Our Location
Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute is Alaska’s largest fisheries research facility, providing fisheries researchers 66,000 square feet of space in the main building. Adjacent to the Institute is a heated warehouse and free-standing wet lab building. On the NOAA campus is the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences building which enables close professional collaborations and sharing of capabilities. The Institute provides filtered seawater to the building and receives used seawater it for sterilization and discharge. The Institute has 33,000 square feet of laboratories capable of supporting lipid and hydrocarbon analysis, DNA extraction, ultra-cold storage, robotic genotyping, analysis of lipids, age and growth determinations, zooplankton processing and bioenergetics.
What We Do
Scientists at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center's Auke Bay Laboratories study commercially important fish species such as rockfish, sablefish, and salmon. They conduct research to better understand where fish live during each stage of life and pinpoint what makes them unique, down to their DNA. They also examine marine ecosystems that are essential fish habitats, focusing on ocean processes and chemistry, and food web interactions that impact fish survival.
Our goal is to estimate how many fish are in Alaska's waters through stock assessments. We also want to learn the overall health of fish species, the habitats they utilize, and the ecosystem upon which they depend. We do this through research surveys, laboratory experiments, and by updating mathematical models to gain the best information about Alaska's commercial fish. The data biologists collect is given to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, Alaska Regional Office, fishing industries, state and federal regulators, and international groups. These groups make decisions on how much fish can be sustainably caught.