Sikuliaq visit brings science outreach to rural Alaska

November 10, 2016

Photo by Lauren Frisch. The building that once housed Golovin's fish processing plant was functional until 2012, but gradual erosion of the coastline has damaged its foundation to the point where it is no longer usable.

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During a visit to Golovin, Alaska, in October 2016, a local resident sat down with me and walked me through a series of photographs.

The photos showed gradual erosion beneath a local fish processing plant, a great indicator of the damage that coastlines around Golovin had experienced because of storm surges, he explained. Through 2012 the fish processing plant had been upright and functional, but after then you could see that the plant slowly began succumbing to an eroding coastline.

It was an instructive moment for our team. We traveled to Golovin as representatives of the University of Alaska Fairbanks-operated Sikuliaq, a research vessel that sends teams of scientists to the Arctic to explore the changes that coastal communities like Golovin are experiencing. Our mission was different. Our goals were to better understand what local residents view as the primary environmental changes occurring in their community and to exchange information about Sikuliaq research and day-to-day operations.

Connecting face to face with the people in Golovin helped me learn about the issues they are most worried about, and discuss how Sikuliaq research is addressing these issues.

“We want people living in areas in which we work to understand the mission of the Sikuliaq as a research platform, who we are, and what we do,” said Murray Stein, the Sikuliaq marine superintendent. “When it is permitted by the community, the best way to accomplish our research is to actually get on land and talk to people about what we do.”

The opportunity to spend a time visiting communities and giving presentations is not always possible. Sometimes cruises have built in gaps between science missions that can be filled with regular maintenance or other activities. Other times, weather may delay ship travel or completely alter a ship’s route, which can open up opportunities to visit nearby villages.

Our original plan was to take the Sikuliaq from Nome to the St. Lawrence Island communities of Gambell and Savoonga to talk about Sikuliaq research at local schools and provide tours of the vessel.

The day before our departure, wind conditions near the island became too severe to make the trip. Wind in Nome also was severe enough that we were asked to leave the port, so as not to damage the dock or our ship. Our new plan was to travel to protected waters until the Sikuliaq could return.

Photo by Lauren Frisch. As the shoreline erodes, more buildings are relocating to uphill locations in the village of Golovin.

We found shelter from the gusts in Golovin Bay, about 70 miles east of Nome. Because of persisting winds, we remained anchored in the bay for about four days, with limited opportunity to leave the ship. But one morning, we saw there was an opening to visit Golovin, a small, Inupiat community in Norton Sound that subsists on local caribou, birds, red king crabs and other regional wildlife. After contacting the tribal office of Golovin to make sure a visit would be welcomed, I traveled to shore with Stein, Chief Mate Eric Piper and Able-bodied Seaman Arthur Levine.

The Chinik Eskimo Community Environmental Center connected us with the principal of the local school, who arranged for us to lead a question-and-answer session with the middle school students.

The kids had a strong understanding of the natural cycles in their region. One boy observed that birds are showing up earlier in the hunting season than they used to, while others noted that it seemed to snow less in 2015 than in previous years. The students were curious to learn about what it was like to live on a ship, how big the ship was and how it worked. Many were amazed to learn we could eat ice cream whenever we felt like it.

A number of adults trickled into the classroom too. A few asked me afterward how the region’s red king crabs may be affected by increasing carbon dioxide levels in the ocean, which is called ocean acidification. Red king crabs provide a valuable food resource to the community, so understanding how changes in ocean chemistry may harm the crabs is important to village residents.

Levine, who participated on a similar trip to Point Hope, explained how these trips put his own position on the ship into perspective.

“A lot of times I’m still trying to understand details in the science that our researchers are doing onboard,” he said. “But looking at the big picture, it’s about much more than the details. It is great to work with researchers who are documenting the wide variety of changes that our oceans are experiencing.”

Documenting environmental changes is complicated and constantly changes. As a result, ensuring local residents understand what we are finding and can contribute to our understanding of each region is an ongoing process.

“We need to continue to visit communities like Golovin to understand their values and priorities,” Stein said. “The ability to travel to schools as we were able to in Golovin is not only an opportunity for these communities to learn about the ship, but just as importantly, it is an opportunity for those of us working on the ship to learn about their environment and the changes they are seeing.”