In the Arctic, where temperatures are rising at nearly four times the global average, a collaborative effort, combining Indigenous Knowledge with multidisciplinary science has been used to investigate the denning habitat selection of Alaska’s ringed seals.
During the Ikaaġvik Sikukun (Iñupiaq for “Ice Bridges”) project, researchers from the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (SAFS), Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Native Village of Kotzebue, NOAA, and Farthest North Films collaborated with an Elder Advisory Council of Iñupiaq Qikiqtaġruŋmiut Elders with extensive personal history of subsistence hunting and experience on sea ice. 

As part of the Climate Talk series by Radio Tacoma, Dr. Mark Scheuerell from SAFS joined to speak about PNW salmon populations and what they tell us about the state of our environment. Click the link and scroll down to listen to the episode. 

In a study led by Stanford University and Lindblad Expeditions, and co-authored by Trevor Branch from SAFS, scientists observed close to 1,000 fin whales foraging near Antarctica, while fishing vessels trawled for krill in their midst. 

Read about his involvement in designing the replacement seawall along Seattle’s central waterfront and the key design features devised to make the environment as hospitable as possible for juvenile salmon, especially Chinook and Chum salmon, as they out-migrate from the river system to the ocean. 

Growing up on the shores of Lake Michigan, Ben Makhlouf, now a researcher at SAFS, started off as an Ecology undergrad at UW. Taking a limnology course during his studies, he was inspired to get involved in research in Alaska when seeing someone with an Alaska Salmon Program t-shirt on. It amazed him that people were able to visit and work there. 

Differences in the life history pathways (LHPs) of juvenile animals are often associated with differences in demographic rates in later life stages. For migratory animals, different LHPs often result in animals from the same population occupying distinct habitats subjected to different environmental drivers. 

SAFS alum Nancy Huizar exemplifies collaboration and collective action within the Seattle community, proving the environmental sciences are interconnected and in relationship to everything — population health, the strength of local democracy and education equity. 

More than a century of preserved fish specimens offer a rare glimpse into long-term trends in parasite populations. New research from the University of Washington with lead author Chelesea Wood from SAFS, shows that fish parasites plummeted from 1880 to 2019, a 140-year stretch when Puget Sound — their habitat and the second largest estuary in the mainland U.S. — warmed significantly. 

The beluga whale population in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, which connects Anchorage to the North Pacific Ocean, is listed as endangered and has declined by over 75% from about 1,300 whales in the late 1970’s to fewer than 300 today.
Understanding whether the decline is due to low birth or low survival rates, or a combination of the two, can give scientists clues about the external threats that are impacting the population. 

The School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and the College of the Environment hosted the annual live preview of the most recent assessment of Eastern Bering Sea (EBS) pollock—the target of one of the world’s largest fisheries.
Providing fishery stakeholders and the public the opportunity to learn about the status of the EBS pollock stock and discuss the science underlying the assessment, you can watch the recording of the event below.