Publications

While the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) has been conducting marine research for decades in Alaskan waters, a lot of basic information about the seafloor, such as depth, is generally not known beyond what is depicted on small scale (1:100,000) NOS (National Ocean Service) navigational charts. Therefore, we have been creating more detailed bathymetry and sediment maps in order to provide a better understanding of how studied animals interact with their environment. Our smooth sheet bathymetry compilation of the central Gulf of Alaska (CGOA) ranged geographically from the Trinity Islands in the west, across the southern coast of Kodiak Island, around the Barren Islands, along the southern Kenai coast, outside of Prince William Sound(PWS), and east and southeastalong the coast to Cape Ommaney, including inlets such as Icy Bay, Yakutat Bay, Lituya Bay, Cross Sound, Salisbury Sound, and Sitka Sound, covering an arc of about 1,400 km of shelf (Fig. 1). The CGOA is a large area covering about 20 degrees of longitude and 4 degrees of latitude, with numerous geomorphic features such as islands, wideinlets,fjords, straits, banks, reefs, glacial troughs and moraines, active tidewater glaciers, fault lines, and shelves both broad and narrow. OurCGOA boundaries are somewhat arbitrary as the CGOA connects to other regions such as the western Gulf of Alaska (GOA), Shelikof Strait, Cook Inlet (Zimmermann and Prescott 2014), interior PWS, the inside waters of Southeast (SE) Alaska, the easternmost portion of the GOA ranging from Cape Ommaney to Dixon Entrance, as well as the open ocean. Our definition of the geographic boundaries was set to match the boundaries of the Gulf of Alaska Integrated Ecosystem Project (GOA-IERP), sponsored by the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB).

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSFCMA) mandates NOAA to identify habitats essential for managed species and conserve habitats from adverse effects on those habitats. To meet these mandates, NOAA’s research must identify habitats that contribute most to the survival, growth and productivity of managed fish species and determine science-based measures to best manage and conserve these habitats from adverse effects of human activities. The NOAA Essential Fish Habitat Research Implementation Plan (AFSC 2006) for Alaska guided research to meet EFH mandates in Alaska during the last several years. This document revises and supersedes the initial Implementation Plan (AFSC 2006), and similar to the first plan is expected to guide the next several years of EFH research. The revision process began with a coordination meeting between Alaska Region habitat managers and Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) habitat scientists to determine the scope of the revised EFH research plan with a smaller group of 11 AFSC and Alaska Region staff subsequently completing the revision.

NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-OPR-11 Workshop Date: 26-28 April 1995