Annual Report No. 16

Calendar Year 2009

BOEMRE 2010-049

Submitted by

Michael Castellini

Director

University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute

to

U.S. Department of the Interior

Minerals Management Service

Alaska OCS Region

Anchorage, Alaska

November 2010
This study was funded in part by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service 

(MMS), through Cooperative Agreement No. M08AX12644, between the MMS, Alaska Outer 

Continental Shelf Region, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. 

The opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this report or product are those 

of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Minerals Management Service, nor does 

mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use 

by the Federal Government. 

This report, BOEMRE 2010-049, is available from the Coastal Marine Institute (CMI), School of Fisheries 

and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220. Electronic copies can be 

downloaded from the MMS website at www.mms.gov/alaska/ref/akpubs.htm. Hard copies are available free 

of charge, as long as the supply lasts, from the above address. Requests may be placed with Ms. Sharice 

Walker, CMI, by phone (907) 474-7208, by fax (907) 474-7204, or by email at skwalker@alaska.edu. 

Once the limited supply is gone, copies will be available from the National Technical Information Service, 

Springfield, Virginia 22161, or may be inspected at selected Federal Depository Libraries. 
Annual Report No. 16

Calendar Year 2009

BOEMRE 2010-049

Submitted by

Michael Castellini

Director

University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute

to

U.S. Department of the Interior

Minerals Management Service

Alaska OCS Region

Anchorage, Alaska

November 2010
Contact information 

 email: skwalker@alaska.edu 

 phone: 907.474.7208 

 fax: 907.474.7204 

 Coastal Marine Institute 

 School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences 

 University of Alaska Fairbanks 

 P. O. Box 757220 

 Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 

1 
Contents 

Introduction.....................................................................................................................................3 

On-Going Studies............................................................................................................................5 

Idealized Process Model Studies of Circulation in the Landfast 

Ice Zone of the Alaskan Beaufort Sea..............................................................................6

Thomas Weingartner, Jeremy Kasper 

Current and Historic Distribution and Ecology of Demersal Fishes 

in the Chukchi Sea Planning Area.................................................................................15 

Brenda Norcross, Brenda Holladay 

Recovery in a High Arctic Kelp Community................................................................32 

Brenda Konar 

Biogeochemical Assessment of the North Aleutian Basin Ecosystem: 

Current Status and Vulnerability to Climate Change.................................................43 

Jeremy Mathis 

Mapping and Characterization of Recurring Spring Leads and Landfast 

Ice in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas...........................................................................45 

Hajo Eicken 

Subsistence Use and Knowledge of Beaufort Salmon Populations............................50 

Courtney Carothers 

Trophic Links – Forage Fishes, Their Prey, and Ice Seals in the 

Northeastern Chukchi Sea.............................................................................................54 

Brenda Norcross, Larissa-A. Dehn, Brenda Holladay, Sara Carroll 

Population Connectivity in Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Sea 

Snow Crab Populations..................................................................................................68 

Sarah Mincks Hardy, Katrin Iken 

Final Reports Pending.................................................................................................................73 

CMI Program Funding Summary.............................................................................................74 

CMI Publications.........................................................................................................................76 

2 
Introduction 

The University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute (CMI) was created by a cooperative 

agreement between the University of Alaska and the Minerals Management Service (MMS) in June 

1993, with the first full funding cycle beginning late in (federal) fiscal year 1994. CMI is pleased to 

present this 2009 Annual Report, our sixteenth annual report. We are currently working under MMS 

Cooperative Agreement M03PC00003. 

The Minerals Management Service administers the outer continental shelf (OCS) natural gas, 

oil, and marine minerals program overseeing the safe and environmentally sound leasing, exploration, 

and production of these resources within our nation’s offshore areas. The Environmental Studies 

Program (ESP) was formally directed in 1978, under Section 20 of the OCS Lands Act Amendments, 

to provide information in support of the decisions involved in the planning, leasing, and management 

of exploration, development, and production activities. The research agenda is driven by the 

identification of specific issues, concerns, or data gaps by federal decision makers and the state and 

local governments that participate in the process. ESP research focuses on the following broad issues 

associated with development of OCS gas, oil, and minerals: 

 What are the fates and effects of potential OCS-related pollutants (e.g., oil, noise, drilling 

muds, and cuttings, products of fuel combustion) in the marine and coastal environment 

and the atmosphere? 

 What biological resources (e.g., fish populations) exist and which resources are at risk? 

What is the nature and extent of the risk? What measures must be taken to allow 

extraction to take place? 

 How do OCS activities affect people in terms of jobs and the economy? What are the 

direct and indirect effects on local culture? What are the psychological effects of the 

proposed OCS activites? 

Because MMS and individual states have distinct but complementary roles in the decisionmaking process, reliable scientific information is needed by MMS, the state, and localities potentially 

affected by OCS operations. In light of this, MMS has developed a locally managed CMI program. 

CMI is administered by the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. 

Alaska was selected as the location for this CMI because it contains some of the major potential 

offshore oil and gas producing areas in the United States. The University of Alaska Fairbanks is 

uniquely suited to participate by virtue of its flagship status within the state and its nationally 

recognized marine and coastal expertise relevant to the broad range of OCS program information 

needs. In addition, MMS and the University of Alaska have worked cooperatively on ESP studies for 

many years. Research projects funded by CMI are required to have at least one active University of 

Alaska investigator. Cooperative research between the University of Alaska and state agency scientists 

is encouraged. 

Framework Issues were developed during the formation of CMI to identify and bracket the 

concerns to be addressed: 

3 
 Scientific studies for better understanding marine, coastal, or human environments 

affected or potentially affected by offshore oil & gas or other mineral exploration and 

extraction on the outer continental shelf; 

 Modeling studies of environmental, social, economic, or cultural processes related to 

OCS oil & gas activities in order to improve scientific predictive capabilities; 

 Experimental studies for better understanding of environmental processes or the causes 

and effects of OCS activities; 

 Projects which design or establish mechanisms or protocols for sharing of data or 

scientific information regarding marine or coastal resources or human activities to 

support prudent management of oil & gas and marine minerals resources; and 

 Synthesis studies of scientific environmental or socioeconomic information relevant to 

the OCS oil & gas program. Projects funded through CMI are directed toward providing 

information which can be used by MMS and the state for management decisions 

specifically relevant to MMS mission responsibilites. 

Projects must be pertinent to either the OCS oil and gas program or the marine minerals 

mining program. They should provide useful information for program management or for the 

scientific understanding of potential environmental effects of resource development activities in arctic 

and subarctic environments. 

Initial guidelines given to prospective researchers identified Cook Inlet and Shelikof Strait, as 

well as the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, as areas of chief concern to MMS and the state. Primary 

emphasis has subsequently shifted to the Beaufort Sea, and to the Chukchi Sea as it relates to the 

Beaufort Sea. 

The proposal process is initiated each summer with a request for proposals to addressing one 

or more of the Framework Issues. This request is publicized and sent to researchers at the University 

of Alaska, to various state agencies, and to relevant profit and non-profit corporations. The proposals 

are reviewed both externally and by MMS internally. The CMI technical steering committee then 

decides which proposals should be recommended to MMS for funding. 

Successful investigators are strongly encouraged to publish their results in peer-reviewed 

journals as well as to present them at national meetings. In addition, investigators report their findings 

at the CMI’s annual research review at UAF. Some investigators present information directly to the 

public and MMS staff in seminars. 

Alaskans benefit from the examination and increased understanding of those processes unique 

to Alaskan OCS and coastal waters because this enhanced understanding can be applied to problems 

other than oil, gas, and mineral extraction, such as subsistence fisheries and northern shipping. 

Many of the CMI-funded projects address some combination of issues related to fisheries, 

biomonitoring, physical oceanography, and the fates of oil. The ultimate intent of CMI-related 

research is to identify the ways in which OCS-related activities may affect our environment, and 

potential economic and social impacts as well. 

4 
On-Going Studies: 

5 
Idealized Process Model Studies of Circulation in the Landfast Ice Zone 

of the Alaskan Beaufort Sea 

Thomas Weingartner Jeremy Kasper 

weingart@ims.uaf.edu kasper@sfos.uaf.edu 

Institute of Marine Science Institute of Marine Science 

University of Alaska Fairbanks University of Alaska Fairbanks 

115 O’Neill Building 126 O’Neill Building 

P.O. Box 757220 P.O. Box 757220 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 

Task Order: 39953 

Abstract 

A combination of simple analytic models and idealized process numerical models help to 

understand how the presence of landfast ice and the frictional coupling of the ice to the ocean 

control mean, subtidal currents under landfast ice. The analytic model is based on Csanady’s 

vertically averaged transport equation model, the “arrested topographic wave” (ATW). Similar to 

the ATW, the arrested landfast ice topographic wave model (the ALW) is used to describe the 

effects of friction (in this case both bottom and a surface friction due to landfast ice) on an alongshore pressure gradient and how along-shore winds interact with landfast ice. Since the analytic 

model is necessarily simplified, results are intended as a first order description of the effects of 

landfast ice on mean shelf circulation. 

In simulations where an inflow, a mound of water prescribed at the western boundary, 

drives circulation along a coast, process numerical models show differences from the analytical 

model that are primarily due to the offshore boundary condition; numerical models include a 

surface stress curl across the landfast ice edge whereas analytic models necessarily employ a 

simple boundary condition on transport at the ice edge. Numerical results show that the ice edge 

is an important vorticity term that causes the inflow to hug the coast much as Coriolis and bottom 

slope do. 

For steady winds offshore of the ice edge, analytic and numerical models show good 

agreement. Further numerical experiments show that along-shore changes in the ice ocean drag 

coefficient and along-shore changes in ice coverage lead to time dependant flow (vorticity waves 

trapped at the coast) and along-shore pressure gradients that lead to significant flows near the 

coast (in the absence of along-shore variations in the winds). 

6 
Numerical experiments of river discharge beneath a landfast ice cover show that the ice 

cover significantly increases the distance off-shore that the surface advected buoyant plume 

moves compared to the equivalent ice-free case. Overall, numerical and analytic results show 

that flow beneath landfast ice is sensitive to along- and cross-shore changes in the frictional 

coupling of the ice to the ocean. 

In addition to these results, three manuscripts are in various stages of preparation (two are 

in the final stages of editing) and we anticipate completing this project (including the final report) 

by the end of 2010. 

Results 

 From the vertically averaged, steady state momentum equations under the long wave, we 

construct a vorticity equation that describes the effect of a sloping bottom, bottom stress, Coriolis 

and under ice stress on an along-shore sea level slope beneath an immobile landfast ice cover 

      2

2

Term 1 Term 2

1 1 ice b ice b

ice b

rr rr

r r

x fs y y fs y fs y y

         

   

     

  

  

(0.1) 

The left side of equation (0.1) is the along-shore sea level slope. It varies in part due to vortex 

stretching associated with the product of the Coriolis parameter (f) and bottom slope (s). The 

terms rice and rb are the linear ice ocean drag coefficient and bottom drag coefficient, 

respectively. Expanding the partial derivative in the middle of Equation (0.1) leads to the two 

terms on the far right. The first term, term 1, is the ATW-like term with the diffusion coefficient 

(Csanady 1978), which may vary in both x and y, being the sum of the under ice and bottom drag 

coefficients divided by fs. As in the ATW, diffusion is proportional to the cross-shore divergence 

of the along-shore geostrophic velocity (a vortex contraction term). In our analysis we will set rb, 

constant but allow rice to vary with x and y. Hence underice friction can cause along- and crossshore variation in the cross-shore divergence of the along-shore geostrophic transport. The 

second term, term 2, on the right hand side is the cross-shore gradient in ice friction multiplied by 

the along-shore geostrophic transport. It behaves like the advection term in an advective-diffusive 

differential equation and results in vortex contraction. The advective-like velocity is thus the 

gradient in ice ocean drag divided by fs. For our setting we take the gradient in the ice ocean drag 

coefficient,   ice b  r r y , to be positive since the Alaskan Beaufort landfast ice cover is 

generally smoother near shore and rougher due to increased ridging farther offshore (Tucker et al. 

1979). In our crude model this effect is represented as smaller rice nearshore and an increase in 

rice moving offshore. Observational evidence suggests that this parameterization is not unrealistic 

7 
although there are other considerations discussed later that may be important as well (Shirasawa 

1986, McPhee 1990). The ALW vorticity balance requires that an increase in diffusion or 

advection be balanced by an increase in along-shore sea level slope. The analytical solution to 

equation (0.1) for an inflow through the western boundary is shown in Figure 1 for various 

parameters associated with the ice. The coast is along the bottom boundary and depth increases 

linearly (s=0.75 m/km) with distance offshore. 

Figure 2 shows the equivalent numerical solution for comparison to panel A of Figure 1. The 

figure shows that the ice edge stress curl included in the numerical results causes the flow to hug 

the shore (at large distances from the western boundary) more than the analytic solution predicts. 

 For winds offshore of the northern, seaward, ice edge equation (0.1) can be solved by 

specifying the sea level at the ice edge as the boundary condition at the ice edge. Such a solution 

is shown in Figure 3. Figure 4 is the equivalent numerical solution where a 7 m/s wind is blown 

offshore of the ice edge from east to west. The analytic and numerical solutions are very similar 

indicating that the simple vorticity equation captures the essential physics. With no along-shore 

variations in the ice ocean drag or wind, the cross-shore sea level slope is the same everywhere 

(and hence there are no along-shore changes in velocity). When along-shore changes in the ice 

ocean drag coefficient are introduced it is no longer possible to solve equation (0.1) analytically 

but numerical simulations are possible. The solution for a sinusoidally varying ice ocean drag 

coefficient is shown in Figure 5 for the same forcing as shown in Figure 4. The figure shows that 

along-shore variations in the ice ocean drag lead to significant along-shore sea level slopes and 

hence to along-shore flow. Figure 6 shows that along-shore changes in ice coverage lead to 

significant along-shore currents beneath landfast ice as well. In addition to the mean response 

shown in Figure 6, there is time dependant response as well that takes the form of topographically 

trapped waves that travel from east to west (shown in Figure 7). 

Experiments that include river discharge are shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9. Figure 8

includes an ice cover (covering inshore of the 20 m isobath) whereas Figure 9 does not. The river 

is specified as 50 km wide (East to West) and has a time varying discharge (mimicking the 

Alaskan North Slope rivers). The effect of the ice cover is to spread the discharge further 

offshore and further up the coast (in the Kelvin wave sense, further to the West) than in the ice 

free case. 

Conclusions 

 Idealized analytical and numerical experiments clearly demonstrate the effect of a 

landfast ice cover on typical shelf forcing mechanisms including winds, buoyancy and along8 
shore pressure gradients. All of these forcing mechanisms are sensitive to the magnitude of the 

ice ocean drag coefficient and to along- and cross-shore variability of the ice ocean drag 

coefficient. We anticipate submitting a final report for this project by the end of 2010. 

Figure 1. Contours of sea level (m) as predicted by equation (0.1). Contour interval is .5 m. Panel A: 

solution for a 26 km wide ice cover. Panel B: The solution for a 60 km wide ice cover. Panels C and 

D: The solution for several different values of the cross-shore gradient of the ice ocean drag 

coefficient.

Figure 2. Panel A: Sea level contours (m) from a numerical simulation forced by an inflow at the 

western boundary. The ice extends from the coast to the 25 km offshore. Panel B: For comparison, 

the analytical solution shown in Figure 1 panel A for the same ice parameters as the numerical 

solution shown in panel A. 

9 
Figure 3. Left Panel: Sea level anomaly, η (m), versus time, from the analytic solution to (0.1) for sea 

level specified at the ice edge (26 km offshore). Right Panel: Sea level anomaly (m) between the coast 

and the ice edge from the analytic solution at day 10. 

Figure 4. Left Panel: The progression of the cross-shore distribution of the sea surface anomaly, η, 

(m) through time beneath a landfast ice cover for comparison to the analytic prediction shown in 

Figure 3. Ice covers the area inshore of the 20 m isobath (25 km offshore). The ice ocean drag 

coefficient is the same as in the previous figure. The forcing is an upwelling windstress (-7.01 m/s) 

offshore of the ice edge. Right Panel: The cross-shore sea level slope beneath the ice edge after ten 

days. Note the difference in y-scale in the right hand panel versus the y-scale in the previous figures. 

10 
Figure 5. (A) Sea level (m) beneath a landfast ice cover with along-shore variations in the ice ocean 

drag coefficient,     2

0 1 sin 10 ice b r r C C mx    

  , C0=10-2, C1=10-2, m=π/75 km. (B) Vertically 

averaged along-shore velocity (m/s). Positive velocities are directed to the east. (C) Vertically 

averaged cross-shore velocities (m/s). Positive velocities are directed to the north. 

11 
Figure 6. (A) Sea level (m). The ice edge is marked by the dashed line at 700 km. There is ice to the 

east of the dashed line and open water to the west and offshore of the area shown. (B) Vertically 

averaged along-shore velocity (m/s). (C) Vertically averaged cross-shore velocity m/s. The forcing is a 

-7.01 m/s wind stress everywhere there is no ice. 

12 
Figure 7. (A) The fluctuating along-shore pressure gradient (m s-2 ) at the coast. Time in days is on 

the y axis. The x axis is along-shore distance. (B) The vertically averaged along-shore velocity (m/s) 

resulting from the fluctuation along-shore sea level slope associated with the propagating vorticity 

waves. 

