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2009 Graduate Student Research Award

In May 2009, NPRB will award up to five Graduate Student Research Awards of $20,000 each to qualified masters and/or doctoral students for the opportunity to address scientific, technological and socio-economic issues related to the research themes identified in the 2005 NPRB Science Plan. 

Online submission of applications for the 2009 Graduate Student Research Awards will be available between December 15, 2008 and 4 pm (Alaska Time) Friday, February 13, 2009 at www.nprb.org.  Please see the 2009 GSRA guidelines for further details of the application requirements.

NPRB Subaward Compliance Policy

Effective November 5, 2008, the NPRB Executive Committee adopted an interim Subaward Compliance Policy to help guide the Board when dealing with issues of project management deficiencies.  This policy will be considered by the full Board in March 2009 and applies to all currently active and future NPRB projects.

Gulf of Alaska IERP Call for Pre-Proposals

NPRB is launching its second Integrated Ecosystem Research Program (IERP), this one with the focus in the Gulf of Alaska. The goal of the IERP is to determine and quantify the processes driving upper trophic level populations, and to better understand observed and potential future variability therein as they affect key management issues in the North Pacific.

Pre-Proposals are due January 28, 2009.  More Information

2009 Request for Proposals

The Online Proposal Submission 2009 is now available.

The 2009 Request for Proposals is now available. Proposals are due December 5, 2008.  More Information

2009 Alaska Marine Science Symposium

The 2009 Symposium will be held January 19-23 at the Hotel Captain Cook in downtown Anchorage. Online registration and abstract submission begins November 14. Mark your calendar!  More Information

Marine Habitat Mapping Technology for Alaska

Papers resulting from the April 2007 Marine Habitat Mapping Technology Workshop for Alaska (co-sponsored by NPRB and UAF; see project 615) have just been published. The workshop addressed the topic of habitat mapping technologies for marine regions around Alaska.

Benthic habitat mapping has become the principal method for defining the distribution of benthic habitats, and indicating or predicting the distribution of marine organisms that are closely associated with these habitats. The method depends heavily on technologies; thus, an understanding of what technologies are available, their capabilities, and how they might be used is essential to development of effective habitat mapping programs.

The papers examine technologies that would be effective for benthic marine habitat mapping in the Alaska region. They are intended for a general scientific audience and emphasize conceptual explanations of the capabilities and limitations of the technologies, as well as techniques for their application to habitat mapping.

Workshop papers are available here as 17 separate chapters, a table of contents, and an index.

• Workshop Report
• Workshop Abstracts and Program

Researchers Still Following Right Whale

In early September, Alex Zerbini and Phil Clapham (NPRB Project 720) have successfully tagged a North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica) in the Southeast Bering Sea. Right: Track of the tagged whale in the Bering Sea for the week of September 29. See larger image

UPDATE: September 29 | After disappearing for two days, the whale came back online today, albeit with poor-quality positions. She seems to be moving WNW.

Critically endangered

This is big news because poor weather and the whales’ elusiveness have made tag deployment very difficult. The North Pacific right whale is considered critically endangered; the eastern population is estimated at fewer than 100 animals. Its current distribution is known only from records in a relatively limited area of the southeastern Bering Sea, and from a few occurrences in the Gulf of Alaska. Their migratory routes and the location of calving grounds remain unknown.

Researchers are tagging right whales with satellite transmitters to determine seasonal movements, migratory paths, wintering destinations, and to describe their habitat use in the summer-time feeding grounds.

Characterizing the distribution and movements throughout the right whale’s range is essential to better understand the species’ ecology and to assess risk factors relating to potential impacts from human activities. Left: The tagged right whale. (Brenda Rone, NMML)

King Crab and Climate

Researchers Gordon Kruse and William Bechtol (NPRB Project 509) have been analyzing environmental and anthropogenic factors in an attempt to understand what caused the drastic decline in Kodiak red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) and to broaden our understanding of the Gulf of Alaska marine ecosystem.

Using data from the commercial crab fishery and from pot and trawl surveys, Kruse and Bechtol have been conducting a retrospective (1960-2004) analysis of Kodiak crab population to learn why the fishery collapsed in the 1980s.

And they have some interesting preliminary findings. Reduced numbers of young crab establishing themselves in the population -- a process known as recruitment -- occurred after air temperature, water temperature, and precipitation increased in the Kodiak area. Above: King crab eggs. (Celeste Leroux)

Concurrently, abundances of Pacific halibut, Pacific cod, and arrowtooth flounder increased. All of these changes occurred during a time of high fishing mortality, making the population less resilient to negative environmental influences.

Supporting research to enable effective management and sustainable use of Alaska's marine resources
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