Press Release: Seward, AK (July 13, 2012) –

The Alaska SeaLife Center Board of Directors announces the appointment of Dr. Tara Riemer Jones as its new president and CEO. Jones has served in the interim role of president and CEO since November 2011, when former CEO Ian Dutton accepted a position as Vice President of the Rasmuson Foundation. An employee of the Center and a Seward resident since 2003, Jones was most recently the Center’s chief operating officer.

“I am delighted to say that the Board of Directors unanimously selected Dr. Jones following a thorough and diligent national search process,” said Board Chairman Stephen T. Grabacki. “It has been a distinct pleasure to have worked with Tara during her interim tenure, and I look forward to working together to advance the Center in the years to come.”

Prior to joining the Alaska SeaLife Center in 2003, Dr. Jones worked as a strategic management consultant for McKinsey and Company in Boston and Auckland, New Zealand. She holds a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead the talented and dedicated team at the Alaska SeaLife Center,” said Jones. “I hope to build on my existing community and state-wide relationships to increase the relevance of the Center to the people, companies, and visitors of Alaska. While financial challenges must be addressed, we must not lose sight of the Center’s mission which is vital for sustaining Alaska’s marine ecosystems.”

June 24th-30th is Weed Awareness Week. Why should you care? Invasive plants have the ability to outcompete native vegetation in a variety of ways such as an increased frost tolerance, swift germination, affixation of nitrogen or ability to increase salt content in soils, allelopathic properties (releasing chemicals from roots to suppress surrounding plants), or creating shade thereby discouraging germination or growth of native plants. Many invasive plants are hosts to diseases and other pests that, in turn, are harmful to our local habitats.

There are a few invasive plants found in every community on the peninsula that can have serious economic or environmental harm, or even threaten human health. Here are three species that are likely to have particularly harmful effects on the Kenai.

Reed Canarygrass is an invasive grass that is used as forage on the peninsula. This species is a tall, robust grass that is easily identifiable in the fall, as it is the last grass to stay bright green even after mild frosts. It grows up to six feet tall, and can grow in such dense colonies that it slows water flow in low-gradient streams, and has reduced juvenile salmon habitat in the Pacific Northwest. The CWMA recently developed a strategic plan for the control of Reed canarygrass. It is currently found in small patches near the schools.

Orange hawkweed is another problem species in our local area. It is an ornamental plant that has proven its ability to spread beyond intended borders. It has a rosette of excessively hairy leaves, which exude a white liquid when broken, and several orange blossoms on a single stem. There are no native orange composite flowers in Alaska – so if you see one in a natural area, it is non-native and perhaps invasive.

Bird vetch appears similar to the native beach pea found in our community, but it has tendrils that assist it in climbing over and smothering other vegetation. It has many narrow leaflets, grows up to 8 feet, and blocks the sunlight from small trees, shrubs, and forbs. The flowers are purple, all on one side of the inflorescence (flower head), and bloom in July. This species is of a major concern for our community as it has become established at the middle school. Please come help us remove this invasive plant in the second annual “Weed Smackdown” on Saturday June 30th from 11-1.

By Heidi Zemach for SCN
The young male Beluga whale calf that was rescued from the shore near the Diamond O fish cannery in remote South Naknek near Bristol Bay last Monday, having become separated from his mother during a storm, has been getting expert round-the-clock attention at the Alaska SeaLife Center for the past week. A beluga calf that young is like a baby in the neonatal intensive care unit in that it is pre-disposed to several medical complications, such as infection, or problems with its digestive system that would do best on its own mothers’ milk rather than a nutritional formula substitute. So it is in quarantine, and under very careful observation, said ASLC President and CEO Tara Reimer Jones. Since his arrival in Seward Monday night, the calf has been making a lot of progress, swimming and breathing on its own, but staff and a host of national beluga whale experts who dropped everything to fly to to ASLC to help out, have been taking things one day at a time. They are still tube-feeding it a nutritional formula while trying to encourage it to take a bottle.
It’s the first time that a beluga has ever been cared for at ASLC, or even any whale for that matter, said Jones, although the center has cared for two rescued porpoises, cetaceans which belugas are in fact more similar to than whales. Neither of those porpoises survived, but they had both been injured, while this beluga has no apparent health problems, she said. Rather, it is just a very young orphan.