Figure 8. Salinity field resulting from a river inflow specified between an along-shore distance of 

x=75 and x =125 km (the width of the river is chosen to resemble the Colville River). There is no 

wind stress. Landfast ice, a surface stress, covers the area inshore of the 20 m isobath. 

13 
Figure 9. Salinity for comparison to Figure 8. Every thing is the same as in Figure 8 except there is 

no landfast ice. 

References 

Csanady, G.T. 1978. The Arrested Topographic Wave. Journal of Physical Oceanography. 8(1), 

47-62. 

McPhee, M.G. 1990. Small Scale Processes. In Polar Oceanography Part A Physical Science. 

Edited by W.C. Smith, pp. 287-334. Academic Press. New York. 

Shirasawa, K. 1986. Water Stress and Ocean Current Measurements Under First-Year Sea Ice in 

the Canadian Arctic. J. Geophys. Res. 91(C12), 14305-14316. 

Tucker, W. B., III, W.F. Weeks, and M. Frank 1979. Sea Ice Ridging Over the Alaskan 

Continental Shelf. J. Geophys. Res. 84(C8), 4885-4897. 

14 
Current and Historic Distribution and Ecology of Demersal Fishes in 

the Chukchi Sea Planning Area

Brenda L. Norcross 

norcross@ims.uaf.edu 

Institute of Marine Science 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

P.O. Box 757220 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 

Project Contributors: 

Brenda A. Holladay 

baholladay@alaska.edu 

Institute of Marine Science 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

P.O. Box 757220 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 

Cooperative Agreement Number: M07AC13416 

Abstract 

This project documents the distribution and abundance of demersal fishes within and adjacent to 

the MMS Chukchi Sea Lease Sale 193 area based on new field collections and review of both 

archived specimens and historical scientific catch data. We have completed examination of 

archived specimens collected 1959–1992. We are still developing and populating an electronic 

database for MMS, i.e., the Chukchi Demersal Fish Database. This database will contain data 

from scientific collections of demersal fishes within the lease area and ecological information 

associated with those catches. The purpose for developing this database is to facilitate analysis of 

historical vs. current fish collections. That will allow ecosystem changes to be detected and 

effects of changes in fish abundance and species composition to be differentiated between those 

caused by climate change versus oil and gas development. Developing the database has taken 

much more time than anticipated because many of the data were not in an easy-to-use format. 

Furthermore, compiling the correct data for incorporation in the database has been more difficult 

than expected. Unexpected problems have been encountered in all aspects of this database. These 

problems include, but are not limited to, difficulties locating data that we know were collected, 

discrepancies between contract or study reports and data that were located, discrepancies between 

fish collections located in museums and those reported or data located. Difficulties compiling the 

historic database delayed synthesis of data. 

15 
Introduction 

Assessment of fish in the northeastern Chukchi Sea is particularly important in light of the lack of 

current knowledge and the potential for changes to the ecosystem with changing climate and 

anthropogenic use of the region, e.g., oil and gas exploration, fisheries, and vessel use of the area. 

It is important to assess the fish resources of the northeastern Chukchi Sea, i.e., before oil and gas 

exploration and possible commercial fishing, and prior to these factors having any effect on 

variability of fish populations. 

Prior to this project, information on fishes in the Chukchi Sea has been limited to a few historical 

surveys conducted 1959–1992 (Table 1) many of which were not readily accessible in electronic 

format. Knowledge of both historical and current status of fish populations is necessary to 

identify vulnerable fish species, life stages, and essential habitat. This gap in fish and ecosystem 

data can be attributed to several reasons. Logistics and sampling in this remote arctic region are 

particularly expensive, and traditional fish surveys can only be accomplished during the ice-free 

summer season. The Chukchi Sea is outside the range of the NOAA Alaska Fishery Science 

Center regular fish trawl surveys, there has been no notable effort for commercial fishing in the 

eastern Chukchi Sea, and subsistence fishing is limited to large fishes for human consumption 

that are taken closer to shore than the Lease Sale 193 area. The North Pacific Fisheries 

Management Council adopted, and the Secretary of Commerce approved, an Arctic Fishery 

Management Plan (FMP) that prohibits new commercial fishing in US Chukchi Sea waters. The 

FMP closes the Arctic Management Area to commercial fishing so that unregulated fishing does 

not occur until information improves in order that fishing can be conducted sustainably and with 

due concern for other ecosystem components (NPFMC 2009; 

http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/current_issues/Arctic/arctic.htm).

Currently the niche of benthic consumers in the Arctic, including the Chukchi Sea, is filled by 

seabirds and marine mammals (Grebmeier et al. 2006). However, with decreasing sea ice in the 

Chukchi Sea, demersal fishes moving northward from the eastern Bering Sea might usurp the 

place of birds and mammals as benthic consumers. Until recently, the northern Bering Sea has 

been a benthic-dominated ecosystem, i.e., very similar to that of the Chukchi Sea. With Arctic 

warming (ACIA 2004), the composition of marine fish and benthic communities is expected to 

change. Observed changes in distribution and abundance of walleye pollock Theragra 

chalcogramma and Arctic cod Boreogadus saida, in response to changes in sea ice cover and 

subsurface temperatures, provide insight as to how Arctic climate change affects marine 

ecosystems (Wyllie-Echeverria and Wooster 1998). The northern Bering Sea is now shifting from 

a shallow, ice-dominated system in which bottom-dwelling fishes prevail to one more dominated 

by pelagic fishes (Grebmeier et al. 2006). We can only speculate whether similar changes are 

occurring in the Chukchi Sea, as there is a paucity of information about fishes in this area. 

The accurate characterization of fish presence and abundance in the northeastern Chukchi Sea 

requires a current evaluation of previous collections from the region. Fish are the least well 

studied component of the arctic vertebrate fauna (Mecklenburg et al. 2008), with great confusion 

existing over species identities, and therefore, our understanding of species diversity and 

distributions. The fishes of the Alaskan arctic, including the Chukchi Sea, are especially poorly 

known, because few ichthyological and fisheries investigations have been conducted there 

compared to other Arctic seas. Alaskan arctic fish species’ identifications are often different from 

their original designations (e.g., Mecklenburg et al 2002, Love et al 2005, Mecklenburg et al. 

2006). Taxonomic problems exist with previous identifications of both common and less common 

species. Therefore, this led to complications with compiling databases. 

16 
Historic (1959–1992) scientific collections of demersal fishes in the northeastern Chukchi Sea 

needed to be located, proofed and combined with more recent (2004–2008) collections in an 

electronic database that we developed, i.e., the Chukchi Demersal Fish Database. This database 

includes demersal fish presence, and where data are available, also includes quantity and biomass 

of fishes and environmental data associated with the fish catches. We established a baseline of 

small demersal fishes from fieldwork in 2007 and 2008 that extends the RUSALCA collections 

made in 2004 (Norcross et al. 2009). Our synthesis of scientific information, which was delayed 

because of issues establishing the database, will provide a better understanding of marine fishes 

that could potentially be affected by offshore oil and gas exploration in the Chukchi Sea. This 

project provides historic and contemporary analysis of fishes in the Chukchi Sea to support oil, 

gas, and mineral resource management, thereby providing a basis for post-sale monitoring of 

fishes in the Chukchi Sea. 

Relevance to CMI Framework Issues 

1. Provide better understanding of fishes in the marine environment that could potentially be 

affected by offshore oil and gas exploration in the Chukchi Sea; 

2. Establish mechanisms for sharing data and information that are in support of oil, gas, and 

mineral resource management; 

3. Synthesize scientific information that is relevant to fish habitat and distribution in the 

Chukchi MMS Program Area. 

Research Objectives and Hypotheses and Summary of Progress to Date 

1. Completed (2008): Collect fishes and document species presence, abundance, 

distribution, geographic range, species diversity and assemblages, and habitat parameters 

(Framework Issue 1). Reported in 2008 annual report. 

2. Completed (2009): Determine physical and oceanographic features (water masses) 

characteristics that define demersal fish habitat (Framework Issues 1 & 3). Bottom water 

masses were determined for cruises in 1990, 1991 and 1992 as for cruises in 2004, 2007 

and 2008. 

3. Ongoing: Determine physical characteristics that define juvenile and adult fish 

communities and compare among collection periods and with historic collections 

(Framework Issues 1 & 3). 

4. Completed (2008): Correct the identification of historical archived fish specimens for 

accurate comparison with the proposed collections in the Chukchi Sea Planning Area 

(Framework Issues 1 & 3). Reported in 2008 annual report. 

5. Ongoing: Synthesize historic distribution patterns of fish species in and near the Chukchi 

Sea Lease Sale 193 area, and compare with 2007–2008 Oshoro-Maru collections 

(Framework Issues 1 & 3). Patterns for Oshoro-Maru 1990, 1991 and 1992 and Barber et 

al. 1989 and 1990 do not show any patterns. We are examining new ways of analyzing 

these data, and will also include the recent 2004 RUSALCA and 2007 Oscar Dyson 

collections. 

17 
6. Ongoing: Incorporate both historic and current scientific fish collection data from the 

northeast Chukchi Sea into electronic format suitable for incorporation into the MMS 

database (Framework Issue 2). Acquiring, proofing, and formatting data to fit in the 

database structure that was agreed upon with MMS was the major focus of this project in 

2009. 

7. Future: Provide a basis for post-sale monitoring of fishes in the Chukchi Sea (Framework 

Issues 1 & 3). Our final product with provide a basis for post-sale monitoring. 

Study Area 

The primary study area of this project is the Chukchi Sea Lease Sale 193 area that is under 

exploration for oil and gas development (Figure 1). Data from past (1959–1992) and present 

(2004–2008) scientific collections of demersal fishes within Lease Sale 193 are included in our 

study, and we also report catches to the south, west and north of this area to give added 

perspective of fish distribution patterns in the northeastern Chukchi Sea that could affect, or be 

affected by, fishes within the Lease Sale area. Data within the Lease Sale area are as complete as 

archived specimens and data records allow. Data we provide from outside the Lease Sale area 

were collected during cruises that entered the Lease Sale area, with one exception. We provide 

data from the RUSALCA 2004 cruise in the Russian and US areas of the Chukchi Sea, including 

sites near Lease Sale 193, where we sampled with the same gear and methods as during 2007–

2008. 

Understanding fish distribution in the Chukchi Lease Sale 193 in northeastern Chukchi Sea 

requires knowledge of circulation of water upstream (i.e., northern Bering Sea), within the area of 

concern, and downstream (i.e., Arctic Ocean and Beaufort Sea). Chukchi Sea Lease Sale 193 area 

may be impacted by four distinct surface water masses (Danielson and Weingartner in Johnson 

2003; Figure 2). The cooler Aleutian North Slope – Bering Slope – Anadyr Waters (ANS-BSAW), relatively warm and salty Bering Shelf Water (BSW) and warm, dilute Alaska Coastal 

Water (ACW) flow northward through the Bering Strait. The ANS-BS-AW flows mainly to the 

west of the Lease Sale 193, and may influence the western and northern areas of Lease Sale 193. 

The BSW flows north and east across Lease Sale 193, while the ACW generally flows inshore of 

the Lease Sale 193. Influences from the north include cold, fresh Atlantic Water flowing across 

the northern edge of Lease Sale 193. 

The ACC flows rapidly northward along the east side of the Bering Strait and is recognizable as 

the warm, dilute ACW along the east side of the Chukchi Sea and into the Arctic Ocean. The 

ACW is isolated from the rest of the Chukchi Sea by a well-defined front ~50 km from the 

Alaskan coast that extends northward from Bering Strait to the Lisburne Peninsula. The BSW, a 

mixture of Bering Sea and Gulf of Anadyr waters, also flows northward through Bering Strait and 

is found on the west side of this front. The front, which extends to the bottom, appears annually in 

the northeastern Chukchi Sea. Although the exact position can vary with winds, its mean position 

is based on bathymetry, i.e., where the bottom depth is equal to the mean depth of the mixed 

layer. Resident Chukchi Water (RCW) is derived from the upper layers of the Arctic Ocean or 

from shelf water left from the previous winter (Gillespie et al. 1997; Weingartner 1997). This 

water mass is found offshore in the northern Chukchi Sea. The RCW is separated from ACW in 

the northeastern Chukchi Sea by a semi-permanent front that extends to the bottom ~70–71° N 

(Weingartner 1997). The Siberian Coastal Current (SCC) flows southeastward from the East 

Siberian Sea and enters the Chukchi Sea through Long Strait, inshore of Wrangell Island 

(Weingartner 1997; Weingartner et al. 1999). A broad front separates the cold, dilute Siberian 

Coastal Water (SCW) from the warmer, saltier BSW. The SCC continues its southward flow and 

18 
converges with northward flow through the Bering Strait. It is usually deflected on the Chukchi 

shelf, but occasionally northerly wind events force the SCC to flow south through Bering Strait. 

In the western Chukchi Sea, surface-advected fronts form more often than bottom-advected 

fronts. These hydrographic features, some of which are permanent while others are transient, are 

expected to have significant biological implications (Weingartner et al. 1999). 

Methods 

Ongoing Tasks – Objectives 2–3 & 5–7 

Progress continues on the remaining project Objectives 2 and 3. Data now are available from 

2007–2008 collections, i.e., fish, temperature, salinity, etc. We used CTD data to determine the 

characteristics of physical and oceanographic features (water masses) that define demersal fish 

habitat, following methods in Norcross et al. (2009), i.e., standard potential density plots and 

cluster analysis. Physical data such as bottom temperature, bottom salinity, depth, and substrate 

still need to be assessed for their importance in defining species complexes (communities), and to 

be compared between present (2004–2008) and past (1959–1992) timeframes (Objectives 2 & 3, 

Framework Issues 1 & 3). 

Progress was made on Objective 3, but the objective is not yet completed. Two sets of past 

cruises used the same gear in more than one year, so interannual comparison can be made within 

those cruises (Oshoro-Maru cruises in 1991 and 1992, and Ocean Hope / Barber cruises in 1990 

and 1991). Patterns of fish distribution within these time frames can be compared to our more 

recent data from 2004–2008 (Norcross et al. 2009, Norcross and Holladay unpublished.) 

However, as collecting gear differed among the three collection sets, fish presence can be 

compared among them but fish abundance is not directly comparable. 

We continue to identify and incorporate historic and current scientific fish collection data from 

the northeast Chukchi Sea (Table 1) into electronic format suitable for incorporation into the 

Chukchi Demersal Fish Database (Objective 6, Framework Issue 2). This has involved searches 

for published data in peer-reviewed literature, gray literature, and the internet. Unpublished data 

has been sought from colleagues and institutional databases such as NOAA's RACEBASE 

groundfish resource database and the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ IMS database. Many data 

were not available electronically and have been keyed into a database from paper reports and 

publications. An important part of the Chukchi Demersal Fish Database is the incorporation of 

C.W. Mecklenburg’s review of archived specimens from the northeastern Chukchi Sea, which 

confirms or revises historical identifications and recommends the level of taxonomic precision to 

use in analysis. For example, identification of eelpouts and sculpins has been problematic at 

times, thus of our analyses over multiple data sets, such as taxonomic diversity and evenness, we 

will use the family or genus rather than species level of precision. Based on this review of 

archived specimens, this project can now provide an accurate analysis of historical distribution of 

fishes, including a determination of which historical records should be considered by species, and 

which should be considered at a less specific taxonomic level, i.e., genus or family. Format of the 

Chukchi Demersal Fish Database will follow the general design of an MMS funded analysis of 

fish abundance in the Colville River, Alaska (Prichard et al. 2007), and will also contain summary 

tables detailing fish abundance and biomass together with environmental data such as bottom 

temperature, salinity, depth, and substrate. 

Because there was a delay completing the Chukchi Demersal Fish Database, we could not yet 

begin to synthesize historic distribution patterns of fish species in and near the Chukchi Lease 

Sale 193, and compare with 2007–2008 collections (Objective 5, Framework Issues 1 & 3). These 

19 
analyses will provide a basis for post-sale monitoring of fishes in the Chukchi Sea (Objective 7, 

Framework Issues 1 & 3) 

Results 

To accomplish Objective 2, bottom water masses were determined for four historic and four more 

recent cruises where bottom temperature and salinity were available. Historic cruises included 

collections from the F/V Ocean Hope in 1990 and T/S Oshoro-Maru in 1990, 1991 and 1992. 

Recent cruises included R/V Khromov in 2004 (reported by Norcross et al. 2009), T/S OshoroMaru in 2007 and 2008, and R/V Oscar Dyson in 2007 (Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9). Not all 

water masses were found in each of the six cruises. Though there appeared to be two water 

masses in August 2007 (OS180), the differences were not significant; whereas there were four 

significantly different water masses in July 2008 (OS190). Intra- and interannual differences in 

water masses were apparent. 

Progress made on Objectives 3 and 4 consisted of comparisons of fish communities among 

periods with historic collections. Unfortunately fish (CPUE) community distributions from 

Oshoro-Maru’s 1990, 1991 and 1992 collections and those of Barber in 1989 and 1990 do not 

show any explanatory patterns (Figure 10). The characteristic that best defined the distribution 

among the historic data was the cruise itself. Likewise fish community distributions for NOAA 

Ship John Cobb in 1959 and the Glacier in 1977 (Figure 11) were defined by the place and time 

sampling occurred. We are examining new ways of analyzing these data. 

