"Nearshore Fish Atlas"

The Nearshore Fish Atlas of Alaska (NFA) is a spatially explicit, unified database of numerous nearshore catch datasets collected by various agencies and organizations in Alaska over the past several decades.

Photo catalog of fish species in nearshore waters of Alaska.

The distribution, relative abundance, and habitat use of nearshore fishes in Alaska.

This guide culminated from years of research on the importance of the nearshore marine environment to fishery resources in Alaska.

If you’re a fish biologist in Alaska, download a copy of this Handy Field Guide for your next expedition. And if you’re not, download one anyway. The pictures are awesome and the field guide is free.

We studied three eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds in the City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ), Alaska, to track changes associated with coastal development. These beds were initially sampled as part of a baseline eelgrass inventory from 2004 to 2007.

Information on the distribution, abundance, species composition, habitat use, and life-stage of 121 fish species caught in nearshore marine waters of Alaska is synthesized in this atlas. Data were collected by scientists from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Auke Bay Laboratories over a 14-year period (1998-2011). Fish were captured with a beach seine mostly in summer in four different habitat types (bedrock outcrops, eelgrass meadows, understory kelp beds, and sand or gravel beaches) at 93 locations and 555 unique sites within nine regions of Alaska spanning from the Arctic to southeastern Alaska. Data on species assemblages are summarized among regions and habitat types. Distribution maps, graphs of abundance and length frequency, and photos are presented for each species. This atlas is unique because the same methods were used to sample fish and habitat over a large extent of coastal Alaska, and the core group of researchers doing the work remained the same throughout all years.

The Arctic ecosystem is changing rapidly, yet information on nearshore fish assemblages for the northeastern Chukchi Sea is extremely limited. To address this information gap, we sampled nearshore fish assemblages with a beach seine and a small bottom trawl at six stations in the northeastern Chukchi Sea in August 2007, 2008, and 2009, and in September 2009. Catch and species composition differed by gear type and between sample periods, including the two in 2009. A total of 16039 fish representing 18 species were captured in 24 beach seine hauls, and 3108 fish representing 24 species were captured in 48 trawl tows. Beach seine catch was dominated by capelin (83%), and trawl catch was dominated by Arctic cod (56%). Species that were good discriminators between gear types were capelin (seine) and slender eelblenny (trawl), and unidentified small sculpins were the most common taxa caught with both gear types. Capelin and Arctic cod captured by either gear type were mostly juveniles (judging by size). Variability among sampling periods in catch and species composition within gear types can likely be attributed to annual variations in environmental conditions, including differences in water temperature (range: 2 ̊ – 9 ̊C). The shallow nearshore environment of the northeastern Chukchi Sea provides important habitat for many fish species and is extremely vulnerable to disturbance. Loss of sea ice from global warming may open up formerly inaccessible areas to oil and gas exploration, vessel traffic, and commercial fishing. Thus, long-term monitoring of nearshore fish assemblages in the Alaskan Arctic is necessary for managers to make informed decisions in this fragile environment.

Information on fish in coastal waters of the Alaskan Arctic is outdated or nonexistent, especially in areas targeted for oil exploration and increased transportation activities. To address this information gap, we sampled fish in nearshore waters...

The importance of a particular habitat to nearshore fish can be best assessed by both diurnal and nocturnal sampling. To determine diel differences in fish assemblages in nearshore eelgrass and under-story kelp habitats, fish were sampled diurnally and nocturnally at six locations in western Prince William Sound, Alaska, in summer 2007. Abundance of fish between day and night were similar, but species composition and mean size of some fish changed. Species richness and species diversity were similar in eelgrass during the day and night, whereas in kelp, species richness and species diversity were greater at night than during the day. In eelgrass, saffron cod (Eleginus gracilis) was the most abundant species during the day and night. In kelp, the most abundant species were Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) during the day and saffron cod at night. Diel differences in fish size varied by species and habitat. Mean length of saffron cod was similar between day and night in eelgrass but was greatest during the day in kelp. Pacific herring were larger at night than during the day in kelp. Diel sampling is important to identity nearshore habitats essential to fish and help manage fish stocks at risk.