Description
The Alaska Fisheries Science Center's Auke Bay Laboratories (ABL) conducts scientific research throughout Alaska on fish stocks, fish habitats, and the chemistry of marine environments. Information from this research is widely used by commercial interests such as fishing industries and governmental agencies involved in managing natural resources (click here for a list of data sets). The headquarters of ABL is the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute (pictured to the right), a "green" office and laboratory building located at Lena Point, north of Juneau, Alaska (driving instructions). The ABL headquarters serves as the focal point for four other ABL facilities. Three ABL facilities are located in the City and Borough of Juneau at Auke Bay, Auke Creek, and downtown Juneau, respectively, and the fourth is at Little Port Walter, on Baranof Island, southeast of Sitka. Auke Bay Marine Station includes fresh and saltwater laboratories, offices, and dive and docking facilities. Auke Creek Research Station is a permanent fish weir and hatchery owned by NOAA that is jointly operated with the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The Juneau Subport Dock and Warehouse has berthing and crane facilities for ocean-going vessels, warm dry storage, office space, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game boat repair and storage facility. Little Port Walter Marine Station has fixed and floating docks, office space, dry storage, bunkhouse and kitchen, and fish weir and hatchery. ABL facility staff also have responsibility for managing the Pribilof Island facilities.
Auke Bay scientist netting through eel grass to collect and inventory it's inhabitants
Habitat and Marine Chemistry.
Beaufort Sea sampling of coastal fish populations near Barrow, Alaska.
Marine survey data from ABL research on commercially marketable species such as rockfish, sablefish, and salmon, and on non-marketable and/or protected species such as eel grass, plankton, Steller sea lions, and harbor seals are made available to fishing industries, state and federal regulators, and international treaty bodies. Groups involved in managing human activities in coastal environments frequently base their actions on ABL's knowledge of the quantities and qualities of fish habitats in the affected areas. ABL's capabilities in environmental chemistry research contribute to greater understanding of the fate and effects of pollutants in marine ecosystems, genetics of marine animal populations, and the structure and functioning of marine food webs. ABL is organized into five research programs(ABL Organizational Chart): Genetics, Ecosystem Monitoring and Assessment (EMA), Fisheries Ecology, Diet and Zooplankton (FEDZ) , Marine Ecology and Stock Assessment (MESA), and Habitat Assessment and Marine Chemistry (HAMC) .