Objective 6, to incorporate both historic and current scientific fish collection data from the 

northeast Chukchi Sea into electronic format suitable for incorporation into the MMS database, 

was the major focus of this project in 2009. Acquiring, proofing and reformatting the data to fit in 

the database structure that was agreed upon with MMS were more labor intensive than 

anticipated. Unexpected problems have been encountered in all aspects of this database. These 

problems include, but are not limited to, difficulties locating data that we know were collected, 

discrepancies between contract or study reports and electronic records, and discrepancies between 

voucher fish specimens and reported data. A specific example of a problem is that the 1989, 1990 

and 1991 Oshoro-Maru cruises do not have salinity data that can be readily incorporated in the 

database. Based on our (Norcross et al. 2009) and Barber’s et al. (1997) research, salinity is an 

important environmental factor determining fish assemblages in the northeast Chukchi Sea. 

Temperature and salinity are associated with an Oshoro-Maru station name (e.g., OS91162), and 

temperature and fish data are associated with a trawl number (e.g., OST9103). The station name 

and trawl number are not associated. The temperature data were recorded with two different 

instruments and are different. It was necessary to use latitude and longitude to detect which 

environmental data were associated with a trawl catch, i.e., a time-consuming but important task. 

Difficulties compiling the historic database delayed synthesis of data. 

Discussion 

We found intra- and interannual differences in water masses. This is not surprising because 

temperature and salinity values vary over space and time. One reason for the variability may be 

that even when samples were taken at the same time frame, e.g., Oshoro-Maru in July 1990, 1991 

and 1992 (Figures 4-6), the location of the sample sites varied. Water masses change from 

nearshore to offshore and south to north (e.g., see Figure 3). 

20 
Fishes community analysis reveals patterns connected to time and location of collection. This is 

most apparent with data collected 18 years apart, i.e., 1959 and 1977 (Figure 11). Our analysis 

defined only one fish community within each of the two cruises. More communities were 

statistically defined for collections in 1989–1992 (Figure 10), but careful examination revealed 

the patterns to be closely linked to collection location, which was not consistent among cruises. 

Due to relatively primitive knowledge of the fishes, existing publications unavoidably include 

significant misidentifications, omissions, and mistakes. Advances in taxonomic knowledge and 

methods of identification have allowed the correction of these problems through re-examination 

of voucher specimens. Incorporation into the Chukchi Demersal Fish Database of fish catch data 

from a variety of sources, and recommendation of a level of taxonomic precision for long-term 

analysis, will aid detection and understanding of changes in demersal fish communities. 

Preliminary conclusions 

There are intra-and interannual differences in water mass distributions in the northeast Chukchi 

Sea. 

Fishes tend to cluster by time and location of sample collection. 

21 
Table 1. Scientific collections of demersal fishes in the northeastern Chukchi Sea. 

*Fished in midwater and bottom. Citation Alverson and Wilimovsky 1966, RACEBASE 2008 Quast 1972 C.W. Mecklenburg, pers. comm. Frost et al. 1978, Frost and Lowry 1983 Barber et al. 1994 Hokkaido University 1991 

Barber et al. 1994, 1997 Hokkaido University 1992; Barber et al. 1994 Barber et al. 1994, 1997 Hokkaido University 1993; Barber et al. 1994 Data are referred to in Barber et al. 1994, but have not been located Norcross et al. 2009 Mecklenburg et al. 2007 Norcross et al., unpublished unpublished Norcross et al., unpublished Norcross et al., unpublished unpublished 

Vessel Cruise / Researcher John N. Cobb cruise 43 / D. Alverson Glacier WEBSEC-70 / J. Quast (1 site)Alpha Helix AH-1973 / J. Morrow Glacier-1977 / K. Frost Alpha Helix HX130 / W. Barber Oshoro-Maru OS33 Ocean Hope-1990 / W. Barber Oshoro-Maru OS38 Ocean Hope-1991 / W. Barber Oshoro-Maru OS44 Responder / W. Barber Khromov RUSALCA-04 / B. NorcrossKhromov RUSALCA-04 / C. MecklenburgOshoro-Maru OS180 / B. Norcross Oshoro-Maru OS180 / M. Yabe Oscar Dyson OD0710 / B. Norcross Oshoro-Maru OS190 / B. Norcross Oshoro-Maru OS190 / M. Yabe 

Abundance 

x 

- - 

x x x 

3 spp. 

x 

3 spp. 

x 

- 

x o x o x x 

MW & BT* 

Presence 

x x x x x x x x x x 

- 

x x x o x x o 

Mesh size of net & liner 90 & 38 mm 38 mm 25 & 6 mm 32 & 6 mm 5 mm 90 mm & no liner 90 & 33 mm 90 mm & no liner 90 & 33 mm 90 & 45 mm 5 mm 7 & 4 mm 37 mm & no liner 7 & 4 mm 90 & 45 mm 7 & 4 mm 7 & 4 mm 90 & 45 mm 

Headrope & net type 21.6 m otter trawl 3 m beam trawl 5 m otter trawl 5 & 6 m otter trawls 6.1 m try net 43 m otter trawl 25.2 m; 83-112 trawl 43 m otter trawl 25.2 m; 83-112 trawl 43 m otter trawl 4.9 m try net 4.5 m; 3 m beam trawl 7.1 m otter trawl 4.5 m; 3 m beam trawl 43 m otter trawl 4.5 m; 3 m beam trawl 4.5 m; 3 m beam trawl 43 m otter trawl 

Fishing dates 6 – 30 Aug 25 Sep – 17 Oct Jul – Sep 2 Aug – 3 Sept 3 – 9 Sep 26 Jul – 1 Aug 16 Aug – 16 Sep25 – 31 Jul 16 Aug – 16 Sep25 – 31 Jul 2 – 27 Jul 13 – 18 Aug 28 Sep 10 – 22 Aug 10 – 22 Aug 5 – 12 Aug 5 – 12 Aug 4 – 16 Sep 7 – 17 Jul 7 – 17 Jul 

Year 

1959 1970 1973 1977 1989 1990 1990 1991 1992 2004 2007 2008 

22 
Figure 1. Chukchi Lease Sale 193. Sites with demersal fishing data for inclusion in the MMS Alaskan 

Fisheries Database. All scientific collections during 1959–1992 and 2007–2008 with sites in the lease 

area are included. RUSALCA 2004 data are included because of their proximity to the lease area. 

23 
Figure 2. Directions of water transport in the Chukchi and adjacent seas (after Danielson and 

Weingartner in Johnson 2003). 

Siberian Coastal Current 

Aleutian North Slope - Bering 

 Slope - Anadyr Waters 

Bering Shelf Water 

Alaska Coastal Water 

Atlantic Water 

Beaufort Gyre 

MMS Chukchi Sea 

RUSSIA

ALASKA

Beaufort Sea

Bering Strait

Bering Sea

Chukchi Sea

St Lawrence I

Pt. Barrow

Icy Cape

Cape Lisburne

Nome

Pt Hope

after figure by Danielson & Weingartner

24 
Figure 3. Standard potential density and water mass distributions plot for August-September 1990, 

Barber et al. cruise. 

Figure 4. Standard potential density and water mass distributions plot for July-August 1990, T/S 

Oshoro-Maru cruise. 

25 
Figure 5. Standard potential density and water mass distributions plot for July 1991, T/S OshoroMaru cruise. 

Figure 6. Standard potential density and water mass distributions plot for July 1992, T/S OshoroMaru cruise. 

26 
Figure 7. Standard potential density and water mass distributions plot for August 2007, T/S OshoroMaru cruise. 

Figure 8. Standard potential density and water mass distributions plot for September 2007, R/V 

Oscar Dyson cruise. 

27 
Figure 9. Standard potential density and water mass distributions plot for July 2008, T/S OshoroMaru cruise. 

Figure 10. Fish community clusters for R/V Oshoro-Maru cruises 1990, 1991 and 1992 and Barber et 

al cruises 1989 and 1990. 

28 
Figure 11. Fish community clusters for R/V John Cobb cruise 1959 and F/V Glacier cruise 1977. 

Presentations 

Norcross, B.L and B.A. Holladay. Demersal fish of the Chukchi Sea. Fisheries Department, 

University of Alaska Fairbanks, Juneau, AK on 23 October 2009. 

Norcross, B.L. and B.A. Holladay. Climate change, physics and demersal fishes in the Chukchi 

Sea. Alaska Chapter, Am. Fish. Soc. Meeting, Fairbanks, AK on 4 November 2009. 

Norcross, B.L and B.A. Holladay. Current and historic distribution and ecology of demersal 

fishes in the Chukchi Sea Planning Area – Year 2. Project report for CMI review. Oral 

presentation in Fairbanks and Anchorage, AK on 11 December 2009. 

Study Products 

Bluhm, B.A., K. Iken, S. Mincks Hardy, B.I. Sirenko and B.A. Holladay. 2009. Community 

structure of epibenthic megafauna in the Chukchi Sea. Aquatic Biology Vol. 7: 269–293. doi: 

10.3354/ab00198. 

Acknowledgements 

This project is funded primarily by the Coastal Marine Institute, through Task Order 

M07AC13416, and contributes to the Arctic Ocean Diversity Census of Marine Life project. 

Funding for 2007 and 2008 sample collection aboard the R/V Oshoro-Maru was supplied by 

Hokkaido University Faculty of Fisheries, and vessel support aboard the R/V Oscar Dyson was 

provided by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. The success of field collections during 2007 

and 2008 are due largely to the generous help of colleagues and crew aboard these vessels. 

29 
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Chukchi and western Beaufort Seas, 1976–77. NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS SSRF-764. 

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North Pacific and Arctic Ocean Species from Baja California to the Alaska -Yukon 

Border. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources 

Division. OCS Study MMS 2005-030 and USGS/NBII 2005-001, Seattle, WA. 276 p. 

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30 
Mecklenburg, C.W., T.A. Mecklenburg and L.K. Thorsteinson. 2002. Fishes of Alaska. American 

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in the Chukchi Sea and Bering Strait in August 2004. Northwest Naturalist, 88, 168–187. 

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future research. Final Report to the North Pacific Research Board. Fairbanks, Alaska. 

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assemblages in the Chukchi Sea. Deep-Sea Res. II: 57–70. 

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Fish Resources of the Arctic Management Area, November. 

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abundance of Arctic cisco in the Colville River: Data manual. OCS Study MMS 2007-

042. Minerals Management Service, Anchorage Alaska. 62 p. 

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WEBSEC-70, an ecological survey in the eastern Chukchi Sea, September–October 

1970. US Coast Guard Oceanography Report. 

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Fisheries Society Symposium 19, Bethesda, MD. 

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Coastal Current: A wind- and buoyancy-forced Arctic coastal current. J. Geophys. Res., 

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31 
Recovery in a High Arctic Kelp Community 

Brenda Konar 

bkonar@guru.uaf.edu 

School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

P.O. Box 757220 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 

Cooperative Agreement Number: M08AC12645 

Abstract 

The overarching goal of this project is to acquire a better understanding of how sessile 

communities recover after disturbances in the Boulder Patch, a high arctic kelp community. 

Specifically this research will determine 1) timing of natural recruitment on to hard substrates, 2) 

effect of grazers to timing of recruitment, 3) effect of sedimentation to timing of recruitment, and 

4) rate of vegetative re-growth of various sessile organism groups. High arctic kelp communities 

in Prudhoe Bay are considered sensitive habitats and have the potential of being impacted by oil 

and gas activities. One such kelp community located adjacent to BP leased lands is the Boulder 

Patch. It is known that if sessile organisms are killed or removed in the Boulder Patch, the 

recovery of the sessile community is very slow. What is unknown is exactly how slow 

recruitment is, the reasons for this slow recruitment, and how communities naturally recover from 

disturbances. This project is determining the timing of natural recruitment over an eight year time 

period by monitoring rocks that were cleared in 2002 (project will end in 2010). To determine 

grazer impacts, cleared rocks that were placed into cages in 2002 are being monitored. To 

determine sedimentation impacts on initial recruitment, sediments are being excluded from 

settling plates that were placed into the field in 2007. To determine the rate of vegetative regrowth, clearings that were established in 2007 are being monitored for regrowth of specific 

sessile organism groups. All combined, this study is improving our understanding of recovery and 

recruitment of high arctic rocky systems. 

32 
Introduction and Background 

Alaska’s Beaufort Sea shelf is typically characterized by silty sands and mud and as 

having an absence of macroalgal beds and associated organisms (Barnes and Reimnitz 1974). In 

1971, a diverse kelp and invertebrate community was discovered near Prudhoe Bay in Stefansson 

Sound, Alaska. Since its discovery, the Boulder Patch has been subject to much biological and 

geological research (Dunton et al. 1982, Dunton and Schell 1987, Dunton and Jodwalis 1988, 

Dunton 1990, Martin and Gallaway 1994, MMS 1996, 1998, Dunton and Schonberg 2000, 

Debenham 2005, Konar and Iken 2005, Aumack et al. 2007, Konar 2007). The Boulder Patch 

contains large numbers of cobbles and boulders that provide a substrate for attachment for a 

diverse assortment of invertebrates and several species of red and brown algae. The predominant 

alga is the brown, Laminaria solidungula, which constitutes 90% of the brown algal biomass 

(Dunton et al. 1982). This alga is an important food source to many benthic and epibenthic 

organisms (Dunton and Schell 1986, Debenham 2005). Approximately 148 animal taxa and 10 

algal species cover nearly all exposed substrate at densities approaching 18,441 individuals/m2

with an average biomass of 283 g/m2

 (Dunton and Schonberg 2000). Differences in infaunal 

abundance and biomass between the Boulder Patch and peripheral sediment areas demonstrate the 

importance of this unique habitat (Dunton and Schonberg 2000). 

In temperate marine systems, boulder fields are very dynamic because of physical 

disturbance (Sousa 1979, 1980, vanTamelen 1987). When a boulder is overturned, the sessile 

community can be killed in whole or part by a combination of grazing, anoxia, low light levels, or 

mechanical damage caused by crushing or abrasion (Sousa 1980). Studies in temperate systems 

have shown that algal communities can recover to previous densities within one year of denuding 

(Foster 1975, Bertness et al. 2004, Milazzo et al. 2004). Many studies on coralline algal 

recruitment have shown that although their growth is remarkably slow, they will settle and grow 

to a visible size in a few months (Adey and Vasser 1975, Matsuda 1989, Konar and Foster 1992). 

In contrast to temperate systems, recruitment in high Arctic systems appears to be much slower 

(Dunton et al 1982). A recolonization experiment in the Boulder Patch demonstrated that 

recovery of denuded areas is slow with 50% of the substrate still being bare three years after an 

initial disturbance (Dunton et al. 1982). Another recolonization experiment in the Boulder Patch, 

which began in 2002, also demonstrated and reinforced the idea that this community is very slow 

to recover from disturbances (Konar 2007). In this latter study, less than 5% of the substrate was 

recolonized four years after clearing. The reason why recruitment is so slow in the Boulder Patch 

remains unknown. 

33 
Questions/Objectives/Hypotheses 

To further our understanding of Boulder Patch recruitment and recovery dynamics the 

following objectives and hypotheses are being examined: 

Objective 1: Determine the timing of natural recruitment on to hard substrates. 

H1) Recruitment is slow and episodic in the Boulder Patch. 

Objective 2: Determine the effect that grazers have on the timing of recruitment. 

H2) Grazers slow the initial recruitment of sessile organisms. 

Objective 3: What effect does sedimentation have to the timing of recruitment? 

H3) Sedimentation slows initial recruitment of sessile organisms. 

Objective 4: What is the rate of vegetative re-growth of various sessile organism groups? 

H4) Community recovery via vegetative re-growth is the primary means of 

recovery from disturbances while recovery via recruitment events plays only a 

minor role. 

Study Area 

This study was primarily conducted at site DS-11, which is within the Boulder Patch in 

Stefansson Sound, Beaufort Sea (Figure 1). A satellite site also was established at L1 to examine 

spatial differences in vegetative re-growth at different boulder patches within the overall Boulder 

Patch area. The overall study area is in 6-7 m water depth and contains numerous cobbles and 

boulders that provide substrate for several invertebrate and macroalgal species. At the time of this 

study, foliose algae covered approximately 24.5±3.6 s.e. of the substrate at DS-11 and the 

primary herbivores encountered were the chitons Amicula spp. (6.4±2.1 s.e. per 0.25m2

) and 

Ischnochiton sp (12.8± 2.09 s.e. per 0.25m2

). Seastars and the gastropod Margarites sp. were also 

occasionally seen at the study sites. 

34 
Figure 1. Chart of Boulder Patch showing Dive Site 11 (DS-11) within Stefansson Sound. Hatched 

polygons are areas with high boulder/cobble density. From Dunton and Schonberg 2000. 

Experimental Methods 

Objective 1: Determine the timing of natural recruitment on to hard substrates. 

