Saving Seafood

ALASKA: UAF/ADF&G collaborate on king salmon smolt project

October 23, 2025 — A new study of king salmon smolt aims to track their trail from fresh water to the ocean to better understand the troubles facing this prized Alaska fishery.

The project, which began this past summer, is a collaboration between the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS) and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G). It is funded by a $4 million federal earmark through NOAA to research juvenile king salmon.

Resources for studying king salmon have been largely focused on adult fish. This one will concentrate on those in the smolt stage, a relatively understudied period of development.

Read the full article at The Cordova Times

Overlooked jellyfish play big role in Gulf of Alaska

April 15, 2019 — “Jellyfish have superpowers,” assured Heidi Mendoza-Islas, a graduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

The voracious carnivores will eat almost anything that fits into their mouths. When conditions are good, they grow fast and multiply. When conditions aren’t ideal, baby jellies can transform into cysts and wait it out.

So it is no surprise that jellyfish have been successful predators in the Gulf of Alaska, Mendoza-Islas said. But few studies have focused on the role jellyfish play in the Gulf’s ecosystem or how jellyfish affect commercially important finfish, such as pollock. Mendoza-Islas wants to change that.

Read the full story at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner