SFOS Newsletter
Spring 2007

Underwater photographs taken by Stephen Jewett, Shawn Harper and Reid Brewer in the eastern Aleutians last summer will be featured in a photographic essay in the April issue of Alaska Magazine. Jewett, Harper, Brewer and others will continue their assessment of the region this summer in the little-studied western half of the Aleutians.

Peter Bechtel and Alexandra de Oliveira presented their research (with student Amit Morey) on sablefish by-products as unique feed ingredients at the Aquaculture America conference in February in Texas.

Jennifer Balster Harris, SFOS financial manager, was recognized with a certificate of appreciation by the UAF Athletics Department for assisting the progress of a UAF student athlete. Harris is teaching “Political Economy” for the School of Management.

Gordon Kruse, President’s Professor of Fisheries, will be on sabbatical beginning in July. During the first six months of his sabbatical, Kruse will be the first Lavern Weber Visiting Scientist at the Hatfield Marine Science Center at Oregon State University, where he will model oceanographic effects on spawning, growth and recruitment of English soles along the Oregon-Washington coast. During the second half of his sabbatical, Kruse will work on ecosystem considerations in fisheries management at the Institute for Sea Fisheries in Hamburg, Germany.

Russell Hopcroft’s photographs of zooplankton were featured as part of a cover story called "Deep See: A New Look at Ocean Life" in Science News magazine. Hopcroft is currently on sabbatical in Australia.

Milo Adkison presented a paper at the 2007 American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting. In his presentation, Adkison advocated increased fisheries data gathering. Terrance Quinn was a co-chair of the session, which focused on whether advances in science and technology can produce a spectrum of sustainable fisheries and minimize environmental degradation within an ecosystem.

Rolf Gradinger, Russell Hopcroft and Stephen Jewett presented at the first Arctic Biodiversity International Polar Year Cluster meeting in Frankfurt, Germany in February.

Brian Himelbloom, Chuck Crapo, Alexandra de Oliveira and Subramaniam Sathivel from the Fishery Industrial Technology Center presented at the International Smoked Seafood Conference in March in Anchorage. Marine Advisory Program agent Liz Brown sponsored the conference, while Don Kramer developed the technical program. MAP agent Sunny Rice also presented at the meeting.

Jo-Ann Mellish, a marine mammal specialist and SFOS faculty member at the Alaska SeaLife Center, spent October and November 2006 in Antarctica researching how aging affects Weddell seals and how they cope with aging throughout their lives.

Subramaniam Sathivel, an expert in seafood processing and engineering at the Fishery Industrial Technology Center, taught a series of seminars at several universities in India in December 2006 on food engineering applications in seafood processing and bio-diesel production. The seminars were attended by over 100 people and one of the seminars was featured in India’s national newspaper, The Hindu.

Quentin Fong, a seafood marketing specialist with the Marine Advisory Program and Fishery Industrial Technology Center, spoke on the economic feasibility of developing pearl farms at a meeting called “Aquaculture Development in the Central Pacific” in Mazatlan, Mexico in February.

Keith Criddle, Ted Stevens Distinguished Professor of Marine Policy, was appointed to the National Research Council’s Ocean Studies Board. The board oversees committees that conduct studies related to coastal and marine resources at the request of Congress, federal agencies and other groups.