To address this objective, 18 boulders (approximately 30-40 cm in diameter and 10-20 

cm tall) from DS-11 were brought to the surface and cleared of all sessile organisms. Boulders 

were left in the air for five days to kill any remaining seed bank and then replaced into one of 

three areas within DS-11. Six uncleared boulders also were marked in each of the three areas 

within DS-11. These cleared and uncleared boulders have been monitored yearly since August 

2002. 

Objective 2: Determine the effect that grazers have on the timing of recruitment 

For this objective, 36 additional boulders from DS-11 were brought to the surface and 

cleared of all sessile organisms. These boulders also were left in air for five days to kill any 

remaining seed bank and then assigned to one of two treatments: 1) caged, and 2) cage controls. 

Cages were 45 cm on a side, 30 cm tall, with a 1 cm mesh size and constructed of stainless steel 

mesh coated with a non-toxic antifouling compound (copper paint) to inhibit sessile invertebrate 

and algal growth (Figure 2). Cage controls (cages with holes cut into them so that grazers had 

access to the boulders) controlled for artifacts produced by the cages themselves (Figure 3). Six 

35 
replicates of each treatment were randomly placed in situ at one of three areas within DS-11 in 

August 2002 and have been monitored yearly. 

 

 Figure 2. Caged rock in situ Figure 3. Cage control in situ

Objective 3: What effect does sedimentation have to the timing of recruitment? 

For this objective, six settlement plates were placed in three areas within DS-11, totaling 

18 plates. Plates were approximately 20cm on each side, 3mm thick, and were placed 

approximately 10cm above the substrate (Figure 4). Both sides of the plates were made rough by 

scrubbing with sand paper to facilitate settlement. Plates were monitored for recruitment of 

sessile organisms on the underside of the plates where no sediments accumulate and on the 

surface, where sediments do accumulate. This is a common technique used to ascertain 

recruitment while eliminating sedimentation effects (Irving and Connell 2002). Plates were 

placed in situ in 2007 and are being monitored yearly. 

Figure 4. Settlement plate at DS-11. 

Objective 4: What is the rate of vegetative re-growth of various sessile organism groups? 

For this objective, various rocks had 4cm x 4cm clearings made on them at three different 

areas within DS-11 and L-1 (Figure 5). In each area, six boulders had clearings centered in an 

encrusting coralline patch and six were in a foliose red algal patch. In DS-11, there were an 

additional 12 clearing within an encrusting sponge patch (six each in two different morphological 

sponge types). Sponges were not found at L-1 so clearings could not be done there. Each 

organism patch extended at least 2cm beyond the cleared area to ensure enough material for re36 
growth. These cleared areas are being monitored for vegetative re-growth using digital 

photography. Re-growth of the organisms on the photographs is being compared using 

SigmaScan. Each year, the percentage of re-growth is being determined. 

A B 

C 

D 

Figure 5. One set of cleared rocks at DS-11. A and B are sponge clearings. C is within a red algal 

clump and D is within an encrusting coralline. 

Preliminary Results 

Objective 1: Determine the timing of natural recruitment on to hard substrates. 

Of the 18 cleared boulders that were tagged in 2002 to monitor natural variation in the system, 

only five were found this year. These boulders are getting harder to find each year, primarily because of ice 

that has scoured the study area in the last four years. Although the sample size is now relatively small, it 

can be seen that the epilithic community that is not disturbed by iceberg scour is fairly stable (Figure 6). 

Percent cover of bare rock and total invertebrates was very low, as seen in earlier years. Although increases 

in corallines and decreases in total foliose algae have been noted, particularly in 2008, this could be an 

artifact due to the very small sample size that also was surveyed in 2008 (n=6). 

37 
0

20

40

60

80

100

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

year

percent cover

bare rock

coralline

total foliose algae

total invertebrates

Figure 6. Mean percent cover (±1 s.e.) of bare rock, corallines, total foliose algae, and total 

invertebrates on uncleared control boulder from 2002 to 2009. 

Boulders that were cleared and left out in the field showed little recruitment over the years. In 

fact, it was not until 2005 that the very first invertebrates were seen (Figure 7). It should be noted 

that in both 2008 and 2009, very few of these treatments were found (n=2 in 2008 and n=1 in 

2009). Once again, the icebergs that went through this area have made it very difficult to 

determine which rocks are out treatment rocks. 

Cleared Boulders (uncaged)

0

20

40

60

80

100

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

year

percent cover

bare rock

ttl inverts

Figure 7. Mean percent cover (±1 s.e.) of bare rock and total invertebrates on uncleared control 

boulder from 2002 to 2009. 

38 
Objective 2: Determine the effect that grazers have on the timing of recruitment. 

For this objective 18 cleared boulders were placed into cages and another 18 boulders 

were placed into cage controls. Unfortunately the icebergs that have gone through the study site 

have not been kind to these cages and cage controls. This year, we were only able to relocate 3 of 

each type of treatment. However, from these data, it does appear that some recruitment is finally 

occurring (Figure 8). 

Caged Boulders

0

20

40

60

80

100

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

percent cover

bare rock

corallines

ttl foliose algae

ttl inverts

Cage Control Boulders

0

20

40

60

80

100

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Figure 8. Mean percent cover (±1 s.e.) of bare rock, corallines, total foliose algae, and total 

invertebrates on cages boulders and cage controlled boulders from 2003 to 2009. 

Objective 3: What effect does sedimentation have to the timing of recruitment? 

Regrettably the settlement plates were not sampled in 2008 because of limited visibility 

and limited dive time (we only had approximately 1 dive day this in 2008). This was particularly 

unfortunate because in 2009 when this objective was to be a high priority, none of the plates 

could be found. In a similar pilot study (2004-2006), these plates lasted two years so it is unclear 

what went wrong this year. Some of the bolts used to fasten the plates to the bottom were found, 

but no plates were found. 

39 
Objective 4: What is the rate of vegetative re-growth of various sessile organism groups? 

In 2008, six cleared coralline rocks and six cleared sponge rocks were relocated and 

photographed at DS-11. In addition to these, three cleared coralline rocks were found at L-1. Regrowth was seen on all rocks with the most re-growth occurring on the sponge cleared rocks 

(Figure 7). The organisms on one of the cleared coralline rocks and one of the cleared sponge 

rocks were clearly dying. The reason for this mortality is unknown. When these two rocks are 

excluded from the analyses, re-growth on the corallines and sponges were approximately 20% 

and 90% respectively (Figure 7). It was expected that more re-growth would occur on the sponge 

cleared rocks as these are typically the fastest growers, particularly when compared to encrusting 

coralline algae. Although coralline algae are known to be extremely slow growers, substantial 

growth was seen over the two year period. Next year, all clearings will be re-photographed and 

additional growth will be calculated. 

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

DS-11: all

corallines

DS-11:

coralline

subset

DS-11: all

sponge

DS-11:

sponge

subset

L-1: all

corallines

percent regrowth

Figure 7. Mean percent re-growth (±1 s.e.) of all DS-11 corallines (n=6), a subset of DS-11 corallines 

after the one dying coralline was excluded (n=5), DS-11 sponges (n=6), a subset of DS-11 sponges 

after the one dying sponge was excluded (n=5), and corallines from L-1 (n=3). 

Acknowledgements 

Logistical support is being provided by the Dunton Brothers and the Minerals Management 

Service (particularly Kate Wedemeyer, Cathy Coon, and Captain Gary Lawley). Access to the 

Boulder Patch made available by BP. Ken Dunton, Nathan Stewart, Terry Efird, and Kate 

Wedemeyer provided essential field assistance. This project is being funded by the Coastal 

Marine Institute. 

40 
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Adey, W.H., J.M. Vasser. 1975. Colonization, succession and growth rates of tropical crustose 

coralline algae (Rhodophyta, Cryptonemiales). Phycologia 14:55-69. 

Aumack, C.F., K.H. Dunton, A.B. Burd, D.W. Funk, and R.A. Maffione. 2007. Linking light 

attenuation and suspended sediment loading to benthic productivity within an arctic kelp 

bed community. Journal of Phycology 43: 853-863. 

Barnes, P. W. and E. Reimnitz. 1974. Sedimentary processes on arctic shelves off the northern 

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Bertness, M.D., G.C. Trussell, P.J. Ewanchuk, B.R. Silliman, C.M. Crain. 2004. Consumercontrolled community states on Gulf of Maine rocky shores. Ecology 85:1321-1331. 

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community: trophic and temporal perspectives. Masters Thesis. University of Alaska 

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solidungula) carbon in an arctic kelp community: 13C evidence. Marine Biology 93:615-

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Dunton, K.H., E. Reimnitz and S. Schonberg. 1982. An Arctic kelp community in the Alaskan 

Beaufort Sea. Arctic 35:465-484. 

Foster, M.S. 1975. Algal succession in a Macrocystis pyrifera forest. Marine Biology 32:313-

329. 

Irving, A.D. and S.D. Connell. 2002. Sedimentation and light penetration interact to maintain 

heterogeneity of subtidal habitats: algal versus invertebrate dominated assemblages. 

Marine Ecology Progress Series 245:83-91. 

41 
Konar, B. 2007. Recolonization of a high latitude hard-bottom nearshore community. Polar 

Biology 30: 663-667. 

Konar, B., M.S. Foster. 1992. Distribution and recruitment of subtidal geniculate coralline algae. 

J Phycol 28: 273-280. 

Konar, B. and K. Iken. 2005. Competitive dominance among sessile marine organisms in a high 

Arctic boulder community. Polar Biology 29: 61-64. 

Martin, L.R. and B.J. Gallaway. 1994. The effects of the Endicott Development Project on the 

Boulder Patch, an Arctic kelp community in Steffansson Sound, Alaska. Arctic 47:54-64. 

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(Rhodophyta, Cryptonemiales) in the upper fore-reef environment off Ishigaki Island, 

Ryukyu Islands. Coral Reefs 7:185-195. 

Milazzo, M., F. Badalamenti, S. Riggio, R. Chemello. 2004. Patterns of algal recovery and smallscale effects of canopy removal as a result of human trampling on a Mediterranean rocky 

shallow community. Biol Conserv 117:191-202. 

Minerals Management Service. 1996. Beaufort Sea planning area oil and gas lease sale 144. Final 

Environmental Impact Statement. MMS OCS EIS/EA MMS 96-0012. U.S. Dept. of 

Interior, MMS, Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Region, Anchorage, Alaska. 

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Continental Shelf Region, Anchorage, Alaska. 

Sousa, W.P. 1979. Experimental investigations of disturbance and ecological succession in a 

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Sousa, W.P. 1980. The responses of a community to disturbance: the importance of successional 

age and species’ life histories. Oecologia 45:72-81. 

vanTamelen, P.G. 1987. Early successional mechanisms in the rocky intertidal: the role of direct 

and indirect interaction. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 112:39-48. 

Wilson, H.M. 1979. Beaufort Sea high bids top $1 billion. Oil and Gas Journal 77:26-29. 

42 
Biogeochemical Assessment of the North Aleutian Basin Ecosystem: 

Current Status and Vulnerability to Climate Change 

Jeremy Mathis 

jmathis@sfos.uaf.edu 

Institute of Marine Science 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

P.O. Box 757220 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 

Cooperative Agreement Number: M08AX12760 

Introduction 

 The overall goal of this project is to gain a better understanding of the carbon 

biogeochemistry of the Southeastern Bering Sea ecosystem and the controls that regulate the 

cycling and transformation of carbon and nitrogen in the marine environment. Broadly, the 

project has the following objectives; (i) quantify upper ocean net ecosystem production, (ii) 

determine the fate of net community production, (iii) assess the impact of climate variability (i.e. 

El Niño, Pacific Decal Oscillation, Arctic Oscillation) on carbon biogeochemistry, (iv) determine 

the extent of ocean acidification in the Eastern Bering Sea and develop long term projections for 

changes in the pH. 

Project Status 

 Work continued on the project throughout 2009. The year began with the continued 

analysis of samples collected in the Bering Sea in spring and summer of 2008 (Figure 1). The 

analysis of approximately 700 samples for dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), total alkalinity 

(TA), and total organic carbon (TOC) was completed in February. 

 As expected, both DIC and TA were tightly correlated with salinity in spring prior to ice 

melt. Data from summer showed that DIC concentrations had been drawn down considerably in 

the surface waters as a result of primary production. Using DIC deficits between spring and 

summer we were able to determine rates of net community production across the Bering Sea 

shelf. We found that rates of production were higher in the northern shelf. There was also a 

strong remineralization signature in the bottom waters of the northern shelf that were evident in 

high DIC concentrations near the bottom. The results are discussed in detail in a paper by Mathis 

et al., which has recently been accepted in Biogeosciences. 

The increases in DIC at depth caused an increase in the partial pressure of carbon dioxide 

(pCO2) in the bottom waters in certain locations and suppressed the saturation states of carbonate 

minerals. In particular, aragonite was undersaturated over the northern most part of the shelf. 

These waters could be potentially corrosive to benthic calcifiers in the region including the 

commercially important crab fishery. Also alarming was the presence of waters undersaturated 

with respect to aragonite in the inner most stations that were occupied in both spring and summer. 

The source of these low pH, high pCO2 waters is likely the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, 

which also contain these biogeochemical signatures. Preliminary discussion of this phenomenon 

43 
was included in a recent paper by Fabry et al., and will be discussed in greater detail in a paper 

that will be submitted by Mathis et al. in February of 2010 . 

Figure 1: Cruise track and station locations for spring and summer 2008 

 In 2009, we had the opportunity to participate in two additional cruises along with the 

planned spring and summer occupations in the Bering Sea. The first of these was conducted 

simultaneous to the summer BEST cruise on the Japanese vessel Oshoro Maru. During this 

cruise samples were collected in the deep Bering Sea, while samples onboard the USCGC Healy

were taken over the shelf. These additional data will allow for a better determination of how the 

deep Bering Sea impacts the carbon biogeochemistry of the shelf. The second additional cruise 

took place in September of 2009 and was truly a fortunate event. The cruise track was identical 

to those occupied in spring and summer and provided the opportunity to obtain a late season end 

member to better constrain the fate of carbon in the ecosystem. However, during the cruise a 

coccolithophore bloom occurred and we were able to collect samples within the bloom. Since 

coccolithophores are calcifiers (and are somewhat unusual in the Bering Sea) they can have a 

major impact on the carbon cycle. By measuring DIC and TA just before and during this bloom 

we will be able to quantify the rate of calcification for these organisms (something that is rarely 

possible anywhere in the ocean). 

 All of these samples were returned to the lab and analysis began in September and is 

about 70% complete. 

 Jessica Cross, the PhD student involved in the project continued to make excellent 

progress and is responsible for much of the project’s success. In all, she spent approximately 110 

days at sea in 2009 with another 100+ days planned in 2010 (the last official year of fieldwork). 

She was co-author on the Mathis et al. manuscript and will present this work in an oral 

presentation at the Ocean Sciences meeting in Portland in February of 2010. 

 Preparations have begun for the final year of proposed fieldwork (they may be additional 

opportunities in 2011) in 2010. We will participate in three cruises (spring, summer and fall) this 

year. Overall, the project is on track and making excellent progress. I anticipate at least four new 

publications to come out of this work during 2010. We are certainly looking forward to another 

successful year. 

44 
Mapping and Characterization of Recurring Spring Leads and 

Landfast Ice in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas 

Hajo Eicken 

hajo.eicken@gi.alaska.edu 

Geophysical Institute 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

P.O. Box 757320 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320 

Cooperative Agreement Number: M08AX12760 

Introduction 

 Our project has been submitting monthly progress reports to the MMS Program Officer 

(Warren Horowitz) as well as quarterly progress reports to CMI. This annual report is a 

compilation of those reports edited by Andy Mahoney who recently (re)joined the UAF sea ice 

group as a research assistant professor in February 2010. 

Major activities and accomplishments 

 Analysis of ice distribution and lead patterns 

Work started early on this study in anticipation of the contract award, so that data needed for 

other aspects of the project would be available as soon as possible. To aid our project, the GINA 

Swathviewer (sv.gina.alaska.edu) tool has been reconfigured to allow more efficient browsing of 

the large number of scenes (several thousands) that need to be examined for this study. 

At the end of 2009 we have examined an AVHRR image of the Chukchi Sea for each day of 

the winter from 1993 to 2004 to identify clear cloud-free areas for study of ice conditions. This 

matches the run of images studied for the Beaufort Sea during the earlier MMS project (AK-03-

06, MMS-71707). Having identified suitable images, the next step will be review the data 

manually in more detail to identify repeatable movement patterns that can be interpreted in terms 

of the interaction of the pack ice with the coasts surrounding the Chukchi Sea. That effort should 

be completed in the early part of 2010. 

We are still developing the workflow of AVHRR data processing, building on the catalog of 

suitable imagery being assembled. In order to streamline the process, it was decided to migrate 

programs written for analysis of earlier imagery over into the processing environment at GINA. 

This migration process and associated programming work is expected to take roughly two 

months. 

 Analysis of landfast ice extent 

Much of the effort toward the landfast ice analysis section of the project in 2009 went into data 

mining for RADARSAT ScanSAR Wide Beam imagery. Typically, two frames cover most of the 

Chukchi Sea portion, but there are often gaps on either side that require an additional frame or 

two for complete coverage of the study area. It appears that the additional frames are re45 
occurring and can be automatically identified via database queries. The SAR swaths tend to drift 

slightly from month to month, so coverage of the study area needs to be manually verified in 

Google Earth for each potential mosaic prior to placing data orders. In addition, we found that 

there was not complete overlap between images that were 11 frames apart, as shown the ASF data 

interface. Instead, we found a separation of 10 frames is required to provide sufficient overlap 

and so additional frames were ordered to fill the gaps. 

