The Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC), under NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is responsible for the development and implementa¬tion of NOAA’s scientific research on living marine resources in Alaskan waters. Research addresses more than 250 fish and 42 marine mammal stocks dis¬tributed on the US continental shelf and in adjacent pelagic waters. Twenty-seven commercially-important fish and crab stocks are assessed annually. The study of the effects of climate change on marine resources evidenced by loss of sea ice and ocean acidification in the Bering and Chukchi seas is a key research area. The AFSC leads a suite of fisheries research and assessment cruises in the Gulf of Alaska, Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea, which include: 1. Annual eastern Bering Sea shelf bottom trawl survey 2. Biennial (even number years) survey, eastern Bering Sea 3. Biennial (even number years) bottom trawl survey, Aleutian Islands 4. Biennial (even number years) summer Pollock survey, eastern Bering Sea shelf 5. Annual winter Aleutian basin Pollock survey 6. Annual winter Shumagin Islands Sanak Trough Pollock survey 7. Annual winter Shelikof Strait Pollock survey 8. Annual sable fish longline survey 9. Bering-Aleutian Salmon International Survey extended to the Chukchi Sea and the Eastern Bering Sea Shelf (BASIS).BASIS is a gridded fisheries oceanography survey that includes CTD and NPZ observations in addition to catches from epipelagic (0-20m) trawls. The AFSC is expanding marine fish survey effort in the Arctic Ocean, including: 1. Beaufort Sea Marine Fish Survey planned for August 2008, a cooperative project of NOAA, UA, UW and MMS (providing funding); 2. Inter-tidal and sub-tidal Marine Fish and Habitat (“ShoreZone”) Surveys near Point Barrow (Beaufort and Chukchi Seas) in 2006 and 2008; and 3. Chukchi Sea Marine Fish Survey, an extension of BASIS possible for August 2008, contingent on NOAA ship availability.
Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC)