* Wild Alaska Salmon- a unifying force for connecting Alaskan lives
Co-Chairs: Erin Harrington (Alaska Salmon Project) and Peter Westley (UAF SFOS)
This session brings Alaskans from diverse professional and cultural backgrounds together to explore
the power of wild salmon as a unifying force in the lives and livelihoods of salmon-connected people.
It is easy to think about salmon issues only in the contexts of biology, ecology, oceanography, or
hydrology. In contrast, our session aims to reveal the role of salmon as more than merely a set of
species with instrumental value (e.g. commercial harvest)—but rather a unifying force for people
stripes and backgrounds, and a medium through which we can identify and tap into our sense
of family, work, play, culture, landscape, and spirit. Through a multi-disciplinary approach ranging
from art to field work, we’ll provide new frameworks and perspectives for considering the role of
salmon research and management within the larger context of life in Alaska.
* Quantitative approaches to future fisheries problems
Chair: Milo Adkinson (UAF SFOS)
This session emphasizes quantitative approaches to future fisheries problems. This year’s AK-AFS
meeting emphasizes the problem of managing fisheries when the climate is changing, new fisheries are
developing, and subsistence patterns and societal values may be evolving. Talks on methods applicable
when historical data are becoming less relevant or don’t exist are especially welcome. Also welcome
are talks on novel methodologies for informing fisheries management. However, any talk containing
lots of equations will be considered for this session.
* Ecosystem-based management in Alaska’s Fisheries: opportunities and challenges
Co-Chairs: Daniel Schindler (UW SAFS) and Tim Walsworth (UW SAFS)
Unexpected outcomes in fishery management (e.g., collapses, declines in non-target species) have
prompted calls for ecosystem-based fishery management (EBFM) to replace more traditional singlespecies management systems. An EBFM approach would explicitly consider various combinations of
fishery effects on trophic interactions, habitat effects, by-catch, conflicting management goals, and
both social and ecological consequences of fisheries activities. While some states have passed
legislation requiring ecosystem considerations in fisheries management, traditional, single-species
management strategies still dominate most fisheries. Several roadblocks exist to the adaptation of
EBFM in a fishery, including limited understanding of ecosystem structure, conflicting interests
between stakeholders and managers, and lack of guidance on implementation strategies. The goal of
this session is to address three primary questions:
(1) where are there opportunities or needs for EBFM present in Alaskan fisheries?
(2) where EBFM has been implemented, what are the primary challenges to realizing its goals? and
(3) if EBFM were to be implemented, how would it differ in practice from what is currently used in
Alaskan fisheries?
The results of the studies presented herein will help guide future directions for research and
management to improve the sustainability of commercial, sport, and subsistence fisheries throughout
Alaska.
* Looking Upstream: The Role of Headwaters Habitat in Downstream Health and Productivity
Chair: Megan Marie (ADF&G)
This session will focus on the link between headwaters landscapes and the productivity of fish-bearing
streams. In addition to case studies, the session will also include discussion about the current
regulatory framework for protection (or lack thereof) in headwaters areas and the importance of data to
support decision making for future development and management planning.
* Ocean Acidification:
Chair: Natalie Monacci (Ocean Acidification Research Center, UAF)
The chemistry of seawater is changing due to the increased uptake of carbon dioxide, known as ocean
acidification (OA). Alaskan waters are home to some of the most productive fisheries in the world,
which have the potential to be greatly affected by OA. This session has been added to share
knowledge about OA in Alaska and generate conversation across disciplines. This session requests
submissions discussing:
1.
Past and Future trends of Alaska’s biogeochemical processes with respect to OA
2.
New research relating OA to fisheries, from the species to ecosystem level
3.
Assessments of OA related to economic and management practices
* North Slope fish populations, habitat, and fisheries
Co-Chairs: Jeff Adams (USFWS) and Matt Whitman (BLM)
North Slope fish populations will likely be affected by climate change and future oil and gas
development. These factors may influence habitat quality and lead to changes in population structures
and behaviors, as well as, influence the ability to access populations for harvest. To gain an
understanding of the potential effects and responses to these stressors, researchers, managers, and
users must first acknowledge the current and historical status of these populations, their habitats, and
their fisheries. This session focuses on projects that will assist in a better understanding of the drivers
of fish ecology on the North Slope and how these drivers may affect the future status and use of these
populations.
* Probing long-term datasets to detect shifts in shellfish productivity
Chair: Carol Kerkvliet (ADF&G)
Developing shellfish management strategies that respond to shifts in shellfish productivity
The goal of this session is to bring shellfish managers and researchers together to showcase an array of
approaches used to detect and predict changes in shellfish productivity using long term datasets and
emerging new datasets for the purpose of developing management strategies. This session will explore
fluctuations in shellfish productivity, the importance of periodic review of long-term datasets, and
coordinated approaches in developing new datasets. The focus will be on exploring the array of
shellfish management strategies utilizing improved population assessment methods, development of
long-term datasets, and additional data analysis. The session will wrap up with a panel discussion.
* Weak Stock Salmon Management
Chair: Bill Bechtol (Bechtol Research)
Management of Alaska salmon fisheries is prioritized toward meeting escapement goals, and then
achieving harvest objectives which are typically focused on, first, meeting subsistence needs, and then
deferring additional surplus production to other consumptive uses. Many salmon management plans
were developed in response to past experiences with stock limitations, often including poor returns,
and, possibly, allocative conflicts. Such plans may be highly prescriptive based on preseason
forecasts, or may be more discretionary. But inseason management remains challenged because
escapements typically occur only after harvests have occurred. In addition, inseason management of
salmon fisheries is full of uncertainties over preseason projections, accuracy of inseason catch and
escapement indices, and lags between fishery implementations and observed escapements. While
these uncertainties are amplified in mixed-stock and gauntlet (or sequential) fisheries, perhaps the
greatest complicating factor is protection of weak stocks. The bottom line is that management must
account for weak returns, and managers and assessment biologists must respond inseason to
unanticipated changes in perceived stock status. In this session we provide examples of efforts to
protect anticipated or observed weak returns while concurrently providing harvests, if possible, on
stronger runs of other species or stock components. These examples include a variety of gear types
operating in both freshwater and marine environments.
* Using Education and Communication to Improve Fisheries Management and Conservation
Co-Chairs: Laurel Devaney (USFWS) and Katrina Mueller (USFWS)
Every fisheries management and aquatic conservation organization in Alaska strives to best leverage
limited resources for maximum gain. Building partnerships and communicating effectively across
Alaska’s vast distances and cultures greatly increases the challenge. In addition fisheries managers
increasingly need to stretch existing resources into new areas like invasive species monitoring and
recruiting a 21st century job force. This session focuses on these challenges from the perspective of
establishing, building, and sustaining partnerships and communicating most effectively with new and
already-established advocates for fish and their habitats.
Attendees will learn techniques to increase the effectiveness of fisheries research and
management through effective and strategic communication; use of digital networks; and
deploying innovative technologies and conservation education techniques.
The session will cover the following themes:

