Alaska Sea Grant awards over $1 million for research

January 23, 2018

Photo by Anne Beaudreau. A recreational angler holds a rockfish. UAF associate professor Anne Beaudreau and her research team will interview Alaska fishermen about their knowledge of long-term changes in rockfish abundance.

Alaska Sea Grant has selected six research projects for funding during 2018-2020, with the majority of the work getting underway next month.

The researchers will receive $1.3 million to study a diverse range of topics intended to help Alaskans understand, conserve and sustainably use the state’s rich marine and coastal resources. The research will advance knowledge in Sea Grant’s main focus areas: healthy coastal ecosystems, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, and resilient communities and economies. Six graduate students are involved, contributing to the next generation of science professionals in Alaska.

“We received 47 pre-proposals and 18 full proposals. The six that we funded ranked highest in a rigorous peer-review process and will address critical needs for Alaska marine and coastal research,” said Ginny Eckert, Alaska Sea Grant’s associate director of research. “The investigators work within the University of Alaska system as well as Alaska agencies and nonprofits with expertise in marine and social sciences.”

Alaska Sea Grant is part of the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the National Sea Grant Program, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Titles of the funded projects and researchers involved are:

Integrating local ecological knowledge and survey data to improve assessment and management of rockfishes in Alaska

Anne Beaudreau, UAF CFOS

Scott Meyer and Ben Williams, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Kelp reproduction and harvest rebound in Kachemak Bay, Alaska

Brenda Konar, UAF CFOS

Metabolic and growth physiology of early life history stages of the northern spot shrimp, Pandalus platyceros

Sherry Tamone, University of Alaska Southeast

Potential for resilience—examining the effects of ocean acidification on native Alaska bivalves

Amanda Kelley, UAF CFOS

Arctic Risk Management Network: Linking regional practitioners and researchers to improve mitigation through participatory action research by community monitors about erosion, surges, and nearshore sea ice loss as mutual priorities

Tom Ravens, University of Alaska Anchorage

Anne Garland, Applied Research in Environmental Sciences Nonprofit Inc.

Jacquelyn Overbeck, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys

Assessing the resilience of Southeast Alaska salmon to a shifting freshwater environment

Jeffrey Falke, Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at UAF, U.S. Geological Survey

Ryan Bellmore, Pacific Northwest Research Station, U.S. Forest Service

Rebecca Bellmore, Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition

Davin Holen, Marine Advisory Program, UAF CFOS

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Ginny Eckert, 907-796-5450, ginny.eckert@alaska.edu

ON THE WEB: For a full description of the projects, visit www.alaskaseagrant.org/research/project-directory.php