Researchers at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center – mandated to produce information critical for sustainable management of federal fisheries in Alaska – will be doing more with less in 2025 to produce the data needed by federal fisheries managers.
“A loss of staff and uncertainties about the budget have not changed the importance of our mission,” said Bob Foy, science and research director of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Juneau, in his April 16 ComFish Alaska presentation. ComFish 2025 took place in Kodiak.
“Our mission is to provide science and services in support of productive and sustainable fisheries, recovery and conservation of protected resources and healthy ecosystems in the marine waters of Alaska,” Foy said in a virtual presentation from Juneau to those gathered in Kodiak.
Priorities for the 2025-2026 season include improving understanding of environmental forces, salmon marine survival, responses to heat waves, and more, according to Foy.
“If Alaska experiences another heat wave, we want to be able to … move with the fish, using old tools and new,” he said. “The oceanography is different in each of five areas where NOAA Alaska research is conducted, so from a scientific perspective we need to understand five different regions. We know we have commercial fishing moving north. What we learn in the Gulf is not necessarily helping us in the Bering Sea.”
While this year there are likely to be some changes in surveys, research will focus on core data collection, including collection of data in the Shelikof Strait to support Kodiak fisheries. The full Shelikof pollock acoustic survey has already been completed, but there is some uncertainty about other surveys to be completed this year, he said.
NOAA Fisheries scientists need to know how many fish are out there, how much fat they have and how fast they are growing, Foy noted. Researchers also want to know how many offspring there will be in a warm year versus a cold year.
It is important to understand the impact of heat waves on fish and their prey, on who is eating whom, he said. To that end NOAA Fisheries works with other agencies, the fisheries industry and observers, including harvesters.
“Using observers, we learn about what fish are being caught, and bycatch,” Foy said. “We can connect information on ages and specific samples from fish that come up.”
Researchers are also always looking for information that determines whether a stock is genetically distinct from others. They watch for size, sex and age data – as well as what fish are being caught and their choices in what they eat.
Field and lab studies are important in assessing the Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod seasonal migration, stock connectivity and habitat use, Foy said.
AFSC also monitors Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod recruitment and mariculture research by working with coastal communities on a very small scale to better understand what to expect in the future, he said.
The Alaska Fisheries Science Center wants to understand how the diets of these fish are changing – and has for some time been using artificial intelligence in that research, as well as to measure the impact of heat waves on the food Pacific cod eat.
The Science Center continues to develop impact models to understand how important fisheries are to coastal communities in Alaska – including workforce development, energy innovation, fisheries access and sustainability, environmental stewardship and localized science – so researchers can predict what to expect three to four years from now from younger fish currently present, Foy said.
