From exceptionally strong to exceptionally weak runs, sockeye salmon leave scientists scratching their heads this year in Alaska.
Oceans
DEC issues water advisory for 6 Ketchikan beaches
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation issued a water-quality advisory on Tuesday for six beach areas in Ketchikan. Recent tests show those areas have elevated levels of enterococci and fecal coliform bacteria.
Researchers study climate change impacts on Sitka Sound kelp forest
Sitka Sound Science Center is hosting researchers from the University of California Santa Cruz who are examining the forests in Sitka Sound.
With more seabirds dying in Arctic, research vessel makes a rare voyage
The 120-foot research vessel Tiglax is sailing up to Cape Thompson for the first time in more than 20 years to look at seabird populations. Like it’s namesake the Aleut word for eagle, it covers vast stretches of Alaska, visiting refuges from Safety Sound and Topkok to Sitka Sound, from Cape Lisburne to the Pribilof Islands.
Feds may feed starving 4-year-old orca live salmon
The critically endangered population of Southern Resident killer whales is down to 75 individuals. As a young female, J50 holds particularly high value because of her reproductive capacity.
The ‘Blob’ is gone. But did it heat the Bering Sea enough to threaten your fish sticks?
The blob is gone now, but warm water remains to the north in the Bering Sea. Scientists are pondering potential effects on fish like pollock, which are processed into things like fish sticks and McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwiches.