Wildlife

According to a recent NOAA study, Alaska shellfish hatcheries risk unsustainability by 2040 because of ocean acidification. Over the last week, we’ve heard how a hatchery in Oregon is dealing with changes in ocean chemistry and about groundbreaking genetic research on shellfish adaptability. But the big questions still remain- how far reaching will the effects be and can we mitigate them before it’s too late?

Throughout this discussion, there’s been an elephant in the room: wild stocks. Do wild coastal shellfish face the same 25 year end date that Alaskan hatcheries do?

“Yeah, I mean, I think that’s the million dollar question right there. Can organisms evolve quickly enough to compensate for that change?”

Gretchen Hofmann is a leading scientist in the field of genetic adaptability.

She’s found that certain strains of organisms do selectively favor the trait of acid tolerance from generation to generation.

“You know, if you look into the literature in other systems, you can find examples where rapid evolution has occurred. So, the answer for biology and living things is yes. But…”

The answer for specific breeds of living things is — we don’t really know yet.

That’s a concern for Alaskans, who have relied on particular types of clams and other shellfish for generations as a food source.

Jeremy Mathis is a NOAA oceanographer who worked on the study at the Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery in Seward.

“The measurements we made in the hatchery does cause some alarm for the natural environments because it’s the same water we’re seeing in the hatchery that’s all up and down the coast,” says Mathis.

Jeff Hetrick is the owner of Alutiiq Pride. Like many local residents, he’s noticed a serious decline in certain shellfish populations in southcentral Alaska.

“Oh, absolutely. I don’t think that we’re going to lose the wild stocks; you’ve basically lost the wild stocks. They’re really hard to come by. It’s difficult for us to even get the brood stock to produce in the hatchery. There’s a razor clam issue that people are aware of on the peninsula. But, especially in lower Cook Inlet and the Homer area, littleneck clams, butter clams, cockles, they’re hard to find. There’s been a decline now for the past decade,” says Hetrick.

Hofmann says some of the urchin divers she works with on the California coast have noticed similar years with very poor harvest numbers. She says there haven’t been enough studies to make a definite correlation with acidification yet, but it’s something scientists and locals are thinking about.

“It’s a pretty big concern, you know, because some of the things we learn about invertebrate biology is that, just the simple first beginning step of fertilization is pH sensitive. So, right there, if you have a species that has the sperm-egg interaction being affected by acidification, then right off the bat, no matter how many adults you have, you have fewer progeny going forward and therefore, really bad recruitment years,” says Hofmann.

“So, what we need to do now, is take our monitoring systems that we’ve installed in the hatchery and expand those out into these natural sites, so that we’re getting that same level of monitoring, that same level of environmental intelligence, so that we can answer that question,” says Mathis.

NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environment Lab in Seattle and the University of Alaska Fairbanks are doing just that. Not only do they plan to expand hatchery research to another site, possibly Ketchikan or Homer, they are also partnering for a new study.

Wiley Evans is heading out this week with a team of scientists to survey acidification parameters from Dixon Entrance in southern Southeast all the way to Kodiak Island.

“We’re doing measurements both continuously, as the ship’s moving from surface seawater flowing through the vessel, sort of in the same way that we are making measurements at Alutiiq Pride. And we’re also going to be making measurements at specific places where we profile the entire water column from the surface down to the bottom,” says Evans.

When that team disembarks in Kodiak, they’ll still leave some of their equipment on board to continue bringing in data on a different mission that will go up to the Bering Sea, over to Dutch Harbor, and back to Seattle.

Evans says they’re hoping to get a more comprehensive picture of current ocean conditions, so they can make more educated decisions on how to deal with acidification in the future. A future that could look much worse than today, says Hofmann.

“I think it’s a pretty big problem if you stand back and look at it for what it is,” says Hofmann.

It is a complex problem with regional factors that exacerbate it. In places like Alaska, carbon emissions speed up CO2-rich glacial melt. In places like Washington, Oregon, and California that are subject to seasonal upwelling, the newer top layer of oxygenated water now has more CO2 to begin with, so it can’t as efficiently counteract the deeper, older, CO2-rich water that comes to the surface.

On top of that, scientists have estimated that that water coming up is 30-50 years old, so from the 1960s-1980s. Imagine that many years from now when today’s water is what’s below the surface.

“We can’t get complacent and say well, we’ve done enough, it’s time to move on to the next crisis. This is something we have to keep right at the forefront and make sure that people understand that while we’ve learned a lot in the past few years, we’ve still got a long way to go in terms of understanding the long term implications of ocean acidification,” says Mathis.

Mathis says that’s why it’s crucial to do the work now, to salvage and protect what we can of the marine ecosystem for 2, 10, or 25 years down the line.

