"Research in Alaska"

In 1953, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) (43 USC 1331-1356) charged the U.S. Secretary of the Interior with the responsibility for administering minerals exploration and development of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The Act empowered the Secretary to formulate regulations so that its provisions might be met. The OCSLA Amendments of 1978 (43 USC 1802) established a policy for the management of oil and natural gas in the OCS and for protection of the marine and coastal environments. The amended OCSLA states that the Secretary of the Interior shall conduct studies in areas or regions of sales to ascertain the “environmental impacts on the marine and coastal environments of the outer Continental Shelf and the coastal areas which may be affected by oil and gas development” (43 USC 1346).

NMFS  has received an application for an exempted fishing permit  (EFP) from the  Best Use Cooperative  (BUC).  The EFP would allow three vessels in the  BUC to sort halibut removed from a codend on the deck of the vessel,  and release those fish back to the water after accounting for the halibut condition using standard International  Pacific  Halibut Commission viability methods for predicting mortality of individual fish.  The EFP will allow these vessels to alter the amount of time that halibut are in a codend,  on deck and the amount of handling they receive prior to release.

The Chukchi Offshore Monitoring in Drilling Area (COMIDA) aerial survey component was initiated in 2008, via an Interagency Agreement (No. M08PG20023) between the Minerals Management Service (MMS) [Department of the Interior; currently the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement] and the National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML) [Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce]. These surveys are a continuation of aerial surveys that were conducted by MMS-sponsored contractors from 1982-1991 (Ljungblad et al., 1987; Moore and Clarke, 1992) and use similar methodology. Aerial surveys remain the only practical means of assessing marine mammal distribution, population density, and habitat use in large study areas. The goal of this study is to investigate the distribution and relative abundance of marine mammals in the Chukchi Sea Planning Area (CSPA) during the open water (ice-free) months of June-October, when various species are undertaking seasonal migrations through the area. The COMIDA study area encompasses the northeastern Chukchi Sea from shore seaward, latitude 68°N to 72°N and longitude 157°W to 169°W, and overlays Lease Sale 193 (offered in February 2008). Species of interest include the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), beluga (Delphinapterus leucas), polar bear (Ursus maritimus), walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), and ice seals. Increasing the understanding of marine mammal distribution, abundance and migration timing in this region will assist in decision-making to minimize impacts from petroleum exploration, development and production activities and other anthropogenic impacts.

The northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) population in the Pribilof Islands Archipelago (on St. Paul and St. George Islands, Figs. 1-3) constitutes roughly half of the world population. Other breeding colonies are located on the Kuril and Commander Islands in Russia, Bogoslof Island (Fig. 4) in the southeastern Bering Sea, and on San Miguel Island (Fig. 5) off California. The rookeries at San Miguel and Bogoslof Islands probably originated in the late 1950s (DeLong 1982) and 1980 (R.R. Ream, NMML-AFSC, pers. comm.), respectively.

From the years 1982 until 2006 the Alaska Fisheries Science Center's Groundfish Assessment Program, conducted a trawl survey in the eastern Bering Sea at which time water column temperature data was collected. To better utilize this data in biological comparisons, statistics were calculated from each water column sample.

This report describes field activities and data analyses for aerial surveys of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) conducted during fall 2006 (2 September – 16 October), fall 2007 (3 September – 10 October), and fall 2008 (5 September – 18 October) in the Beaufort Sea, between 140°W and 158°W, south of 72°N and north of the Alaskan coastline.

The northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) population in the Pribilof Islands Archipelago (on St. Paul and St. George Islands, Figs. 1-3) constitutes approximately 55% of the world population. Smaller breeding colonies are located on the Kuril and the Commander Islands in Russia, Bogoslof Island (Fig. 4) in the southeastern Bering Sea, and San Miguel Island (Fig. 5) off California. The rookeries at San Miguel and Bogoslof Islands probably originated in the late 1950s (DeLong 1982) and 1980 (R.R. Ream, pers. comm.), respectively.

Over 34,000 age 0–2 juvenile sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) were tagged and released in southeast Alaska waters during 1985–2005. The data set resulting from this tagging study was unusual because of its time span (20 years) and because age could be reliably inferred from release length (i.e., tagged and released fish were of known age); thus, age-specific movement patterns could be examined. The depth-and area-related recovery patterns supported the concepts that sablefish move to deeper water with age and migrate counterclockwise in the Gulf of Alaska. Availability to the fishery increased rapidly for fish of younger ages, peaked at age 5 to 6, and then gradually declined as sablefish moved deeper with age. Decreased availability with age may occur because of lower fishing effort in deep water and could have substantial implications for sablefish stock assessments because “dome-shaped” availability influences the reliability of abundance estimates. The area-related recovery pattern was not affected by year-class strength; i.e., there was no significant density-dependent relationship.

The northern fur seal population in the Pribilof Islands Archipelago constitutes roughly 70% of the world's population with an estimated 919,000 northern fur seals in 2000. Smaller breeding colonies are located on the Kuril Islands in Japan, the Commander Islands in Russia, Bogoslof Island in the southeastern Bering Sea, and San Miguel Island off California. The rookeries at Bogoslof and San Miguel probably originated in 1982 and the late 1950s, respectively.

Between 1911 and 1984, northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) research was conducted by Canada, Japan, Russia, and the United States under the Treaty for the Preservation and Protection of Fur Seals and Sea Otters. Since 1984, studies have been carried out independently by former member nations.