Strategic communications and branding to grow organizational support and recognition
and increase relevance to the public;

Social networks and social media: more effectively tapping into social networks and
using digital tools to connect and communicate with the public about fish and their
conservation;

Forming multiple communication styles to effectively reach traditional and modern
audiences.

Fisheries management and partnerships that bridge distances and cultures

Using citizen science and internships to increase research and monitoring capacity
* What can genetics do for you?
Co-Chairs: Chris Habicht (ADF&G Gene Conservation Lab) and Bill Templin (ADF&G GCL)
Over the past two decades, rapidly advancing methods in genetic analysis coupled with innovative
approaches for applying these methods have opened up opportunities to improve precision and
efficiency of fishery resource management. In this session, we will trace the trajectory from past
genetic applications forward toward future potential applications. Some applications have built longterm databases by mining available archive tissues or analyzing samples over many years, while others
build upon these databases to provide improved understanding. We will also look to the future, where
genomics and e-DNA techniques stretch the boundaries of our abilities but will provide new
opportunities to resolve persistent problems in fishery management.
* Sustainability and Well-being in Alaska Fisheries
Chairs: Philip Loring (University of Saskatchewan) and Danielle Ringer (UAF)
The need for holistic and perhaps even humanistic approaches to fisheries management is increasingly
raised as part and parcel to sustainable ecological, economic and social outcomes. In practice,
however, understanding and accounting for social outcomes and values, and specifically non-economic
ones such as human, social, and community well-being, has proven difficult. As a result, well-being is
often neglected in ecosystem assessments and planning, not necessarily out of intention, but for the
lack of appropriate information, frameworks, and tools for understanding how to incorporate wellbeing into fisheries management. This session is open to papers that seek to further elucidate these
human dimensions fisheries sustainability (ways of knowing and belonging, sense of place, local
knowledge, equity, and food security), and specifically papers that explore the rationale, opportunities,
and/or challenges to incorporating well-being in fisheries ecosystem management.
* Flatfish Biology
Co-Chairs: Julie Neilsen (UAF SFOS) and Andy Seitz (UAF SFOS)
Flatfish species are commercially, ecologically, and culturally important in Alaska. In honor of the
location of this year’s meeting in Homer, the “halibut fishing capitol of the world”, talks in this session
will cover a wide range of topics in flatfish biology and management that address pressing
management concerns and provide perspectives on long-term sustainability of flatfish fisheries in
Alaska.
* Advances in Fisheries Science and Technology
Chair: Mike Byerly (ADF&G)
Studying plants and animals and taking environmental measurements in the aquatic environment is
challenging at best. Whether it’s an ecological study or a stock assessment, the right sampling tools
need to be paired with the objective. Sometimes this takes us beyond traditional sampling gears like
trawls, pots, or gillnets and instead we may reach for more innovative tools. These methods may be
direct such as the use of cameras or indirect using various remote sensing methods. This session will
highlight the use of some of these innovative methods and illustrate how they are being used as an
effective tool to address challenging sampling situations.
* Invasive Species
Co-Chairs: Lisa Ka’aihue (Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association) and Andy Wizik (CIAA)
A significant threat to fisheries ecosystems in Alaska is invasive species—non-native plants, animals,
or organisms whose introduction is likely to cause economic or environmental harm. In recent years,
Alaska has seen native fish populations in Southcentral Alaska decimated due to invasive northern
pike. And the water weed Elodea has colonized large portions of the Chena Slough, making it nearly
impassable. This invasion is also of high concern due to the possibility Elodea moving downstream
into the Yukon River drainage, which is home to important commercial and subsistence fisheries.
Colonial tunicates, found in Sitka, can grow so aggressively that they may alter fisheries resources and
habitats. These are just a few examples of harmful invasive species in Alaska. When an invasive
species gets established in an area, it is often expensive to control it and address any impacts such as
loss of native organisms and socio-economic opportunities. Awareness and education play a key role
in rapidly responding to invasive species threats in Alaska. This session will highlight efforts to
investigate, control, and eradicate invasive species known to threaten the fisheries ecosystem and
economy.
* Arctic Marine Ecology
Chair: Vanessa von Biela (USGS)
