Overexploitation of Bering Sea fisheries is thought by some to be responsible for the decline in seals and sea lions in Alaska. As a result of this decline, killer whales are forced to eat nutritionally inadequate sea otters. This leaves sea urchins, the sea otters' favorite food, free to eat its favorite food, kelp. The Alaskan kelp forests are being decimated by sea urchin foraging. As the otters go, so do Alaska's kelp forests.
Kelp forests provide food and habitat for many marine and terrestrial species.
These types of convoluted environmental issues are just now being understood. We can count on increasing conflicts as we face expansion in world population growth and seek out new ways to sustain our population. IMS scientists are looking in many areas to gather baseline information that will help make possible informed management decisions, hopefully, before it is too late. From interviewing fishers on their economic and cultural ties to fishing, to running transects and observing subtidal algal species diversity, IMS scientists are looking for pieces of the puzzle in many areas. The next issue of IMS News will look at seven more IMS scientists and how they go about investigating critical issues that concern our marine environment, from plankton to whales.