Figure 10: Refined study areas for landfast ice extent analysis, taking into consideration the observed 

maximum landfast ice width and project goals. 

At the end of 2009, we had ordered SAR data for the 1998-99 ice season in the Chukchi study 

area and for both study areas for the 2004-05 ice season. After reviewing these data, we made 

refinements to both the Chukchi and Beaufort regions of the study area. We determined that 

several additional scenes would be required to provide coverage of Kotzebue Sound but that the 

Northern portion of the Chukchi study area could be reduced since it is unlikely the landfast ice 

will extend far offshore from the Chukchi coast. We also reduced the size of the Beaufort region 

of the study area at its northern boundary according to the maximum landfast ice extent from the 

previous study. This will decrease the volume of data to manage and process substantially. Figure 

10 shows the updated study areas for use in clipping SAR mosaics. 

Allison Gaylord met with team members at UAF on August 13th and 14th. During this time the 

IDL scripts from the 2003-05 were retrieved from archive and reviewed. It was determined that 

some minor code updates would be required to adapt the scripts for the new study. These updates 

were later discussed with Andy Mahoney, who wrote the original code. Andy will be joining the 

group at UAF in early 2010 and will complete the implementation of the updated code. We also 

46 
produced new coast masks for use in the “supervised” landfast ice delineations and the 

subsequent analysis of landfast ice extent. 

Discussions also included coordinating landfast ice mapping in the Southern Chukchi and 

northern Bering Sea (Bering Strait area) with the MMS study to extend the coverage further south 

for a few years where detailed field measurements have been collected at Wales. SAR data 

mining in the Northern Chukchi will be coordinated with data acquisition in the Southern 

Chukchi. 

Assessing potential alternative approaches at deriving landfast ice edge locations and landfast 

ice stability 

 In order to assess and analyze the performance of L-band SAR interferometry for deriving 

and locating the landfast ice edge and landfast ice stability, we acquired several L-band SAR 

images of the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) PALSAR sensor from the America’s 

ALOS Data Node (AADN). The data cover the coastal and nearshore areas at Barrow, Alaska. 

Pairs of SAR images cover the same area at different times were processed using the GAMMA 

RS software to produce to interferograms and interferometric coherence images. High values of 

interferometric coherence indicate areas in the images that remained unchanged in the time 

between image pairs. We therefore assume that such data contain information about the spatial 

extent stationary landfast ice. First results of this analysis are shown in Figure 11. This first 

example clearly shows areas of high coherence (white) on sea ice along the coast, corresponding 

to sea ice that did not move or undergo significant change during the observation interval. 

To verify that regions of high coherence correspond to areas of landfast sea ice, we derived 

landfast sea ice extent from RADARSAT ScanSAR imagery covering the same region and time 

period using the technique we developed in the earlier study (AK-03-06, MMS-71707). The 

comparison suggests that L-band interferometric coherence images allow us to accurately 

delineate landfast ice areas that remained stable for the entire 46 day observation period captured 

by the interferogram. First investigations also indicate that the coherence data reveals small-scale 

structures and other local regions of potentially unstable ice, which could be valuable information 

for further studies of landfast and coastal ice dynamics. An abstract entitled “Monitoring Landfast 

Ice Through L-band SAR Interferometry” has been submitted to the 3rd ALOS Joint PI 

Symposium and was accepted for publication. 

Following the promising results using interferometry to identify landfast sea ice near Barrow, 

we acquired imagery for the Seward Peninsula for the winters of 2007 and 2008. The first data 

pairs have been processed and an overview of their coverage is shown in Figure 12, presenting 

phase maps for the individual interferograms. Some fast ice is present in the two northernmost 

frames. The frame to the southwest shows no traces of fast ice. However, as this frame shows 

signs of decorrelation on the land portion of the image, the lack of visible fast ice could be due to 

weather related signal decorrelation. A closer examination of the data will be performed soon. 

47 
Figure 11: Coherence map (dark – low coherence, bright – high coherence) for an ALOS L-band 

interferogram for images acquired 6 March and 21 April 2008. All land areas area masked out. 

Figure 12: Interferograms processed for Seward Peninsula as of January 2010. 

48 
Reference landfast sea ice outlines derived from Radarsat data have been converted to 

shapefiles. The comparison of InSAR based fast ice extent with reference data will be performed 

next using Arcmap. An undergraduate student, Casey Denny, has started work on the project to 

help with the InSAR data compilation and analysis. Ms. Denny has previously worked for the 

Alaska Satellite Facility and brings significant expertise in SAR data processing to the project. 

Miscellaneous 

 The existing website for the previous MMS project (AK-03-06, MMS-71707) has been 

updated with information about the expanded geographic scope of the new project. This site will 

be kept for public access of the data and findings from the first project. This site has retained its 

original URL: http://mms.gina.alaska.edu. 

 Jason Grimes from GINA has implemented the Content Management System (CMS) for the 

project web site and is building the page templates for the new, expanded site, which will be for 

internal project use and hosted behind a password until final release of the project data. The URL 

of the new site is http://mms-new.gina.alaska.edu. 

Significant meetings held or other contacts made in connection with project 

 Prior to the start of the project, a planning meeting was held on 24 April 2009 with all 

investigators and to plan work schedule and related issues. Following this, a series of project 

meetings involving all investigators (with the exception of Lew Shapiro, who was inspecting 

water wells in Ghana for much of August) was held during Gaylord’s visit to UAF over a period 

of 2 two days in mid-August. Another meeting was held with John Cologgi, Allan Reece and 

Warren Horowitz on October 14 in association with the MMS Workshop held in Anchorage, AK. 

This meeting discussed specific information of value to industry in the lease sale area. Hajo 

Eicken gave a presentation at the CMI Annual Review Meeting, December 10, 2009 in Fairbanks. 

Project timeline 

Study is proceeding roughly along projected timeline and is on target for delivery of final 

report in 2012. 

Student status 

 As of October 2009, Casey Denny, an undergraduate student, is working on the project 

helping with InSAR data processing and analysis as part of an undergraduate research project. 

49 
Subsistence Use and Knowledge of Beaufort Salmon Populations 

Courtney Carothers 

clcarothers@alaska.edu 

School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

P.O. Box 757220 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 

Cooperative Agreement Number: M09AC15378 

Abstract 

The designation of the entire Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the Beaufort Sea as Essential Fish 

Habitat for Pacific salmon populations combined with local observations of increasing numbers 

of salmon in subsistence fisheries has generated a need for more information about salmon use, 

distribution, and survival in the North Slope region. This study will address this knowledge gap 

by synthesizing relevant research and conducting ethnographic fieldwork with Inupiat informants 

about changing salmon populations. This study will provide a better understanding of the human 

and ecological environments that could be potentially affected by offshore oil and gas 

development in the Beaufort Sea. 

Introduction 

In 2005, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) designated the entire Outer Continental 

Shelf of the Beaufort Sea as Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) for the five species of Pacific salmon 

(chinook [Oncorhynchus tshawytscha], coho [O. kisutch], pink [O. gorbuscha], sockeye [O. 

nerka], and chum [O. keta)]). This EFH designation requires Minerals Management Service 

(MMS) to consult with NMFS to assess the impacts of potential oil and gas development on local 

salmon habitat. However, little information has been documented about salmon distribution and 

habitat use in this region. Although, historically this region did not support viable salmon 

populations (Craig 1989, Fechhelm and Griffiths 2001), as climatic changes continue and winters 

warm in this region, the distributional range of salmon present and spawning areas appear to be 

expanding. Pink and chum salmon have been observed in recent years in the Beaufort Sea, 

Colville River, and other novel regions across the Arctic (Bendock 1979, McElderry and Craig 

1981, Craig and Haldorson 1986, Babaluk et al. 2000). In addition, fall subsistence fisheries for 

these species have been noted in the Colville and Itkillik rivers (George 2004, cited in BLM 

2007). Local residents have recently noted increasing numbers of salmon present in their 

subsistence fisheries, suggesting the potential of viable spawning stocks. Previous studies have 

not conclusively documented juvenile life stages or spawning areas present in this region; 

however, Fechhelm and Griffiths (2001) suggest that a few isolated spawning populations of 

chum and pink salmon may occur in the Colville and Sagavanirktok rivers based on their survey 

of Beaufort Sea salmon (BLM 2007). 

Through ethnographic research with Inupiat experts, this project will address this gap in 

knowledge of the status of salmon populations in local rivers and streams and along the Beaufort 

Sea coastline. This information will assist MMS and NMFS in assessing any potential impacts on 

EFH and Inupiat subsistence in this region. 

50 
Objectives and Hypothesis 

As local ecological factors are changing in this region, local elders and fishermen are among the 

most knowledgeable sources of information concerning salmon distribution. This study will 

document the historic and current importance of salmon as a subsistence resource and will also 

contextualize salmon among the suite of subsistence resources in this region. The specific 

objectives of this project are to: 

(1) Establish strong rapport with local community residents and regional experts. 

(2) Document the current subsistence use of Beaufort Sea salmon populations in Barrow, 

Nuiqsut, and Kaktovik or Atqasuk. 

(3) Document the local and traditional ecological knowledge of historic and recent trends 

in salmon use, abundance, and distribution. 

(4) Better understand the Inupiat context for ecological observations and appropriate 

uses of such knowledge. 

(5) Use spatial and ethnographic data to identify steams and coastal areas where salmon 

have been harvested or observed. 

We hypothesize that the increased presence of salmon in the region will be related to an increased 

importance of salmon to Inupiat communities. We also predict that knowledge about salmon in 

the region will be contextualized in a broad network of environmental knowledge accumulated 

over long time periods of close interaction between local people and their surroundings, 

transmitted through oral history. Knowledge about salmon is likely to be closely related to 

knowledge about changing ocean, coastal, river, lake, habitat, and climatic conditions. 

Methods and Status 

We are currently finalizing the first phase of this research – a literature review on current 

knowledge about the use and distribution of salmon in the Beaufort Sea region. This review 

includes an analysis of published and archival material on Inupiat subsistence in the region, 

focusing on the communities of Barrow, Nuiqsut, Kaktovik and Atqasuk. The subsistence and 

bibliographic material collected in previous studies have assisted in this effort (North Slope 

Borough no date, BLM 2005, BLM 2007). In September 2009, UAF Fisheries undergraduate, 

Shelley Woods, was hired as an hourly employee to assist with the literature review and 

annotated bibliography. Ms. Woods will be starting as an M.S. degree in Fisheries to begin in 

January 2010. She will be the graduate student research assistant for this project, and will base 

her Master’s thesis on this research 

The initial set-up for the field research is nearly complete. The UAF Institutional Review Board 

application for research with human subjects has been submitted and approved. A preliminary 

visit to the community of Barrow was conducted in June 2009, prior to the period of performance. 

This trip was taken to give the PI an opportunity to introduce herself and the project to local 

leaders. She met with individuals at the Native Village of Barrow Iñupiat Traditional 

Government, the North Slope Borough, the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, Utqiagvigmiut 

Agviqsuqtit Agnanich (the whaler’s wives association), as well as Ilisagvik community college, 

the Iñupiat Heritage Center, and the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium. The process of obtaining 

formal tribal permissions and other permits is currently underway. Several meetings with Sverre 

Pedersen at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (Exploring an Emerging Subsistence 

Salmon Fishery in Three Chukchi Sea Communities: Point Hope, Point Lay, and Wainwright) 

51 
have provided an opportunity to share research insights and survey protocol. The agency has 

formalized this collaboration by offering matching funds to this project in year 1, with a potential 

for additional matching funds in years 2 and 3. 

Ethnographic fieldwork is scheduled to be conducted in the North Slope region during the 

summer of 2010. We will focus our data collection efforts in the hub community of Barrow. Two 

smaller communities have been selected to contrast freshwater and coastal subsistence fisheries. 

Research conducted in Nuiqsut, on the Colville River, will enable us to collect information about 

salmon use, knowledge, and geographic distribution along this river system. The coastal 

community of Kaktovik would provide an opportunity to gather information about coastal 

distribution and use of salmon; however, regional experts and previous data have suggested that 

salmon are a very minor fishery in this community (Booth and Zeller 2008). Depending on 

informant interest and knowledge, this community may not be ideal to include in the project. In 

this case, Atqasuk would be selected as the third community. This research project is designed to 

be useful to the communities involved. After meeting with the North Slope Borough and 

community leaders again in spring 2010, specific community selection and research plans may 

change to accommodate the requests and needs of local communities. 

Knowledgeable individuals in each community will be identified using snowball sampling 

methods (Bernard 2002). Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with these expert 

informants to generate a set of knowledge about salmon in this region (Spradley 1979). We will 

focus our interviews on the collection of local and traditional ecological knowledge about the 

historic and recent trends in salmon distribution, potential spawning activity, and subsistence use. 

Knowledge about salmon will be contextualized within a broader subsistence fishery framework. 

Interviews with key informants will be audio-taped and transcribed. Expert informants will also 

be asked to identify specific geographic areas where they have harvested or observed salmon. 

Local maps will depict grid blocks of sufficient scale to document observed changes in salmon 

distribution over time. If culturally appropriate, participatory mapping methods (Lauer and 

Aswani 2008, Kuznar and Werner 2001) will be used to document this geographic information. 

Timeline 

Due to a reorganization of the initial research proposal submitted and the development of research 

collaboration with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the project implementation has been 

delayed. The literature review and bibliography development was delayed by one quarter 

(beginning October 1 and finishing March 31, 2010). An initial site visit was made prior to the 

period of performance in June 2009. Ethnographic interviews will take place during June – 

September 2010. The remainder of the project timeline remains unchanged. The project is still 

expected to be completed by December 31, 2012. 

Presentations 

 

Carothers, C. 2009. Subsistence Use and Knowledge of Beaufort Salmon Populations (Year 1). 

Project report for CMI review presented at Fairbanks Alaska on 10 December 2009. 

52 
References 

Babaluk, J., J. Reist, J. Johnson, L. Johnson. 2000. First records of sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka) 

and pink salmon (O. gorbuscha) from Banks Island and other records of Pacific salmon in 

Northwest Territories. Arctic 53(2): 161-164. 

Bernard, R. 2002. Research methods in anthropology: qualitative and quantitative approaches. 

AltaMira Press. Walnut Creek, California. 

Bendock, T. 1979. Inventory and Cataloging of Arctic Area Waters. Alaska Department of Fish 

and Game, Federal Aid in Fish Restoration and Anadromous Fish Studies, Annual 

Performance Report 20:1-28. 

Booth, S. and D. Zeller. 2008. Marine fisheries catches in arctic Alaska. Fisheries Center 

Research Reports 16(9). Fisheries Center, University of British Columbia, Canada. 

Bureau of Land Management. 2007. Northeast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) 

Draft Supplemental Integrated Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (IAPEIS). 

Bureau of Land Management. 2005. Northeast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Final 

Amended IAP/EIS. 

Craig, P. 1989. Inventory and Cataloging of Arctic Area Waters. Alaska Department of Fish and 

Game, Federal Aid in Fish Restoration and Anadromous Fish Studies, Annual 

Performance Report 20:1-28. 

Craig, P. and L. Haldorson 1986. Pacific Salmon in the North American Arctic. Arctic 39 (1):2-7. 

Fechhelm, R. and W. Griffiths 2001. Status of Pacific Salmon in the Beaufort Sea 2001: A 

Synopsis. LGL Alaska Research Associates, Inc., Anchorage, Alaska. 

George 2004. Personal Communication with C. George, NSB, Department of Wildlife 

Management. [cited in Bureau of Land Management 2007] 

Kuznar, L.A., and O. Werner. 2001. Ethnographic Mapmaking: Part 1--Principles. Field Methods 

13 (2):204-213. 

Lauer, M. and S. Aswani. 2008. Integrating indigenous ecological knowledge and multi-spectral 

image classification for marine habitat mapping in Oceania. Ocean and Coastal 

Management 51(6): 495-504. 

McElderry, H. and P. Craig 1981. A fish survey in the lower Colville River drainage with an 

analysis of spawning use by Arctic Cisco. Appendix 2 In Environmental Assessment of 

the Alaskan Continental Shelf, Final Report of Principal Investigators. Volume 7. U.S. 

Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Department of 

Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Outer Continental Shelf 

Environmental Assessment Program, Boulder, Colorado. 

Minerals Management Service (MMS). 2008. Program Announcement No. 

MMSS09HQPA0004T. MMS FY 2009 Alaska Coastal Marine Institute. CFDA No. 

15.421. 

North Slope Borough. No date. Coastal Management Plan. Appendix J: Bibliography of 

subsistence documents. 

Spradley, J. 1979. The ethnographic interview. Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, New York. 