A recent NOAA study found that by 2040, Alaskan shellfish hatcheries may no longer be sustainable because of ocean acidification, unless serious mitigation efforts are put in place. We recently reported on a hatchery in Oregon that’s become a model for adapting to these different conditions. But the long term solution may actually lie in shellfish genes.

Evolution and resiliency are the buzzwords for a sustainable mariculture industry in Alaska, a state that is particularly vulnerable.

“And Alaska is going to be the test bed unfortunately for informing us for how the rest of the ecosystem will respond to ocean acidification,” says Jeremy Mathis, a NOAA oceanographer who worked on the recent study based at the Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery in Seward.

One short-term solution hatcheries are testing is injecting the acidic ocean water with carbonates that are needed for organisms like clams and mussels to develop hard shells.

But in the long term, Mathis says they may need to turn to genetics for answers.

“Ideally we can start looking at species that are more resilient to ocean acidification and adapting the commercial fisheries and commercial processing to animals that have that robustness to tolerate ocean acidification as opposed to the ones that are more vulnerable to it,” says Mathis.

That’s where scientists like Gretchen Hofmann come in. She’s a marine biology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“I work on marine invertebrates and sometimes fish and we study how they respond to their environment. We would call it environment-organism interactions and lately we’ve been interested in how these organisms will respond to future changes in ocean pH and ocean warming,” says Hofmann.

She’s a leader in what Mathis calls the emerging field of genetic adaptability.

“So it really just started with a conversation with oceanographers who were thinking about this and from there, we started to do experiments, and then we started to ask deeper questions about whether or not organisms could adapt to these changes in the ocean and even if there are already genotypes and strains of organisms that are able to handle a low pH condition,” says Hofmann.

She says the first experiments they did were a bit too basic for Mother Nature. They’d take species, put them in water with different pH, and see how they’d react. That didn’t reflect natural variations in ocean conditions.

“What we found was that there wasn’t just this straight line, no pH change, but that pH was going up and down sometimes quite dramatically,” says Hofmann.

Alaskan waters, for example, are very cold and have shifting pH depending on the seasons, fresh water inputs, and how much CO2-rich glacial melt is present.

From Washington to California, the coast is subject to a phenomenon known as upwelling, which is a cycle of seasonal winds pushing newer oxygen-rich water off the surface of the ocean and older, nutrient and CO2 rich water rising up to take its place. That means a lot of pH fluctuation.

So, Hofmann says they shifted their sea urchin research to take upwelling into account.

“And we formed the hypothesis to test that the adults from the place where there was a lot of low pH exposure would be genetically different from the wimpy ones that did not experience all that pH stress,” says Hofmann.

They found that the urchins from areas with upwelling had a different genetic signature from those who weren’t and their progeny, or babies, were more tolerant of acidic water.

“It was even more interesting because it looked like the trait of being able to tolerate that low pH, that was heritable,” says Hofmann.

She points to work being done in New Zealand, where different types of green-shelled mussels are being cross-bred to develop a new resistant and adaptive strain.

So, an Alaskan hatchery, for example, could choose to make the shift from some common species being raised now to ones that selectively favor that trait.

But it also may mean letting go of consumer preference for certain types of clams, mussels, and other shellfish that just don’t measure up.

“These are things that we should be taking a strong look at because it could be that there are other strains of shellfish that could be used that would be more successful in a mariculture setting. But, it is a very thorny issue and one that I think science could bring a lot of daylight to, I think, if we work together on it,” says Hofmann.

Hofmann says it’s important for industry and scientists to start partnering now, to get ahead of the game as much as possible.

“The first thing we have to do though is get carbon dioxide emission levels under control and then we can deal with the damage that has already been done through mitigation and adaptation strategies,” says Mathis.

Because, the problem will only get worse with each coming year.

The American Bald Eagle Foundation in Haines has seen such a dramatic increase in bird rescues that they’re asking for the public’s help. The foundation plans to form a volunteer Avian Rescue Team to help respond to the unusually high number of injured birds.

The word that Eagle Foundation staff keeps using to describe the spike in bird rescues is “intense.”

“Yeah it’s been a wave of birds, just very intense,” said raptor curator Chloe Goodson.

They say, in the past, they’ve been called to one or two bird rescues throughout the entire year. So far this year, they’ve done 16 bird rescues. That includes eagles, ravens, hummingbirds, and more.

“Recently there’s just been an explosion of birds,” Goodson said. “It’s not uncommon to see one or two a week.”

“I’ve been here seven years and this is busiest we’ve ever been with injured birds,” said Eagle Foundation Director Cheryl McRoberts.