Diminishing sea ice, warming temperatures, and shifting freshwater flows are reshaping nearshore and
marine Arctic systems at a time when managers face decisions related to oil and gas development,
shipping, and other human activities and information on basic aspects of ecology is often lacking. The
combination of changing climate, expanding human activities, and limited baseline information creates
pressing information needs for managers at local, state, and national levels. This session will focus on
aquatic research which seeks to understand ecological responses to changing conditions, as well as
ecosystem structure and function, and basic ecology of aquatic species that use Arctic marine systems,
including nearshore and estuarine habitats.
* Ecology, Life History, and Population Dynamics of Fishes in Estuarine and Nearshore Marine
Habitats
Chair: Katie Howard (ADF&G)
As the interface between terrestrial and oceanic environments, estuarine and nearshore marine habitats
can be strongly influenced by environmental changes. These areas are distinguished as important
rearing habitats for juvenile anadromous and marine fishes. This session will explore questions and
methodologies that address the ecology, life history, and population dynamics of fishes in estuaries
and coastal marine waters.
* Career Pathways- Education opportunities to enhance the next generation of fisheries
Chair: Joel Markis (UAS Fisheries Technology Program, Sitka)
As Alaska’s fisheries industries are “greying” efforts to train the next generation of fisheries industry
professionals is needed. In this session, presenters will discuss efforts and opportunities for fisheries
students to transition to the fisheries employees.
* Anticipating scenarios of freshwater habitat change:
Chair: Alyssa Hopkins (ADF&G)
Alaskan streams, lakes and wetlands are characterized by substantial hydrologic and thermal variation
among local, regional, and landscape reaches, with implication for native fish habitat and life histories.
Understanding the complex relationship between patterns in stream temperature and flow, lake
turnover and nutrient inputs, primary production and food availability, fish habitat through a life cycle,
and the processes that drive them is challenging at spatial and temporal scales most relevant to fish
populations. Additionally, rates of climate change and air temperatures increases are much faster in
Alaska than in other parts of the globe, underscoring the need to better understand freshwater thermal
regime and impact on habitat. This session will focus on monitoring work being conducted throughout
the state, and the implications that climate change, increasing pressures from human activity, trophic
interactions, and changes in habitat may have on fish populations.
* Juvenile fish movement and habitat:
Co-Chairs: Jon Gerken (USFWS) and Mary Beth Loewen (ADF&G)
Understanding seasonal movements of fish during all life stages is a prerequisite to successful
fisheries management. Quantifying movement patterns may illuminate strategies
used by fish to optimize fitness in variable environments, and identifying migratory patterns and
important rearing habitats can streamline efforts to prioritize research or habitat restoration work. As
areas of Alaska continue to experience human population growth, habitat and watershed connectivity
can become fragmented. This session welcomes presentations dealing with juvenile patterns of
movement or important habitat use.
* Marine food webs
Chair: Lara Horstmann-Dehn (UAF SFOS)
Healthy and abundant food webs are crucial to ensure the survival of species. The interactions between
species in a food web are complex and constantly changing, making it difficult to identify one
condition that represents “good” environmental status. Changes in the relative abundance of species in
an ecosystem will affect interactions in several parts of a food web, and may have an adverse effect on
the food web status. This session will feature talks concerns biological groups with fast turnover rates
(e.g. phytoplankton, zooplankton, bacteria) that respond quickly to system change; groups that are
targeted by fisheries, habitat-defining groups; and charismatic or sensitive groups, which are often
found at the top of the food web.
* Speed Talks
Found something interesting in your recent field work, but haven't had time to work up the data
completely? Work on salmon but have a passion for cephalopods you'd like to share? Feel like you're
the only who works on your study species and they just don't fit into the other sessions? Just have
something truly fascinating you'd like to share, but it's not enough to fill a 15-minute oral presentation?
This session will feature 5 minute talks: 3 for the speaker, and 2 for questions. A departure from
traditional presentations, this session is a chance to expose highly specific parts of your work on
fisheries sustainability- habitat, economy, or management- to the AFS membership.
* Contributed Papers
If your presentation does not fit into one of the above sessions, we welcome papers related to any
aspect of sustainability in fisheries ecosystems, management, or economics.