North Pacific Research Board announces 2014 photo contest winners.
The North Pacific Research Board (NPRB) awarded a total of over $3000 to the winners of the 2014 installment of its annual photo contest. The winning images from the 2014 contest will be featured alongside 2013 contest winners in the 2015 NPRB calendar, which will be available to the public for free in January 2015. View the winning images.
Congratulations to all the photographers!
In the adult category,
First place: Nesting kittiwakes escape calving at Northland Glacier (Blackstone Bay, Prince William Sound) by Bill Rome of Eagle River
Second place: Sac roe herring fishery in Sitka Sound by Glenn Aronwits of Anchorage
Third place: Anemones in Sitka Harbor by Ward Hulbert of Anchorage
In the youth category,
First place: The remains of decaying dead pink salmon create a striking pattern by Lione Clare of Sitka
Second place: No bird in sight by Meret Beutler of Seward
Third place: Living on the edge by Meret Beutler of Seward
It's a rockfish party up here in Juneau! We're bioprocessing young of the year (YOY) rockfish that were collected in 2013. What does 'bioprocessing' mean? It means we've taken fin clips from them so that a partnering lab can identify if they're Pacific Ocean perch or a different kind of rockfish. We've also taken tissue samples from some to measure their RNA/DNA ratios. On top of that, we removed their stomach contents so that we can get a snapshot of what these little fellows have eaten. This can be pretty difficult because, while most of them have been frozen nicely and look like this:
Some of them have been squished in the transfer from the Gulf of Alaska to Juneau and look like this:
But we've got a crack team on the job to pull the stomach contents proficiently! Shout-outs to our contractor team: Wess Strasburger, Casey Debenham, Hannah Findlay, Tayler Jarvis, and Eamon Conheady.
Finally, they rockfish are dried (to calculate how much of their bodies are tissue versus moisture), and then processed for their chemical components: energy, lipids, ash, and protein. The energy is calculated through bomb calorimetry which is a really fun way of saying we blow them up and calculate the resulting energy from their fish-splosion!
It's a lot of information from some very tiny fish! And while it's fun working with the rockfish, we've noticed, anecdotally, that their eyes seem to be the last things that grind up when we try to homogenize the fish into a fine powder, which leaves me with the Rockwell hit, “Somebody's Watching Me” stuck in my head. If it's now stuck in your head, you're welcome!
Habitat maps are a useful tool to fisheries researchers and assessors but are not often available for a large scale project. Jodi Pirtle, a postdoc working for the Gulf of Alaska project, applies her seafloor mapping skill set to the Gulf of Alaska Integrated Ecosystem project to provide information on habitat.
Born and raised in Cordova, Alaska, Pirtle finds a lot of meaning in the work she is contributing to the project. “I've been thinking about this stuff my whole life,” she says. In the effort to better understand five species of commercially caught fish, Pirtle has been overlaying fisheries survey data on high resolution seafloor maps to get a better idea of the habitat preference of different fish.
“It's landscape modeling which has been going on a long time on land, now applied to the ocean,” says Pirtle who works at the NOAA Auke Bay Lab in Juneau. “We are taking GIS data of all kinds – kelp beds, geology, seafloor terrain – and merging that with fisheries survey data to generate habitat suitability models and maps.” This kind of work has gone on on a small scale throughout the Gulf but this is the first large scale Gulf wide project of its kind.
Dr. Phil Clapham is the leader of the Cetacean Assessment and Ecology Program at the National Marine Mammal Lab in Seattle. His work focuses on population biology, behavioral ecology and conservation management, with particular emphasis on large whales. He has studied cetaceans since 1980, and at one time or another has worked with most species of whales in various places worldwide.
Prior to his current position, he worked at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. He remains associated with the Smithsonian Institution (National Museum of Natural History) in Washington DC, and for many years directed a long-term study of individually identified humpback whales at the Center for Coastal Studies in Massachusetts.
Phil holds a PhD in zoology from the University of Aberdeen (Scotland), and has advised several governments and other bodies on whale research and conservation. Phil is a former member of the Board of Governors of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, and is a long-time member of the US delegation to the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee. He is an editor for two scientific journals (Biology Letters and Mammal Review), and has published four books and more than a hundred peer-reviewed papers on whales and other cetaceans.
Kerim Aydin is the Supervisory Research Fishery Biologist of the Resource Ecology and Ecosystem Modeling Program, Alaska Fisheries Science Center. His current research is focused on modeling predator/prey interactions, both from an individual behavioral standpoint and from a population (food web model) standpoint, on developing data collection techniques for examining marine food webs (e.g. , diet studies and stable isotope examinations of fish communities), and on applying these models in a fisheries management context. He is particularly interested in the stability and complexity of large marine food webs and how structural elements of marine food webs evolve in response to climate variation. He received his PhD in 2000 from the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
The Gulf of Alaska Board of Investigators (GABI) includes representation from each of the major project components and is responsible for ensuring effective communication between the scientists involved in each of the different aspects of this integrated research project. Current GABI members are Olav Ormseth (middle trophic level), Carol Ladd (modeling), Franz Mueter/Kalei Shotwell (upper trophic level), Russ Hopcroft (lower trophic level), and Molly McCammon (data management).
Danielle Dickson is the NPRB Program Manager for the Gulf of Alaska Integrated Ecosystem Research Program. She works closely with the Gulf of Alaska Board of Investigators (GABI) to make sure that the scientists from the different components of the project communicate effectively and make progress on meeting the various objectives of the project. Danielle is also serving as the managing guest editor for the Gulf of Alaska thematic special issues that will be published in Deep Sea Research II.
Over 45 experts in various fields including physcial, chemical, and biological oceanography, fisheries, seabird and marine mammal science, and ecological modeling all participated in this study. Expand the list below to see the list of scientists and their affiliations.
Alaska Ocean Observing System and Axiom Consulting and Design have teamed up to provide data management services for the Gulf of Alaska Project. They have established a private electronic workspace to facilitate data sharing among the scientists working on the project. They also plan to launch a public website where metadata will be shared in order to facilitate collaboration with others working in the Gulf of Alaska. The team is helping the scientists to organize their data, author metadata, and create a permanent data archive. To read the full statement of work for this project, click here.
NPRB staff begins developing draft research priorities for the Core Program in late July and August. Submit before July 2nd to be considered for the current year’s RFP development.
Research programs addressing pressing fishery management issues and Alaska marine ecosystem information needs.
Integrated Ecosystem Research
These are large-scale interdisciplinary ecosystem-based programs, requiring multiple agency coordination, collaboration, and investigation.
Outreach Program
Science communication, engagement, outreach, and education initiatives for NPRB programs.
Core Program
A competitive, peer-reviewed annual request for proposal (RFP) process dedicated to Alaska marine research.
Graduate
Research
Awards
Supporting next generation scientists, researchers, and resource managers to further studies in marine science and to our mission.
Long-Term Monitoring
These are new or existing time-series projects that enhance the ability to understand the current state of marine ecosystems.
Examining how physical changes in the ocean influenced the flow of energy through the marine food web in the Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea, and western Beaufort Sea.
Studying the survival and recruitment of five focal groundfish species (Pacific cod, Pacific ocean perch, walleye pollock, arrowtooth flounder, sablefish) during their first year of life.
Understanding the impacts of climate change and dynamic sea ice cover on the eastern Bering Sea ecosystem in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
Northern
Bering Sea
JUST LAUNCHED! Focusing on the northern Bering Sea and will include consideration of upstream and downstream ecosystems in the southeastern Bering Sea, western Bering Sea, and Chukchi Sea.
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Recent Comments