The past week alone has been a record-breaking one, McRoberts says. They’ve rescued three eagles and one raven.

“For the past few eagles it’s been a lot of trauma,” Goodson said. “Like, probably got hit by a car, probably ran into something.”

Education and Outreach Coordinator Leia Minch went on the most recent eagle rescue. The foundation got a call from police about an injured bird near Mud Bay Road.

“So we went down there, put a net over it — you get control of the head to get a towel over it,” Minch said. “There’s kind of a theory with raptors that what they can’t see they can’t fear. So you want to cover up their visual senses. And then get them in a crate and take them here to do triage.  You take good notes so that the vets down in Sitka kind of have an idea of what’s going on with the bird.”

There’s no full time veterinarian in Haines, so the foundation sends injured eagles to the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka. The center said on their Facebook page that June was their busiest month ever, with 20 injured bald eagles being sent in. So far in July, they’ve admitted six eagles.

The Haines Eagle Foundation staff say they don’t know what is causing the dramatic increase in injured bird calls. They say it could partly be that people are more aware that the foundation does bird rescues.

“I would lean toward that there’s more awareness going on,” Minch said. “Another thing to think about is this a really warm, dry year. So food availability might not be as good as it has been in previous years.”

Local bird watcher and counter Pam Randles thinks food scarcity could have something to do with it. She says this summer she’s observed more desperate behavior in birds searching for food. She’s seen birds fighting over food, eagles trying to steal fish from people, and other risky behavior. It’s speculation, but Randles says that kind of risk taking could lead to more injuries.

Whatever the cause, the staff at the eagle foundation have decided they need more manpower to deal with the influx of avian injuries.

“We do need help,” Goodson said.

She says volunteers on the Avian Rescue Team will be trained in how to handle an injured bird and bring it to the foundation. Having a few more people on call to help will take some of the burden off of the foundation’s three trained raptor handlers.

The foundation has set up a cell phone that they’ll pass around to staff and volunteers. Whoever has the phone will be the on-call raptor rescuer.

“On the last eagle that we had, it was a Sunday and everybody was off [work,]” said McRoberts. “And I got the [injured bird] phone call and I was in a panic. I was running around knocking on doors trying to find help. So if we had some volunteers that would really be helpful.”

 

The Nushagak River is becoming one of Alaska’s premier destinations for king salmon sport fishermen. The king return to the Nushagak is proving stronger this year than last, and Fish and Game says they’re on track to meet the escapement goal. Sport fishing guides say the angling has only been average.

Years of experience has taught Nanci Morris Lyon that sweet spot for catching kings is a water temperature right between 52 and 54 degrees.

But hot weather in Bristol Bay has put the water temperatures well into the 60s.

“Between that and the bright light that tends to make all fish head to the bottom it’s definitely had an effect, I feel it’s had an major effect on what we’ve seen as far as the king catch this year.”

Lyon is the managing partner of the Bear Trail Lodge in King Salmon.

Her clients pay big money to catch kings on the Nushagak, one of the best king producing river in the world. Fish and Game manages to put 95,000 kings in the Nushagak River, and is on track to meet that goal this year. But that hasn’t translated into anglers landing kings in regular numbers.

“You know, we’ve been catching a lot more of the smaller fish. And for the numbers that they are seeing in the return at the sonar counter, we’re not seeing that kind of numbers, in relative percentages to past years, in the boat. So we are definitely not catching what I would say is a normal catch for sport fisherman.”

Matt Norman, manager of King Salmon Lodge, has been seeing the few bites from kings as well. He says a recent corporate group fishing for kings was less than satisfied.

“Boy, it was a real bust. We have 22 guests and I think if we caught three kings out of 22 people it was a good day.”

Norman says after that trip the organizer of the group told him that they loved the lodge and the food was great.

“But if we want to stand and not catch fish, we can do that on the Kenai without the airfare to King Salmon.”

That’s why Norman says he’s starting to book more guests to fish for silvers later in the season.

“August, knock on wood, has been a really good month. The last part of July through August for silvers has been pretty steady out here.”

He’s alright rebooked that corporate group to come back next August to fish for silvers instead of kings.

But Nanci Morris Lyon isn’t giving up on the Nushagak king run.

“These things are all very cyclical. So I am rather reluctant to say that I feel like it’s a doomed fishery or that we are seeing the end of it.”

Lyon says the Nushagak is a long ways from becoming like the poor king run on the Kenai.

“But I think it is something that needs to be watched. I think we need to be very conscientious and watch and see what our numbers do on some of our years that have more norms for the temperatures and weather, rather than this year.”

Lyon describes herself as an eternal optimist, which she says is a requirement to be a successful fishing guide. Her lines are cast for next year.

