Alaska spends about $500,000 on approximately 10 projects a year for fish habitat and related work. Improvements of habitats are
Proposals for FY 2011 essential fish habitat (EFH) recently were funded. Project selection for EFH research is based on research priorities from the EFH Research Implementation Plan for Alaska. Approximately $500,000 is spent on about ten EFH research projects each year. Research priorities are
- Coastal areas facing development
- Characterization of habitat utilization and productivity
- Sensitivity, impact, and recovery of disturbed benthic habitat
- Validation and improvement of habitat impacts model
- Seafloor mapping
The Habitat and Ecological Processes Research (HEPR) team completed a scientific rating of the 2011 proposals in fall 2010. NMFS Alaska Regional Office Acting Deputy Regional Administrator Jon Kurland and HEPR Program Leader Mike Sigler agreed on rankings based on the scientific review and management priorities. Similar to last year, habitat recovery rate proposals were given higher management priority. The management prioritization generally followed the science ranking but a few changes were made to reflect the relevance of the proposals for fishery management decisions.
| Principal Investigators | Titles | Funding |
|---|---|---|
| Ryer, Spencer, Iseri, Ottmar, Copeman | Determinants of juvenile tanner crab growth from different nursery embayments | $ 83,000 |
| Malecha, Shotwell, Amman | Recruitment and response to damage of an Alaskan gorgonian coral | $ 16,700 |
| Laurel, Stoner | The role of benthic habitat in larval rock sole settlement dynamics | $ 42,740 |
| Yeung, Yang | Quantifying flatfish habitat quality in the eastern Bering Sea by infauna prey density | $ 124,000 |
| Rose, McEntire | Collection of seafloor imagery during AFSC bottom trawl surveys | $ 11,900 |
| Johnson, Thedinga, Lindeberg | Coastal fishes of Alaska: a synthesis of over a decade of nearshore marine surveys | $ 39,000 |
| Wilson, Rooper | Low-cost multibeam mapping to support habitat based groundfish assessment and deepwater coral research in the Gulf of Alaska | $ 67,400 |
Total | $ 384,740 |
Ocean Acidification Funding Received
The AFSC received $493,700 for ocean acidification research in FY 2011. These new funds primarily will be used to conduct species-specific physiological research. The species-specific physiological response to ocean acidification is unknown for most marine species. Lacking basic knowledge, research will be directed toward several taxa including king crab, coldwater corals, and walleye pollock. The research will be conducted at the Kodiak, Auke Bay, and Newport Laboratories. The king crab results also will be incorporated into a king crab bioeconomic model; this work will be completed by the AFSC’s Socioeconomics Assessment program in Seattle.
| Principal Investigators | Abbreviated Titles | Funding |
|---|---|---|
| Foy | Alaska red king crab growth and survival | $180,000 |
| Foy | Alaska king crab genomics | $120,000 |
| Carls, Rice | Calcium carbonate measurements, king crab | $ 85,000 |
| Dalton | Alaska red king crab abundance forecasts | $ 44,200 |
| Foy | Travel, planning workshop | $ 2,000 |
| Carls | Travel, planning workshop | $ 2,000 |
| Hurst | Travel, planning workshop | $ 2,000 |
| Dalton | Travel, modeling workshop | $ 2,000 |
| Hurst | Growth and survival of larval pollock | $ 46,000 |
| Stone | Calcium carbonate mineralogy of Alaskan corals | $ 10,500 |
Total | $493,700 |
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Report of the Bering Sea Project (BEST/BSIERP) Principal Investigators’ Meeting
Principal investigators of the Bering Sea Project (BEST/BSIERP) met 22–24 March 2011 in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss and exchange research findings. About one hundred scientists attended the meeting. The goals of the meeting were to present summary results organized around related projects, to organize focal group discussions, and to review progress toward a road map for synthesis of Bering Sea Project results.
Participants presented key research findings on the following topics: physical oceanography, iron and nutrients, benthos, ice algae and primary production, zooplankton, ichthyoplankton, fish surveys, fish and ocean conditions, seabirds and whales, patch dynamics, local and traditional knowledge and subsistence, lower trophic level models, upper trophic level models, competing models, data management, and outreach. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this interesting and productive meeting.
By Mike Sigler