53 
Trophic Links – Forage Fishes, Their Prey, and Ice Seals in the 

Northeastern Chukchi Sea 

Brenda L. Norcross Larissa-A. Dehn 

norcross@ims.uaf.edu dehn@sfos.uaf.edu 

School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences 

University of Alaska Fairbanks University of Alaska Fairbanks 

P.O. Box 757220 P.O. Box 757220 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 

Graduate student: 

Brenda A. Holladay Sara S. Carroll 

baholladay@alaska.edu sswhiteside@alaska.edu 

School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences 

University of Alaska Fairbanks University of Alaska Fairbanks 

P.O. Box 757220 P.O. Box 757220 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 

Cooperative Agreement Number: M09AC15432 

Abstract 

Oil exploration is likely to take place in the northeast Chukchi Sea simultaneously with 

increasing rates of global change. There is a paucity of data and limited ecological understanding 

for pelagic and demersal fishes in Lease Sale 193. It will not be possible to discern the extent or 

cause of effects on this Arctic ecosystem without first determining its current status. The rapidly 

receding sea ice in the Arctic has received much attention recently and record minima were 

recorded in three consecutive years since 2007. The loss of habitat for ice seals has resulted in 

two Arctic phocid species still being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act. 

Thus, not only is there a pressing need for knowledge about fishes in the Chukchi Sea, but it is 

also essential to evaluate those fishes as prey resources, i.e., forage, for marine mammals. We 

hypothesize that dietary differences among forage fishes in the vicinity of Lease Sale 193 may 

propagate into higher trophic levels such as ice seals. This research will use stable carbon and 

nitrogen isotopes from fishes, their stomach contents, and ice seals from 2007, 2008, and 2009 as 

a tool to test this hypothesis and to produce a more comprehensive picture of forage fishes in the 

Chukchi Sea. Trophically relating fishes and their prey to ice seals and their diets in the Chukchi 

Sea is essential to understanding this ecosystem. Basic knowledge of the Chukchi Sea ecosystem 

will help facilitate good stewardship by the oil and gas industry. Currently, samples from 

archived and recent fish and ice seal collections are being processed in agreement with our 

proposed timeline. 

Introduction 

The northeast Chukchi Sea from Point Hope to Barrow is undergoing increased oil and 

gas resource survey and development pressure. From the early 1990s until recently, the Chukchi 

Sea did not receive as much attention from Minerals Management Service (MMS) as did the 

54 
Beaufort Sea. However, that dramatically changed in February 2008 with Lease Sale 193 and 488 

blocks were leased within the Chukchi Sea Planning Area (Figure 1). Lack of recent baseline data 

for fish species in the Chukchi Sea is compounded with climate change. It will not be possible to 

distinguish between natural and anthropogenic effects without high-quality baseline data. Thus, it 

is critical to assess the distribution and abundance of fishes in the Chukchi Sea prior to oil 

exploration or development of commercial fisheries. 

 Not only is there a pressing need for knowledge about fishes in the Chukchi Sea, but also 

it is essential to evaluate those fishes as prey resources for marine mammals. The rapidly receding 

sea ice in the Arctic has received much attention recently and record minima were recorded in 

2007, 2008, and 2009. For many marine mammals in the Arctic, sea-ice is an important platform 

for resting, mating, pupping, and as a base for foraging. In response to significant sea ice habitat 

loss, potentially limited access to prey, and increased anthropogenic interaction in the Arctic, iceassociated pinnipeds followed the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) in proposals for listing as 

threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The decision to list is still pending 

for ringed seals (Phoca hispida) and bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) and a decision will be 

announced in November 2010. Ribbon (Phoca fasciata) and spotted seals (Phoca larga) were 

also proposed for listing; however, NOAA announced their decisions not to list these seal species 

at this time. Potential listing underscores the need to learn as much as possible about ice seals in 

the vicinity of Lease Sale 193, including trophic linkages with forage fishes. 

Understanding potential effects of climate change or oil and gas exploration in Lease Sale 

193 requires investigating trophic links between Arctic fishes and their prey and between the 

fishes and their ice seal predators. This will entail examining a variety of fish species, life 

histories, and life stages. A recent search of FishBase (Froese and Pauly 2006) indicates 80 fish 

species inhabiting the Chukchi Sea. The dominant Arctic fish families are Gadidae (cods), 

Zoarcidae (eelpouts), Liparidae (snailfishes), Cottidae (sculpins), and Salmonidae (salmonids). 

Most of what is known about ecology and life history of Alaskan Arctic marine fishes originates 

from work associated with marine mammals (Frost and Lowry 1981, 1983, 1984) and oil and gas 

exploration (Craig and McCart 1976, Craig et al. 1982, 1984). The general consensus seems to be 

that little is known and much work needs to be done on Arctic marine fishes (e.g., Johnson 1997, 

Power 1997, Mecklenburg et al. 2002, 2008, and MMS 2006). There is even less known about 

diets of marine fishes in the Chukchi Sea than of fish distribution. Feeding styles of Chukchi 

fishes are diverse. As the Arctic ecosystem changes fish diets will likely change. Therefore past 

information about fish diets should be expanded with information about recent diets and trophic 

linkages between fish prey and their consumers. 

Ice or pagophilic seals, as the name implies, are strongly dependent on Arctic sea ice, but 

individual species are selective for different habitats within this ecosystem (Simpkins et al. 2003) 

and exhibit different feeding ecologies (Dehn et al. 2007). Ice seals eat midwater forage fishes, 

demersal fishes, and invertebrates, yet the particular prey taxa consumed by different seal species 

can be dissimilar. For example, cods are significant prey to ringed seals, in particular to adult 

ringed seals and euphausiids and amphipods can be equally important (Lowry et al. 1980a, Dehn 

et al. 2007). In contrast, bearded seals are benthic feeders and fishes are commonly identified 

from bearded seal stomachs, including eelpouts, cods, sculpins, rainbow smelt (Osmerus 

mordax), flatfishes (Lowry et al. 1980b, Dehn et al. 2007), pricklebacks (Antonelis et al. 1994), 

and Pacific sand lance (Ammodytes hexapterus) (Lowry et al. 2000). Spotted seals are 

piscivorous, eating both pelagic and benthic fish species, and rely heavily on Pacific herring 

(Clupea pallasi), cods, rainbow smelt, capelin (Mallotus villosus), and Pacific sand lance (Dehn 

et al. 2007); salmonids can be seasonally important in their diet (Lowry et al. 2000). Little is 

known about ribbon seal feeding in the Arctic, but fishes, e.g., walleye pollock, appear to be 

important prey (Frost and Lowry 1980, Dehn et al. 2007) 

Stable nitrogen and carbon isotope analyses of animal tissues are used frequently to 

examine the structure of food webs and to determine the food sources (Hobson and Welch 1992, 

55 
Hobson et al. 1993, 1996, Dehn et al. 2006, Bentzen et al. 2007, Greenberg et al. 2007, Knoche et 

al. 2007). The stable isotopic composition of a material is given in delta (δ) notation, indicating 

the deviation in parts per thousand from an international standard (Peterson and Fry 1987). Stable 

nitrogen isotopes are integrated into consumer tissues with enrichment occurring at each trophic 

step due to the preferential incorporation of the heavier isotope (δ 15N) into tissues (Kelly 2000). 

Using this relationship it is possible to describe a food web, determine trophic relationships, and 

examine the feeding ecology of organisms (Peterson and Fry 1987, Fry 1988, Hobson and Welch 

1992, Rau et al. 1992, Hobson et al., 2002). Stable nitrogen isotope analyses can be coupled with 

stable carbon isotope analyses (δ13C) of an organism, illustrating habitat usage when distinct 

changes in foraging habitat occur during movements or migrations (Fry et al. 1984, Fry and Sherr 

1984, Schell et al. 1989, Knoche et al. 2007). 

Stable isotope ratios of nitrogen and carbon have been used extensively in marine 

mammal ecology to investigate trophic position and relationships, habitat use, migratory patterns, 

and contaminant transfer (Hobson et al. 1996, 1997, Hobson and Schell 1998, Hoekstra et al. 

2003, Dehn et al. 2006, 2007). For seal muscle (based on captivity studies) nitrogen enrichment 

was estimated at 2.4 ‰ from prey to predator (Hobson et al. 1996). However, without prior 

knowledge of typical prey species consumed and their respective isotope ratios, only general 

statements can be made, e.g., if the diet is likely to be pelagic or benthic. It is important to 

establish prey isotope libraries to both infer the diet of the predator and estimate contribution of 

particular prey species, thus enabling effective monitoring of changes over time by sampling only 

a few milligrams of tissue. Isotopic mixing models have become powerful tools to evaluate 

proportional importance of prey with different isotopic signatures (Phillips and Koch 2002, 

Phillips and Gregg 2003, Phillips et al. 2005, Moore and Semmons 2008) and have been used 

successfully in the Arctic to describe polar bear diets (Bentzen et al. 2007). 

Our study will incorporate stable isotope analysis to establish trophic links within the 

Chukchi Sea food web. Carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios will be determined from fishes, their 

prey, and muscle and liver tissues of seals. Muscle is generally considered a medium turn-over 

tissue and will provide dietary information over a period of about one month (Tieszen et al. 

1983). In contrast liver is highly metabolically active and will turn-over within 1-2 weeks 

(Tieszen et al. 1983, Sponheimer et al. 2006). In addition to liver and muscle tissues, isotope 

analysis of seal claws can give information on historical diet and prey utilization. Keratin layers 

in seal claws are annually deposited (Benjaminsen 1973), similar to growth layer groups observed 

in teeth or otoliths (Figure 2). Growth layers of keratin in seal claws can provide a long-term 

record of diet and/or seasonal importance of prey for up to 10 years. After that time, the claws 

will wear at the distal end. Many studies have utilized stable isotopes in teeth (Hobson and Sease 

2006), baleen (Schell et al. 1989), whiskers/vibrissae (Hobson et al. 1996, Hirons et al. 2001, 

Zhao and Schell 2004, Cherel et al. 2009), and other keratinized structures to assess long term 

feeding records, monitor diet, and determine potential prey switching of marine mammals. 

Historic trophic data from fish and seals will be combined with current trophic information 

obtained from ice seal liver and muscle tissues, morphometric data, stomach contents data, and 

age information.

 

Objectives and Hypothesis 

 

The overall project objective is to document critical baseline data on diet of 

forage fishes in the eastern Chukchi Sea and the trophic links from fish prey to fish to ice 

seals. Specific objectives include: 

(1) Determine diet composition of forage fishes 

(2) Establish trophic level of forage fish species and of their prey 

56 
(3) Analyze interannual differences in diet of fishes and in the trophic level of fishes and 

their prey 

(4) Determine trophic level of ice seals 

(5) Determine ice seal trophic history 

(6) Develop isotopic mixing models 

(7) Compare trophic levels of forage fishes to those of ice seals 

(8) Provide diet and trophic level data to MMS in electronic format 

(9) Complete data archiving with National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) and 

make available to MMS in GIS compatible format. 

We hypothesize that dietary differences of pelagic and demersal fishes among 

sites in the Lease Sale 193 may propagate into higher trophic levels such as ice seals. As 

stable isotope values of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) are indicators of trophic level, 

we will use this technique to test our hypothesis by establishing a trophic relationship 

from prey of forage fishes through individual species of forage fishes up to ice seals.

Methods and Status 

Fishes available to this project were caught by bottom and midwater trawls in the 

Chukchi Sea and northern Bering Sea during 2007–2009 (Figures 3, 4 and 5). Fishes 

caught by bottom trawl (beam trawl and otter trawl 2007–2009) are primarily <150 mm, 

while fishes caught by Isaacs-Kidd midwater trawl (2009) are <50 mm, and fishes caught 

by CanTrawl (2007) are <400 mm. Approximately 220 and 880 fish specimens are 

planned for stable isotope and diet examination, respectively. Ringed, bearded, and 

spotted seals were sampled during Alaskan Native subsistence harvests of these species 

mainly in June and July of 2007, 2008, and 2009. Few samples of ribbon seals were 

collected, as this species has a very remote distribution in front zone of the pack ice 

covering deep continental shelf waters (Simpkins et al. 2003). Ice seal samples were 

obtained from the communities of Little Diomede, Point Hope, and Kotzebue in 

collaboration with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) Arctic Marine 

Mammal Program and in Wainwright and Barrow in collaboration with the North Slope 

Borough Department of Wildlife Management (Figure 3, 4, and 5). Seal sample 

collections in 2009 were successful, however a larger sample size of claws was expected 

and sampling in 2010 will continue in collaboration with ADFG and the North Slope 

Borough to improve the sample size and achieve the target goal. Available seal species 

and tissues have been inventoried (Table 1). Some of these tissues are archived at the 

Museum of the North in Fairbanks, and a tissue loan has been initiated to gain access to 

these samples. Spotted seals from the Fall 2009 hunt are not yet available, because the 

harvest just recently concluded and samples are still being received and inventoried by 

ADFG. 

Stable isotope analysis will be performed to assess the trophic level of the fish 

species that are consumed by ice seals. Lipid content in fish muscle can significantly alter 

carbon isotope signatures (Pinnegar and Polunin 1999). We are presently examining the 

effect of lipid-removal on stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of fishes. 

Approximately 10 specimens of each of Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida), Bering flounder 

(Hippoglossus stenolepis), and Arctic staghorn sculpin (Gymnocanthus tricuspis) were 

57 
freeze dried, and homogenized using mortar and pestle. Some of our specimens may have 

organs removed (liver, spleen, and stomach) for processing in a separate study. To 

determine the impact this will have on isotope analysis, we examined five specimens of 

whole fish and five specimens where liver, spleen and stomach were removed. Otoliths 

were removed from all fishes for analysis in a separate study. After each whole body fish 

specimen was homogenized into a powder, the sample was divided in half. One half was 

weighed directly in the Stable Isotope Laboratory at the University of Alaska Fairbanks 

and lipids were removed from the remainder by the following process. Samples were 

washed in a 2:1 chloroform:methanol mixture, agitated for 5 minutes and centrifuged for 

5 minutes. The supernatant was discarded and the process was repeated twice. The lipidextracted samples were frozen and returned to the freeze-dryer for 12 hours and then rehomogenized prior to placing samples into crucibles for weighing. Homogenized 

samples were weighed on micro-scales at the Stable Isotope Laboratory. Carbon and 

nitrogen isotope ratios are currently being analyzed using a Finnigan MAT DeltaPlusXL 

Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (IRMS) directly coupled to a Costech Elemental 

Analyzer (ESC 4010); stable isotope ratios will be determined following the procedure 

described by Dehn et al. (2005), and data are pending. Once lipid-extraction effects are 

determined, we will begin preparing the remaining fishes for isotope analysis. 

Diet analyses will assess the relative importance of functional groups of prey taxa 

in the diet of each fish species. Diet analysis of fishes has just begun. The four species to 

be examined over three years will be examined first, i.e. Arctic cod, Bering flounder, 

slender eelblenny (Lumpenus fabricii), and Arctic staghorn sculpin. Thus far, the stomach 

contents of 29 Bering flounder caught during 2009 have been examined; most stomachs 

contained gammarid amphipods and mysids. The trophic level of the functional groups of 

prey taxa (described above) found in fish stomachs will be examined using stable isotope 

analyses. Due to the small size of some prey taxa, the prey type will sometimes have to 

be pooled from the stomachs of several fishes to achieve sufficient mass of the prey for 

stable isotope analysis, i.e., five copepods from each of 10 fish stomachs pooled to yield 

one sample for stable isotopes. Therefore, prey will be taken from among the same 

specimens of predatory fishes analyzed using stable isotopes, the particular prey 

individuals will not be traceable back to the specific predatory fish. 

For seals, stable isotope analysis will be preformed on liver, muscle and claws of 

ringed, bearded, spotted, and ribbon seals. Tissues of samples collected in 2009 and most 

of the archived tissues (approximately 5g) have been freeze-dried and homogenized for 

consequent weighing and analyzes at the Stable Isotope Laboratory. The extraction of 

lipids has no effect on stable carbon and nitrogen ratios in muscle of Arctic cetaceans and 

pinnipeds (Hoekstra et al. 2002), and therefore lipids were not extracted from ice seals 

tissues. Growth layers within seal claws (Figure 2) are in the process of being analyzed. 

Each claw is rinsed in a Vibration Bath for approximately 15 minutes to remove dirt and 

the cuticle and then rinsed for an additional 5 minutes. The claw is then cleaned with 

methanol and chloroform to remove any lipids that may adhere to the outside. After 

cleaning, each seasonal growth layer is drilled into a fine powder with a Dremel Tool. 

The prominent growth layers (either light or dark bands which ever stood out more) are 

drilled first (Figure 6). The band closest to the base is the starting point. At least 0.4mg of 

powder is extracted from the band and placed in glass vials until weighing. After the band 

is drilled, the claw is wiped with chloroform and methanol to remove remnant powder. 

58 
Drilling continues until the last band at the distal end of the claw is reached (Figure 7). 

Once the first set of bands are completely drilled the other seasonal growth bands are 

processed from base to distal end in the same manner (Figure 8). All samples will then be 

weighed and analyzed at Stable Isotope Laboratory at UAF as described above. 

Analysis of stomach contents, along with morphometric data and age, will 

provide additional insight into pinniped life history. This ancillary data will be made 

available to this study by the Arctic Marine Mammal Program of the ADFG once their 

analysis is completed by approximately fall 2010. 

 

Timeline 

The project is on target to be completed by 31-Dec-2012. There are three 

differences from the proposed timeline. Fishes are available from collections during Oct2009 in addition to those collected Aug-2007 through Sep-2009. Additional seal 

collections are anticipated during 2010 that will increase the sample size of seal tissues. 