Big, white plastic bags called “super-sacks” line a beach on Montague Island in Prince William Sound. The sacks are filled with marine debris like fishing nets, water bottles and Styrofoam. This summer, the team from Gulf of Alaska Keeper has spent 50 days on Montague so far collecting the debris, as part of a multi-year effort.

The trash that accumulates on the shoreline of Montague Island, from one day to another, is only the tip of the iceberg. There’s more where it came from, and it will keep coming back. It has been like this for decades.

“What you see on the beach is a fraction of what’s out there. Either being it floating on the surface or sunk on the bottom of the water,” Ryan Pallister says. Pallister has spent 10 years working for a nonprofit: Gulf of Alaska Keeper.

The “goAK” crew goes all the way down the shorelines of Southcentral Alaska, from Kodiak to Kayak Island. Pallister says the weather can be extreme. The team also has to keep a close watch for brown bears. And then there’s the challenge of the work itself.

“Basically, it comes down to human muscle; I mean, we use chainsaws and knives… And the heli, of course; now that we have the heli we can use the heli to pull, and lift, and…but yeah, it comes down to men hour.”

The 10-person-crew receives help from volunteers like Hanako Yokota, who works with the Japan Environmental Action Network. Yokota has a very special duty: recognizing the marine debris from Japan that may be from the 2011 tsunami that swept millions of tons of debris into the ocean. She points at the mass of trash next to her:

“With this, I can never say that it is from Japan. I mean, it is from Japan, but I can never say if it is from the tsunami, because it doesn’t really state it is from the tsunami.”

However, Yokota can read Japanese and she’s able to recognize the logos and names some fishermen write on their buoys to distinguish them. Although she now lives in Vancouver, when Yokota visits Japan fishermen ask her to bring their buoys back, if she finds them.

“It will be very interesting if I actually get to take something back and return it.”

The marine debris that ends up in the beaches of Montague comes from remote places such as Japan, but also from Russia, China, Korea, Vietnam and Malaysia, Yokota says.

“It doesn’t really matter where it comes from; we’ll just have to clean it up.”

“The more we collect and the more we remove, the more gets off this island and gets recycled.”

Crewmember Scott Groves is standing next to a few super-sacks of trash and he seems satisfied: they have reached their goal of around 20 to 25 super-sacks a day. He writes the numbers down in his notebook.

“As far as numbers are concern, you kind of forget how much you actually do out here. It’s like every day you still get your mind blown by how much garbage is actually on these beaches.”

Ryan Pallister says that after a decade cleaning this coast, he’s still surprised by the amount of marine debris.

“Out there, is dirty forever. And almost it’s hard to finish it in my lifetime but…more people would help, more resources.”

So why keep coming back to clean something that will be dirty tomorrow? Pallister has a simple answer:

“If your neighbors are throwing trash in your yard, just clean it up or say something to them … it’s kind of the same situation.”

Pallister believes a change in people’s behavior is needed to stop the contamination problem, but he’s not very optimistic about it. In the meantime, the helicopter will come down soon to collect the bags of trash and sling them onto a barge.

The Kuskokwim River is experiencing a poor chum salmon run, according to state managers, and with it, a restrictive fishing schedule.

The Department of Fish and Game plans to eventually move to a 24/7, 6-inch mesh gillnet fishing schedule, but they’re still moving with caution and have not yet set a date. Gillnet restrictions on the lower river last year were relaxed June 30th.

On Wednesday at a meeting of the Kuskokwim River Salmon Management Working Group — an advisory body for fish management — fishermen supported a cautious approach.

“I talked to several fishermen over here; they were concerned about the very low numbers of chums showing up. Some said they hardly caught any. The majority catch is always chums and a few small chinook,” said John Andrew from Kwethluk. “We could recommend they be cautious for the next two weeks until the silvers pick up.”

Biweekly subsistence fishing periods are underway now. State officials are not considering a chum salmon commercial fishing period.

The working group wanted state officials to allow other opportunities to put away fish. They passed a motion recommending state managers lift the ban on 4-inch mesh set nets. Mike Williams of Akiak said he and other dog mushers rely on whitefish during the summer to feed their teams. The nets can still catch salmon species.

They also asked for longer fishing periods upriver, noting that there are far fewer fish and fishermen in the river. They passed a motion asking that the next fishing above the Holitna be at least 24 hours. The state then announced after the meeting that 50 fathom gillnet fishing above the Holitna opens Wednesday night until further notice.

Members noted that more people downriver are done fishing compared to the middle and upper river, where many are just starting. Red salmon will be the mainstay of the middle and upper river and many are also planning on taking advantage of the silver salmon run as the summer progresses.