observed that monthly average temperatures at the surface during the months of July and August were seven degrees Fahrenheit above the seasonal average with one observation of nine degrees above average. Temperatures are recorded by Rob for his work with the Gulf Watch Alaska program.
Read the entire article published by the Prince William Sound Science center:
On Tuesday night, scientists from the Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) program shared their findings at the Kachemak Bay Campus with a group of 50 community members. Mandy Lindeberg, GWA Program Lead, introduced the program and long-term effects of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (EVOS). Kris Holderied, GWA Principal Investigator, NOAA Kasitsna Bay Lab, talked about more recent effects of the marine heatwave in Kachemak Bay. Brian Robinson, GWA Biologist, U.S. Geological Survey, introduced black oystercatchers as an indicator species for nearshore marine environments. Rob Suryan, GWA Science Coordinator, NOAA Auke Bay Labs, gave an in-depth look at the negative and positive effects of the marine heatwave with an aim at understanding how populations will respond and whether negatively affected resources will recover. This event was open to the public and part of the UAA Public Square Series at Kachemak Bay Campus.
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Where are We Monitoring?
More than 30 scientists in multiple teams are collecting data in the Gulf of Alaska at sites in Prince William Sound, lower Cook Inlet and along the outer Kenai Peninsula coast.
US