Fish stomach analysis began in Nov-2009 rather than April-2009 due to delays in funding 

and conflict with summer fieldwork. 

Presentations 

Dehn, L.-A., S.S. Carroll, B.L. Norcross and B.A. Holladay. 2009. Trophic links – forage 

fishes, their prey, and ice seals in the northeastern Chukchi Sea (Year 1). Project report 

for CMI review presented at Fairbanks Alaska on 10 December 2009. 

Carroll, S.S., L.-A. Dehn, and B.L. Norcross. 2009. Declawed - Foraging records from 

isotope signatures within ice-seal claws. Abstract for poster presentation, Alaska Marine 

Science Symposium, Anchorage, Alaska, 18-22 January 2010. 

Acknowledgements 

We thank the subsistence hunters in the communities of Little Diomede, Point 

Hope, Barrow, Wainwright, and Kotzebue for making ice seal samples available for this 

study. We gratefully acknowledge the scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks 

and the BASIS program of the NOAA/Auke Bay Laboratory for collection of fishes, and 

the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management and the Alaska 

Department of Fish and Game Arctic Marine Mammal Program for their support with ice 

seal sample collections. Specifically, we thank Lori Quakenbush, Taquilik Hepa, Cheryl 

Rosa, Jill Seymour, Anna Bryan, Greta Krafsur, and Christy Gleason for their assistance 

during sample collections. Fishes were caught during research cruises with funding 

support from the Coastal Marine Institute and Hokkaido University (OS180, OS190), the 

BASIS program of the NOAA/Auke Bay Laboratory (OD0710), ConocoPhillips Alaska 

Inc. (WWW0902, WWW0904), and Shell Exploration and Production and the Minerals 

Management Service (COMIDA-2009). 

59 
60 
Figure 1. Study area in the eastern Chukchi Sea and northern Bering Sea. 

Figure 2. Front flipper claw from a ringed seal harvested in Barrow in 2002. Approximately nine 

growth layer groups can be distinguished. The darker, smaller bands represent growth during late 

spring and summer, a period of fasting and the nutritionally demanding molt and pup rearing. The 

lighter, wider bands show growth during the autumn and winter months when seals deposit large 

amounts of reserves for the coming winter and breeding season. White circles have been added to the 

dark bands for purposes of visualization. 

61 
Figure 3. Number of ice seal specimens and sites of fish collections during 2007 

Figure 4. Number of ice seal specimens and sites of fish collections during 2008 

62 
Figure 5. Number of ice seal specimens and sites of fish collections during 2009 

Figure 6. Bearded seal claw (BS-4-01) before drilling. This seal is 19 years old (estimated by counting 

growth layers in the cementum of canine or postcanine teeth), and 18 seasonal growth layers (9 light 

bands and 9 dark bands, i.e., approximately 9 years) are visible in the claw. The most recent growth 

layer at the base of the nail is a dark band. The growth layers are more apparent when the claw is 

moistened. 

63 
Figure 7. Bearded seal claw (BS-4-01) after light bands have been drilled. 

Figure 8. Bearded seal claw (BS-4-01) after dark and light bands have been drilled. 

64 
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267-273. 

67 
Population Connectivity in Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Sea Snow 

Crab Populations 

Sarah Mincks Hardy Katrin Iken 

weingart@ims.uaf.edu kasper@sfos.uaf.edu 

Institute of Marine Science Institute of Marine Science 

University of Alaska Fairbanks University of Alaska Fairbanks 

P.O. Box 757220 P.O. Box 757220 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 

Cooperative Agreement Number: M09AC15379 

Abstract: 

Climate trends in the Arctic appear to be impacting marine species distributions and community 

structure on multiple trophic levels. Superimposed upon this changing landscape are potential 

human impacts, including fishing pressures and petroleum resource exploration. The 

commercially valuable Alaskan snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio, has shown considerable 

fluctuations in population size within exploited areas of the Bering Sea over the last 25 years, and 

appears to be undergoing a northward range contraction due to changing climate conditions. 

Currently, the Bering Sea snow crab fishery is managed as a single panmictic unit; however, 

actual population structure and larval dispersal distances are not known for this species. 

Moreover, snow crab stocks are essentially unexplored north of the Bering Strait, although 

sizeable Chukchi and Beaufort populations do exist. Knowledge of population structure and 

estimates of genetic connectivity between exploited and unexploited areas are critical in 

management decisions, and of particular importance given recent interest in resource exploration 

and fishing in a more ice-free Arctic. Prevailing hydrographic conditions suggest that the longlived planktonic larvae of snow crab might facilitate long-distance dispersal with northerly 

currents passing through the Bering Strait, into the Chukchi Sea, and along the Beaufort Shelf. 

Thus, Chukchi and Beaufort populations could well be genetically linked to commercially 

exploited Bering Sea populations, with gene flow occurring in the direction of water mass 

movement. We are using microsatellite methods to investigate the broad-scale genetic population 

structure of C. opilio in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, and determine whether larval 

dispersal distances can be estimated using these methods. 

Introduction 

The snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio, is a widely distributed and commercially valuable species 

that occurs commonly in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas around Alaska, as well as in the 

NW Atlantic. While the Tanner crab, C. bairdi, is larger, faster growing, and historically more 

valuable than C. opilio, harvests for C. bairdi declined steadily through the 1980’s and were 

closed from 1995 until 2008 (cf., Bowers et al. 2008). Rapid development in the C. opilio fishery 

accompanied the decline in C. bairdi. The Eastern Bering Sea snow crab fishery is managed as 

one continuous population, but may extend into Russian waters to an unknown degree (NPFMC 

2007). Existing shellfish management units in both Alaskan and Canadian waters were originally 

established primarily according to historical fishing grounds—typically for red king crab in 

Alaska—and/or in accordance with natural geographic barriers (Merkouris et al. 1998, FRCC 

68 
2005). However, these designations do not necessarily correspond to real snow crab population 

structure in the region. In fact, genetic studies in both Alaskan and Canadian fishing areas do 

point to the existence of distinct subpopulations in Tanner and snow crabs (Bunch et al. 1998, 

Merkouris et al. 1998; Puebla et al. 2008). Recent studies in the Eastern Bering Sea also suggest 

spatial separation, and possible migrations, of various ontogenetic stages (Ernst et al. 2005, 

Orensanz et al. 2007). These patterns suggest more population structure than has been accounted 

for in current management models. 

Given the growing pressure being placed upon fisheries resources in both Alaskan and Canadian 

waters, the need for improved knowledge of population structure and connectivity is clear. 

Despite fairly thorough stock assessments in fishing-intensive areas, virtually no attention has 

been paid to C. opilio stocks in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas (but see Paul et al. 1997), where 

sizeable populations do appear to exist (e.g., Feder et al. 2005, Bluhm et al. 2009). These 

unexplored populations may well be sources or sinks for genetic exchange with other, more 

intensively fished populations. The need for additional studies is increasingly pressing, given 

recent evidence of a declining Bering Sea snow crab population and concurrent northward range 

contraction, apparently due to shifting water temperature regimes in the region (Dionne et al.

2003, Orensanz et al. 2004, Lovvorn 2008). Should this northward range contraction continue, 

and the Chukchi Sea become the new southern limit of this species’ range, any impacts of 

ongoing oil and gas exploration/resource development on C. opilio populations may constitute 

additional pressure on this commercially important species. 

In crabs and other species with planktonic larval phases, movement away from detrimental 

habitat conditions and/or re-colonization of an area after a disturbance can be achieved through 

larval dispersal. Dispersal also constitutes a means of genetic exchange between geographically 

distant populations. Thus, knowledge of dispersal patterns and degrees of genetic connectivity 

between populations are essential in determining the spatial scales over which localized 

disturbances will be felt, and over which environmental impact studies should be conducted. 

Furthermore, directionality of dispersal may indicate sensitive areas “downstream” from impacts 

which need to be considered in management plans. Hydrographic flow in the study area is 

predominantly northward, with a 6-month transit time recorded for water parcels moving from the 

Bering Strait up to Barrow (Winsor and Chapman 2004). Length of the planktonic period has not 

been measured for snow crab at temperatures typical of the study area, but larvae could remain in 

the water column for several months. Thus, potential larval dispersal distances could be 

significant, allowing for a great deal of genetic mixing between distant populations. However, in 

a study of Atlantic snow crab, Puebla et al. (2008) found a genetically distinct subpopulation that 

was within range of larval drift, and in an area lacking obvious barriers to gene flow via dispersal. 

Other studies have also detected distinct genetic differentiation occurring in species with 

apparently continuous distributions (e.g., Taylor and Hellberg 2003, Becker et al. 2007), 

suggesting populations of snow crab in Alaskan waters should not be assumed to undergo 

continuous gene flow over their entire range. 

Objectives 

We are combining genetic analysis with data from field observations of adult distributions of 

Chionoecetes opilio in the N Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas to examine adult population 

structure and spatial scales of genetic connectivity. Our overall objective is to determine whether 

populations are truly panmictic, given potential long-distance dispersal of larvae. In addition, we 

will determine whether planktonic larvae collected from plankton tows can be attributed to source 

populations, thereby providing a quantitative measure of larval dispersal distance. 

69 
Study area and methods 

Sampling was conducted in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas during a series of expeditions from 

2007-2009. Several hundred tissue samples of Chionoecetes opilio were collected 

opportunistically in 2007 and 2008, and preserved for genetic analysis. In 2009, whole crabs 

were collected from the US and Russian sectors of the Chukchi, and will be sized, sexed, and 

given indices of shell condition prior to removal of tissue samples for genetics. Samples were 

contributed by J. Lovvorn from the N. Bering Sea, but these samples were later determined to be 

of poor quality. In place of the Lovvorn samples, additional collections are planned for the 

central and eastern Bering Sea in summer 2010 on the National Marine Fisheries Service annual 

trawl surveys. Plankton samples were collected in the Chukchi Sea in 2007 and preserved in 

ethanol. Planktonic crab larvae will be removed from these samples using a dissecting 

microscope. 

We will use DNA microsatellites to genotype each individual crab for our population genetic 

analyses, targeting eight previously established microsatellite loci found to be informative in N. 

Atlantic populations of C. opilio (Puebla et al. 2003, Puebla et al. 2008). Microsatellites are short 

segments of nuclear DNA composed of tandemly-repeated units a few base pairs in length. These 

segments are generally neutrally inherited, and undergo high rates of mutation, making them 

extremely useful in population genetic studies. Microsatellite studies have proven useful in 

fisheries stock assessments due to their ability to detect differences in genetic identity with high 

resolution (reviewed in Chistiakov et al. 2006). To attain the proper statistical power, sample 

sizes of at least 40-50 individuals from each site will be targeted (Ryman et al. 2006). Both Fstatistics and Bayesian statistics will be used to determine whether genetically distinct 

subpopulations of C. opilio exist within the Alaskan portion of its range. Bayesian methods will 

first be employed which make no a priori assumptions about population structure, but rather 

define genetic boundaries wherever they may occur in our sampling region. A secondary 

approach using F-statistics will then be used to examine differences between identified 

populations. 

Results 

Graduate student Greg Albrecht began work on the project in August 2009. DNA has been 

extracted from 150 crab samples to provide a working stock of DNA for use in protocol 

development and preliminary analyses. We have thus far been working to develop the gene 

amplification protocols, and have nearly completed the necessary trouble-shooting for this phase. 

All eight microsatellite primers can now be successfully amplified, and amplification conditions 

are currently being adjusted to maximize efficiency and success rates. We expect to begin 

genotyping samples en masse in late January 2010. Additional field work is planned for summer 

2010, and the necessary arrangements have been made for Greg to sample on the NMFS trawl 

surveys in the Eastern Bering Sea. 

Acknowledgements 

The PIs would like to thank the organizers of the NOAA BASIS cruise and the Japanese IPY 

cruise aboard the Oshoro Maru for allowing us to participate in 2007 expeditions. We also thank 

Heloise Chenelot for collecting samples for this project on the MMS survey cruise in the Beaufort 

Sea in 2008. 2009 sampling was conducted as part of the RUSALCA expedition to the Chukchi 

Sea, with funding provided by NOAA CIFAR. We gratefully acknowledge laboratory technician 

70 
Kevin Colson (UAF Institute of Arctic Biology), who has provided invaluable assistance and 

training in microsatellite methods for the graduate student. 

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Orensanz, J., B. Ernst, D.A. Armstrong, P. Stabeno, P. Livingston. 2004. Contraction of the 

geographic range of distribution of snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) in the Eastern Bering 

Sea: An environmental ratchet? CalCOFI Report, pp 65-79. 

Orensanz, J.M., B. Ernst, D.A. Armstrong. 2007. Variation of female size and stage at maturity in 

snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) (Brachyura: Majidae) from the eastern Bering Sea. 

Journal of Crustacean Biology 27: 576-591. 

Paul, J.M., A.J. Paul, W.E. Barber. 1997. Reproductive biology and distribution of the snow crab 

from the northeastern Chukchi Sea. American Fisheries Society Symposium 19: 287-294. 

Puebla, O., E. Parent, J-M. Sevigny. 2003. New microsatellite markers for the snow crab 

Chionoecetes opilio (Brachyura: Majidae). Molecular Ecology Notes 3: 644-646. 

71 
Puebla, O., J-M. Sevigny, B. Sainte-Marie, J-C. Brethes, A. Burmeister, E.G. Dawe, M. 

Moriyasu. 2008. Population genetic structure of the snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) at 

the Northwest Atlantic scale. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 65: 

425-436. 

Ryman, N., S. Palm, C. AndrÃ©, G.R. Carvalho, T.G. Dahlgren, P.E. Jorde, L. Laikre, L.C. 

Larsson, A. PalmÃ©, D.E. Ruzzante. 2006. Power for detecting genetic divergence: 

differences between statistical methods and marker loci. Molecular Ecology 15: 2031-

2045. 

Taylor, M.S., M.E. Hellberg. 2003. Genetic evidence for local retention of pelagic larvae in a 

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72 
Final Reports Pending 

TO/CA No. Title PI Status 

35269 Pre-migratory Movements 

of Physiology of Shorebirds 

Staging on Alaska’s North 

Slope 

Abbie N. Powell 

ffanp@uaf.edu 

Institute of Arctic Biology and 

U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska 

Fish and Wildlife Research Unit 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7020 

This report is in the 

process of being 

published at CMI. 

37357 Evaluating a Potential Relict 

Arctic Invertebrate and 

Algal Community on the 

West Side of Cook Inlet, 

Alaska 

Nora R. Foster

fyaqua@uaf.edu 

Marine Invertebrate Collection 

University of Alaska 

Museum of the North 

907 Yukon Drive 

Fairbanks, AK 99557 

This report is in the 

process of being 

published at CMI. 

39380 Assessment of the Direction 

and Rate of Alongshore 

Transport of Sand and 

Gravel in the Prudhoe Bay 

Region, North Arctic Alaska 

A. Sathy Naidu

ffsan@uaf.edu 

Institute of Marine Science 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 

This report is in the 

process of being 

published at CMI.

39921 Synthesis of Time-Interval 

Changes in Trace Metals 

and Hydrocarbons in 

Nearshore Sediments of the 

Alaska Beaufort Sea: A 

Statistical Analysis 

A. Sathy Naidu 

ffsan@uaf.edu

Institute of Marine Science 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 

This report is in the 

process of being 

published at CMI. 

M0713300/12485 Satellite Tracking of Pacific 

Walruses: The Planning 

Phase 

Lori Quakenbush 

loriq@ims.uaf.edu 

Affiliate Assistant Professor 

Institute of Marine Science 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7020 

This report is in the 

process of being 

published at CMI. 

M07AC13418/ 

12506 

Traditional Knowledge 

Regarding Bowhead Whales 

in the Chukchi Sea 

Lori Quakenbush 

loriq@ims.uaf.edu 

Affiliate Assistant Professor 

Institute of Marine Science 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

Fairbanks, AK 99775-7020 

This report is in the 

process of being 

published at CMI. 

73 
CMI Program Funding Summary 

Student Support 

 The cooperative agreement that formed the University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute 

stressed the need to support education, as well as research. The following student support 

information is summarized from proposals and may not accurately reflect actual expenditures. 

