Alaska Sea Grant Archives - Page 2 of 2

Alaska Fisherman May Have Higher Rates of Hearing Loss, New Research Shows

June 21, 2018 — Alaska salmon fishermen have a significantly higher rate of health problems than the general population, according to a new study conducted by the University of Washington School of Public Health in partnership with Alaska Sea Grant, the Sea Grant program affiliated with the University of Alaska Fairbanks published on its website. The health issues include noise-induced hearing loss, upper extremity disorders, and fatigue possibly associated with sleep apnea.

The study began in early 2015 when Torie Baker, Alaska Sea Grant marine advisory agent in Cordova, and members of Cordova District Fishermen United invited 600 salmon gillnet permit holders to answer health questions before and during the fishing season. Dr Debra Cherry, a physician and injury prevention and treatment researcher with the University of Washington Department of Epidemiology, led the effort.

The research is one of the first of its kind in the United States, according to the study’s authors. The peer-reviewed study was published April 2018 in the Journal of Agromedicine.

Evidence of noise-induced hearing loss in the study is striking. About 80% of physical exam participants had hearing loss, compared to the 15% norm for Americans. In addition to engine noise while fishing, most fishermen reported exposure to noise during off-season activities, such as snowmachining, hunting, and construction jobs.

Read the full story at The Hearing Review

Study: Alaska salmon gillnet fishermen face high rate of health issues

June 15, 2018 — Commercial salmon fishermen in Alaska have much higher rates of some health problems than the general population, a recent study has found.

The study, from the University of Washington School of Public Health and Alaska Sea Grant, surveyed and assessed gillnet permit holders in the Alaska Copper River salmon fishery in 2015.

“The prevalence of hearing loss, upper extremity disorders, and sleep apnea risk factors were higher than in the general population both before and during the fishing season,” the study found.

Exposure to noise, the demands of gillnetting on the body, and long working hours while fishing exacerbate those chronic health conditions, the study said.

About 80 percent of participants who had a physical exam for the study had hearing loss, compared with 15 percent for Americans between 20 and 69. About 40 percent of participants had rotator cuff problems, compared with 8 to 14 percent in the general population.

The health problems also included other types of upper extremity disorders and fatigue that could be associated with sleep apnea.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Why are Pacific Cod Stocks Crashing?

February 13, 2018 — “The status of Pacific cod is probably the biggest fishery issue facing Kodiak right now, with the quota cut 80 percent for 2018,” said Mike Litzow, a University of Alaska Fairbanks associate professor at the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center.

Pacific cod stocks have collapsed, possibly because recruitment (production of young fish to enter the population) has been very low during a recent string of incredibly warm years in the Gulf of Alaska, he said.

Scientists don’t know why cod stocks are shrinking. The leading hypothesis is that warmer temperatures increase the metabolic rates of young cod, and their food sources don’t supply enough energy.

There’s a sticking point—there’s not enough data to test the theory. Studies of fish ecology and population dynamics in Alaska are overwhelmingly conducted in the summer. Almost nothing is known about wintertime ecology of juvenile Pacific cod.

To help provide answers, Litzow and fisheries oceanographer Alisa Abookire embarked on a pilot study this month to collect information about habitat use, diet and energetics of juvenile cod.

They are sampling the fish with a beach seine and taking ocean water data aboard a semi-enclosed 22 foot skiff. To stay warm they wear insulated paddling suits.

Litzow and Abookire are collaborating with scientists at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Ore., who have been studying juvenile cod in Kodiak over the last 12 years. The pilot study is funded by the Ocean Phoenix Fund through the University of Alaska Foundation.

Read the full story at Alaska Native News

Alaska Sea Grant awards over $1 million for research

January 24, 2018 — 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.

Read the full story at the University of Alaska Fairbanks

Deadline approaches for Alaska Sea Grant fellowships

February 3, 2017 — Alaska Sea Grant, located at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, is offering graduate students, or those who recently completed their degree, the opportunity to acquire on-the-job-training in Alaska-based federal and state agencies for one year as part of ASG’s State Fellowship Program.

This is a paid fellowship ($3,500 per month for a total of $42,000) for highly motivated and qualified applicants who are focused on science or policy that affects Alaska’s marine and freshwater resources.

ASG will accept three or more state fellows for 2017-2018. Successful candidates may be placed at the following organizations:

Alaska Office of the Lieutenant Governor
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
National Park Service
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Alaska Fisheries Science Center
NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Region
North Pacific Fishery Management Council
North Pacific Research Board
North Pacific Research Board/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Landscape Conservation Cooperative
U.S. Geological Survey
The deadline to apply is Feb. 24, 2017. More information and the application are available at alaskaseagrant.org/fellowships

Read the full story at Alaska Business Monthly.

Alaskans own dwindling number of Alaska fishing permits

January 15, 2016 — Fishing issues will take a back seat to budget cutting when the Alaska Legislature convenes Jan. 19, but two early fish bills (and one holdover) are getting attention already.

One new measure aims to stop the migration of commercial fishing permits out of Alaska.

Forty years ago at Bristol Bay, 36 percent of the more than nearly 2,000 permits were held by locals and 64 percent by nonresidents. By 2013, the numbers were 19 percent local and 81 percent nonresident. Similar trends, by varying degrees, are happening in other regions as well.

Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, D-Sitka, said he intends to introduce a bill that would establish a permit bank to reverse the outmigration trend.

The bank would buy nonresident permits and lease them to young fishermen who otherwise could not afford them. It would offer several types of fishing permits (Alaska has 65) that would be proportional and reflective of regional fisheries. A permit bank would not cost the state any money, he said, because it would fall to local communities to raise the money.

Read the full story at Alaska Dispatch News