A plethora of scientific research reports on climate, oceanography, fish, seabirds, marine mammals and anthropogenic impacts – including by Cordova’s own Raven Cunningham – were on the agenda for the 2025 Alaska Marine Science Symposium (AMSS).
Cunningham, the tribal fish and wildlife director for the Chugach Regional Resources Commission (CRRC), was back presenting in Anchorage. She last presented at the symposium in 2023.
Cunningham addressed AMSS participants on work done by the CRRC Chugach Imaq Initiation on marine mammal harvest management plans, which focused on conservation efforts for harbor seals, sea otters and Steller sea lions. The initiative drew support from the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Science Center and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to bring together partners from the Gulf Watch Alaska, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, National Marine Fisheries Service, the Marine Mammal Commission, as well as Tribes and other entities in the Chugach region, Cunningham said.
Other research
Hank Statscewich – a researcher with the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences – also presented on a study he and seven other conducted, which involved refining an active acoustic sonar system to acquire, process and transmit data products. Autonomous underwater vehicles (gliders), armed with newly developed sensor suites, are providing an alternative approach to survey vessels for monitoring ecosystems requiring both environmental and biological data, Statscewich said during the symposium.
One of those deployments included a glider-mounted shadowgraph underwater camera system that provided high-resolution images of encountered zooplankton. Another, in Resurrection Bay, nearly co-located acoustic and optic data streams, according to their abstract on the project.
Gary Shigenaka of the NOAA Office of Response and Restoration spoke about a nine-year study of aquatic animals who live in the sediment in the bottom of body of water. Researchers studied the animals to determine the impacts of high pressure and heated water hydraulic techniques used in the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill disaster cleanup. His research team found no significant differences in the impact on these aquatic animals between washed and unwashed plots after one year – and species diversity metrics recovered by the third year post-treatment, he said. This work has practical implications for spill response, damage assessment and restoration, this team concluded.
A University of British Columbia team led by postdoctoral researcher Szymon Surma reported on the pelagic phase of Pacific salmon life cycles. Ecological interactions among salmon – as well as between salmon, predators, prey, and competitors – in the open Pacific Ocean remain the subject of intensive search, Surma notes in his abstract.
Andrew Seltz of the University of Alaska Fairbanks addressed AMSS participants on predation on late-marine Chinook salmon. His abstract notes that currently a petition is being reviewed to list Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon. Multiple factors likely drive these declines and recent research has highlighted the potential importance at late-stage mortality, Seitz said.