Fiscal Year Program Students MMS Funds Matching Funds Fiscal Year Program Students MMS Funds Matching Funds

1994 PhD 1 $22,558 $9,220 2002 PhD 3 $48,476 $0

M.S. 6 $65,107 $37,411 M.S. 5 $66,676 $7,500

Undergrad 1 $4,270 $0 Undergrad 0 $0 $0

Source Total $91,935 $46,631 Source Total $115,152 $7,500

1995 PhD 4 $53,061 $9,523 2003 PhD 3 $45,032 $12,000

M.S. 8 $90,367 $64,380 M.S. 5 $79,448 $7,500

Undergrad 5 $4,297 $13,933 Undergrad 1 $1,349

Source Total $147,725 $87,836 Source Total $125,829 $19,500

1996 PhD 5 $75,499 $8,499 2004 PhD 4 $55,365 $15,000

M.S. 5 $80,245 $18,661 M.S. 2 $34,715 $0

Undergrad 2 $4,644 $0 Undergrad 0 $0 $0

Source Total $160,388 $27,160 Source Total $90,080 $15,000

1997 PhD 2 $37,714 $0 2005 PhD 2 $30,942 $0

M.S. 2 $22,798 $0 M.S. 2 $6,385 $0

Undergrad 2 $2,610 $0 Undergrad 1 $1,398 $0

Source Total $63,122 $0 Source Total $38,725 $0

1998 PhD 2 $17,109 $17,109 2006 PhD 2 $21,132 $6,667

M.S. 2 $26,012 $7,200 M.S. 1 $0 $0

Undergrad 2 $0 $2,548 Undergrad 2 $0 $0

Source Total $43,121 $26,857 Source Total $21,132 $6,667

1999 PhD 6 $66,750 $38,073 2007 PhD 0 $0 $0

M.S. 4 $31,650 $8,730 M.S. 1 $82,635 $0

Undergrad 4 $0 $10,704 Undergrad 0 $0 $0

Source Total $98,400 $57,507 Source Total $82,635 $0

2000 PhD 6 $61,383 $30,551 2008 PhD 0 $0 $0

M.S. 2 $5,868 $10,135 M.S. 2 $124,086 $27,423

Undergrad 7 $0 $21,299 Undergrad 0 $0 $0

Source Total $67,251 $61,985 Source Total $124,086 $27,423

2001 PhD 2 $19,159 $22,019 2009 PhD 0 $0 $0

M.S. 1 $0 $5,800 M.S. 0 $0 $0

Undergrad 3 $10,983 $5,761 Undergrad 0 $0 $0

Source Total $30,142 $33,580 Source Total $0 $0

MMS Matching

Totals to Date $1,299,723 $417,646

74 
Total CMI Funding

The total MMS funding committed to CMI projects through calendar year 2009 is approximately 

$15.6 million. Since all CMI-funded projects require a one-to-one match with non-federal 

monies, total CMI project commitments through calendar year 2009 have totaled approximately 

$28.2 million. 

Sources of Matching Funds

Matching for CMI-funded projects has come from a wide variety of sources. Identifying and 

verifying match remains a major administrative challenge in the development of CMI proposals. 

In general, match has been available to those investigators who expend the necessary extra effort 

to locate and secure the support. The following partial list of fund matching participants 

demonstrates the breadth of support for CMI-funded programs: 

Afognak Native Corporation Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans Canada UAF Institute of Arctic Biology 

Alaska Beluga Whale Committee Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee 

Council 

UAF Institute of Marine Science 

Alaska Dept. of Environmental 

Conservation (ADEC) 

Frontier Geosciences, Inc. UAF International Arctic Research 

Center (IARC) 

Alaska Dept of Fish and Game (ADF&G) Golden Plover Guiding Co. UAF School of Agriculture & Land 

Resources Management 

ADF&G – Kachemak Bay Research 

Reserve 

Japanese Marine Science and 

Technology Center (JAMSTEC) 

UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean 

Sciences 

Alaska Dept of Transportation and Public 

Facilities 

Kodiak Island Borough UAF School of Management 

Alaska Science and Technology 

Foundation 

Littoral Ecological & Environmental 

Services 

UAF School of Mineral Engineering 

Alyeska Pipeline Service Company North Slope Borough University of Alaska Museum 

Ben A. Thomas Logging Camp Oil Spill Recovery Institute University of Alaska Natural 

Resources Fund 

BP Amoco Phillips Alaska, Inc. University of Alaska Southeast 

BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. Pollock Conservation Cooperative 

Research Center 

University of California, Los Angeles 

Canadian Wildlife Service Prince William Sound Aquaculture 

Corporation 

University of Northern Iowa 

CODAR Ocean Sensors Simon Frasier University University of Texas 

Cominco Alaska, Inc. University of Alaska Anchorage Wadati Fund 

ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. University of Alaska Fairbanks Water Research Center 

Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory 

Council 

UAF College of Science, Engineering 

& Mathematics 

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution 

Cook Inlet Spill Prevention & Response, Inc. UAF Frontier Research System for 

Global Change, IARC 

75 
CMI Publications 

Contact information 

 e-mail: sharice@sfos.uaf.edu 

 phone: 907.474.7208 

 fax: 907.474.7204 

 Coastal Marine Institute 

 School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences 

 University of Alaska Fairbanks 

 P.O. Box 757220 

 Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 

Alexander, V. (Director). 1995. University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Annual Report No. 1. 

University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 16 p. 

Alexander, V. (Director). 1996. University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Annual Report No. 2. OCS 

Study MMS 95-0057, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 

122 p. 

Alexander, V. (Director). 1997. University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Annual Report No. 3. OCS 

Study MMS 97-0001, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 

191 p. 

Alexander, V. (Director). 1998. University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Annual Report No. 4. OCS 

Study MMS 98-0005, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 81 

p. 

Alexander, V. (Director). 1998. University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Annual Report No. 5. OCS 

Study MMS 98-0062, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 72 

p. 

Alexander, V. (Director). 2000. University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Annual Report No. 6. OCS 

Study MMS 2000-0046, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 

86 p. 

Alexander, V. (Director). 2000. University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Annual Report No. 7. OCS 

Study MMS 2000-0070, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 

92 p. 

Alexander, V. (Director). 2002. University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Annual Report No. 8. OCS 

Study MMS 2002-001, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 

109 p. 

Alexander, V. (Director). 2003. University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Annual Report No. 9. OCS 

Study MMS 2003-003, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 

108 p. 

Alexander, V. (Director). 2004. University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Annual Report No. 10. OCS 

Study MMS 2004-002, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 

119 p. 

Alexander, V. (Director). 2005. University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Annual Report No. 11. OCS 

Study MMS 2005-055, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 

157 p. 

76 
Alexander, V. (Director). 2007. University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Annual Report No. 13. OCS 

Study MMS 2007-014, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 

75 p. 

Braddock, J.F., and Z. Richter. 1998. Microbial Degradation of Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Marine 

Sediments. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 97-0041, University of Alaska Coastal Marine 

Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 82 p. 

Braddock, J.F., K.A. Gannon and B.T. Rasley. 2004. Petroleum hydrocarbon-degrading microbial 

communities in Beaufort-Chukchi Sea sediments. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2004-061, 

University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, 

Alaska OCS Region, 38 p. 

Castellini, M.A. (Director). 2008. University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Annual Report No. 14. 

OCS Study MMS 2008-014, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS 

Region, 117 p. 

Castellini, M.A. (Director). 2008. University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Annual Report No. 15. 

OCS Study MMS 2009-044, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS 

Region, 57 p. 

Cook, J.A. and G.H. Jarrell. 2002. The Alaska Frozen Tissue Collection: A Resource for Marine 

Biotechnology, Phase II. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2002-027, University of Alaska Coastal 

Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 23 p. 

Cook, J.A., G.H. Jarrell, A.M. Runck and J.R. Demboski. 1999. The Alaska Frozen Tissue Collection and 

Associated Electronic Database: A Resource for Marine Biotechnology. Final Report. OCS Study 

MMS 99-0008, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and 

USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 23 p. 

Duesterloh, S., and T.C. Shirley. 2004. The Role of Copepods in the Distribution of Hydrocarbons: An 

Experimental Approach. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2004-034, University of Alaska Coastal 

Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 53 p. 

Duffy, L.K., R.T. Bowyer, D.D. Roby and J.B. Faro. 1998. Intertidal Effects of Pollution: Assessment of 

Top Trophic Level Predators as Bioindicators. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 97-0008, 

University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, 

Alaska OCS Region, 62 p. 

Gradinger, R. and B. Bluhm. 2005. Susecptibility of sea ice biota to disturbances in the shallow Beaufort 

Sea: Phase 1: Biological coupling of sea ice with the pelagic and benthic realms. Final Report. 

OCS Study MMS 2005-062, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska 

Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 87 p. 

Henrichs, S.M., M. Luoma and S. Smith. 1997. A study of the Adsorption of Aromatic Hydrocarbons by 

Marine Sediments. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 97-0002, University of Alaska Coastal Marine 

Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS Alaska OCS Region, 47 p. 

Herrmann, M., S.T. Lee, C. Hamel, K.R. Criddle, H.T. Geier, J.A. Greenberg and C.E. Lewis. 2001. An 

Economic Assessment of the Sport Fisheries for Halibut, Chinook and Coho Salmon in Lower and 

Central Cook Inlet. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2000-061, University of Alaska Coastal 

Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and US DOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 135 p. 

Highsmith, R.C., S.M. Saupe and A.L. Blanchard. 2001. Kachemak Bay Experimental and Monitoring 

Studies: Recruitment, Succession, and Recovery in Seasonally Disturbed Rocky-Intertidal Habitat. 

Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2001-053, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, 

University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 66 p. 

77 
Holladay, B.A., B.L. Norcross and A. Blanchard. 1999. A Limited Investigation into the Relationship of 

Diet to the Habitat Preferences of Juvenile Flathead Sole. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 99-

0025, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, 

MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 27 p. 

Johnson, M.A. 2008. Water and Ice Dynamics in Cook Inlet. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2008-061, 

University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, 

Alaska Region, 106 p. 

Johnson, M.A., and S.R. Okkonen [eds.]. 2000. Proceedings Cook Inlet Oceanography Workshop. 

November 1999, Kenai, AK. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2000-043, University of Alaska 

Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 

118 p. 

Kline, T.C., J.R., and J.J. Goering. 1998. North Slope Amphidromy Assessment. Final Report. OCS Study 

MMS 98-0006, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and 

USDOI, MMS, Alaska Region, 25 p. 

Konar, B. 2006. Role of Grazers on the Recolonization of Hard-Bottom Communities in the Alaska 

Beaufort Sea. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2006-015, University of Alaska Coastal Marine 

Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska Region, 23 p. 

Musgrave, D., and H. Statscewich. 2006. CODAR in Alaska. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2006-032, 

University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairnbanks and USDOI, 

MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 23 p. 

Naidu, A.S., J.J. Goering, J.J. Kelley and M.I. Venkatesan. 2001. Historical Cahnges in Trace Metals and 

Hydrocarbons in the Inner Shelf Sediments, Beaufort Sea: Prior and Subsequent to PetroleumRelated Industrial Developments. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2001-061, University of Alaska 

Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 

80 p. 

Naidu, A.S., J.J. Kelley, J.J. Goering and M.I. Venkatesan. 2003. Trace Metals and Hydrocarbons in 

Sediments of Elson Lagoon (Barrow, Northwest Arctic Alaska) as Related to the Prudhoe Bay 

Industrial Region. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2003-057, University of Alaska Coastal Marine 

Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 33 p. 

Naidu, A.S., J.J. Keley, D. Misra and M.I. Venkatesan. 2006. Trace Metals and Hydrocarbons in Sediments 

of the Beaufort Lagoon, Northeast Arctic Alaska, Exposed to Long-term Natural Oil Seepage, 

Recent Anthropogenic Activities and Pristine Conditions. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2005-

041, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, 

MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 57p. 

Niebauer, H.J. 2000. Physical-Biological Numerical Modeling on Alaskan Arctic Shelves. Final Report. 

OCS Study MMS 2000-041, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska 

Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 84 p. 

Norcross, B.L., B.A. Holladay, A.A. Abookire and S.C. Dressel. 1998. Defining Habitats for Juvenile 

Groundfishes in Southcentral Alaska, Vol. I. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 97-0046, University 

of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska 

OCS Region, 131 p. 

Norcross, B.L., B.A. Holladay, A.A. Abookire and S.C. Dressel. 1998. Defining Habitats for Juvenile 

Groundfishes in Southcentral Alaska, Vol. II. Final Report, Appendices. OCS Study MMS 97-

0046, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, 

MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 127 p. 

78 
Okkonen, S.R., and S.S. Howell. 2003. Measurements of Temperature, Salinity and Circulation in Cook 

Inlet, Alaska. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2003-036, University of Alaska Coastal Marine 

Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 28p. 

Okkonen, S.R. 2005. Observations of hydrography and currents in central Cook Inlet, Alaska during 

diurnal and semidiurnal tidal cycles. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2004-058, University of 

Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS 

Region, 28 p. 

Okkonen, S.R., S. Pegau and S. Saupe. 2009. Seasonality of Boundary Conditions for Cook Inlet, Alaska. 

Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2009-041, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, 

University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 59 p. 

Olsson, P.Q. and H. Liu. 2009. High-Resolution Numerical Modeling of Near-Surface Weather Conditions 

over Alaska’s Cook Inlet and Shelikof Strait. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2007-043, 

University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, 

Alaska OCS Region, 52 p. 

Powell, A. and S. Backensto. 2009. Common Ravens (Corvus corax) Nesting on Alaska’s North Slope Oil 

Fields. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2009-007, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, 

University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 37 p. 

Powell, A., L. Phillips, E.A. Rexstad, E.J. Taylor. 2005. Importance of Alaskan Beaufort Sea to King 

Eiders (Somateria spectabilis). Final Report. OCS Study 2005-057, University of Alaska Coastal 

Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 40 p. 

Powell, A., R.S. Suydam, and R. Mcguire. 2005. Breeding Bology of King Eiders on the Coastal Plain of 

Northern Alaska. Final Report. OCS Study 2005-060, University of Alaska Coastal Marine 

Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 40 p. 

Proshutinsky, A.Y.2000. Wind Field Representations and Their Effect on Shelf Circulation Models: A Case 

Study in the Chukchi Sea. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2000-011, University of Alaska Coastal 

Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 136 p. 

Proshutinsky, A.Y., M.A. Johnson, T.O. Proshutinsky and J.A. Maslanik. 2003. Beaufort and Chukchi Sea 

Seasonal Variability for Two Arctic Climate States. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2003-024, 

University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, 

Alaska OCS Region, 197 p. 

Quakenbush, L., R. Shideler and G. York.2009. Radio Frequency Identification Tags for Grizzly and Polar 

Bear Research. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2009-004, University of Alaska Coastal Marine 

Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 19 p. 

Quakenbush, L. and R. Small. 2005. Satellite Tracking of Bowhead Whales: The Planning Phase 1. Final 

Report. OCS Study MMS 2005-058, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of 

Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 24 p. 

Quakenbush, L., R.S. Suydam, R. Acker, M. Knoche and J. Citta.2009. Migration of King and Common 

Eiders Past Point Barrow, Alaska, during Summer/Fall 2002 through Spring 2004: Population 

Trends and Effects of Wind. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2009-036, University of Alaska 

Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 

42 p. 

Shaw, D.G., and J. Terschak. 1998. Interaction Between Marine Humic Matter and Polycyclic Aromatic 

Hydrocarbons in Lower Cook Inlet and Port Valdez, Alaska. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 98-

0033, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, 

MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 27 p. 

79 
80 

Schell, D.M. 1998. Testing Conceptual Models of Marine Mammal Trophic Dynamics Using Carbon and 

Nitrogen Stable Isotope Ratios. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 98-0031, University of Alaska 

Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 137 p. 

Terschak, J.A., S.M. Henrichs and D.G. Shaw. 2004. Phenanthrene Adsorption and Desorption by 

Melanoidins and Marine Sediment Humic Acids. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2004-001, 

University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, 

Alaska OCS Region, 65 p. 

Tyler, A.V., C.O. Swanton and B.C. Mcintosh. 2001. Feeding Ecology of Maturing Sockeye Salmon 

(Oncorhynchus nerka) in Nearshore Waters of the Kodiak Archipelago. Final Report. OCS Study 

MMS 2001-059, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks 

and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 34 p. 

Wang, J. 2003. Proceedings of a Workshop on Small Scale Sea-Ice and Ocean Modeling (SIOM) in the 

Nearshore Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2003-043, University of 

Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS 

Region, 56 p. 

Weingartner, T.J. 1998. Circulation on the North Central Chukchi Sea Shelf. Final Report. OCS Study 

MMS 98-0026, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and 

USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 39 p. 

Weingartner, T.J. 2006. Circulation, thermohaline structure, and cross-shelf transport in the Alaskan 

Beaufort Sea. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2006-031, University of Alaska Coastal Marine 

Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 58 p. 

Weingartner, T.J., and S.R. Okkonen. 2001. Beaufort Sea Nearshore Under-Ice Currents: Science, Analysis 

and Logistics. Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2001-068, University of Alaska Coastal Marine 

Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska Region, 22 p. 

Weingarnter, T.J., and T. Proshutinsky. 1998. Modeling the Circulation on the Chukchi Sea Shelf. Final 

Report. OCS Study MMS 98-0017, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, University of 

Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska Region, 75 p. 

Winker, K., and D.A. Rocque. 2004. Seabird Samples as Resources for Marine Environmental Assessment. 

Final Report. OCS Study MMS 2004-035, University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute, 

University of Alaska Fairbanks and USDOI, MMS, Alaska OCS Region, 26 p.
The Department of the Interior Mission

As the Nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has responsibility 

for most of our nationally owned public lands and natural resources. This includes fostering 

sound use of our land and water resources; protecting our fish, wildlife, and biological diversity; 

preserving the environmental and cultural values of our national parks and historical places; 

and providing for the enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. The Department assesses 

our energy and mineral resources and works to ensure that their development is in the best 

interests of all our people by encouraging stewardship and citizen participation in their care. 

The Department also has a major responsibility for American Indian reservation communities 

and for people who live in island territories under U.S. administration.