As soon as word got out that the 110 pound beluga, two or three days old when discovered, was on its way to Seward, six veterinarians/ marine mammal care-givers from for different accredited aquariums with experience with captive belugas came to help out. They are from the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, from two of the three Sea World’s, and from Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. They have been intensively caring for the young beluga, providing it with regular feedings, walking it around its holding tank so that it won’t get scraped from the sides of the tank, and creating different pathways so it can discover new routes rather than circling the tank endlessly.
Eventually, it will be transferred to another facility selected by the National Marine Fisheries Service, where it will live out its life alongside a group of other captive belugas, as requirements mandate for these extremely social animals. Currently, there are 34 belugas held in captivity at seven accredited institutions in North America and Canada.
While there has been much rejoicing expressed in the media over this rescue story, there also are the inevitable critics of holding species captive at institutions. Even the lyrics to the popular American children’s song ‘Baby Beluga’ that Raffi sings say, “Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea, swims so wild and swims so free.”
This beluga, however would not have lived had it not received the usual intensive two-year training and nurturing period that beluga calves traditionally spend with their mothers in the ocean according to the experts. “This baby would not have survived in the wild, and it has a great deal to offer to all the people of the United States in terms of outreach and understanding about belugas,” Jones said. Wherever the national marine fisheries service choses for it to go,  its very presence and the public adulation it will receive will enable the institution to educate people more about the species, and hopefully make them care more about our oceans, and conserving these belugas, she said.
Also, Jones believes it will be well cared for.  To be accredited by Association of Zoos and Aquariums, AZA, and the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums, these institutions must meet standards that greatly exceed the Animal Welfare Act, which is the minimum regulations in the U.S. for caring for these particular animals, she said: “These animals are considered a very high value to the institutions that hold them.”

Although the beluga whale is only available for public viewing at ASLC on a live monitor  by those who take a special Behind-The-Scenes tour, the visiting public can learn more about belugas generally from an engaging new ASLC exhibit about the Cook Inlet Belugas, which opened on June 8, World Oceans Day. It features an oral history study of belugas led by former SeaLife center CEO Dr. Ian Dutton, funded by a grant by the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Unlike the thriving Bristol Bay belugas, of which the baby is a member, Cook Inlet Belugas are now listed as Endangered by the federal government.

Dr. Lori Polasek also conducted a behavioral observation field study of the Upper Cook Inlet belugas last year, filming them and their behaviors via live remote cameras from shore. Excerpts of those videos are also part of the exhibit.

Presents:  Survival estimates of juvenile Steller sea lions in the Gulf of Alaska 2005-2011

Seminar Speaker:  John Maniscalco, Alaska SeaLife Center

When:  Wednesday, June 27th

Time:  2-3pm

Where:  Alaska SeaLife Center, Bear Mt. Conference Room

Free Seminar, Everyone Welcome!

Steller sea lions in much of Alaska were listed as endangered following a precipitous, unexplained collapse beginning in the late 1970’s, but in the Gulf of Alaska they have shown signs of recovery since the early 2000’s.   Low juvenile survival has been implicated as a factor in the population decline but current estimates have been unavailable.  John conducted a mark-resight study to estimate juvenile survival between 2005 and 2011 in the Gulf of Alaska for a comparison with estimates during the decline and with recent estimates in southeastern Alaska where sea lion numbers have been increasing for more than 30 years.  Results show an increase in survival since the late 1980s with estimates similar to the growing population in the southeast.  John further tested several covariates related to maternal investment for their effect on model selection and juvenile survival.  Age, birth mass, and delayed weaning had strong influences on survival, although these variables affected the sexes differently.  Delayed weaning benefitted the survival of female offspring with low birth weights only, whereas survival of males was increased regardless of birth weight when maternal care was extended beyond 1 year.  This work provides current survival estimates in a growing population of endangered sea lions and offers new insights into factors affecting the differential survival of male and female pinnipeds which may depend on predator abundance and food availability. The value of delayed weaning to juvenile survival in the species will be highlighted.

Presents:  Two decades of implanting transmitters in birds (with musings about veterinarians, biologists, and wildlife research).                                                                                                                                                                      

Guest Speaker:  Daniel M. Mulcahy, Ph.D., D.V.M.,  US Geology Survey, Alaska Science Center

When:  Friday, June 1, 2012    12-1pm  (Brown Bag Lunch)

Where:  Alaska SeaLife Center, Bear Mountain Conference Room

Free Seminar, everyone welcome!

Implanting electronic devices (transmitters and data loggers) inside an animal’s body has several advantages over mounting devices externally, including reduction in drag and risk of entanglement and being in a more thermally stable environment.  Implantation of electronic devices into the coelom of birds has become a standard technique, with 117 species implanted to date.  Projects done at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Science Center have used thousands of implanted devices in 34 species of birds.  Nevertheless, several bird species have proven to be intolerant of implanted devices and alternative approaches are being investigated.  The logistic, anesthetic and surgical techniques required to implant devices in remote areas have been developed over the last two decades.  The definition of adequate techniques to be used in implantation of electronic devices in field settings has become controversial.  The privilege of using live animals in research studies must be protected at all costs, including the costs of doing things the right way.

Presents:  Migratory Shorebirds of Northern Kenai National Wildlife Refuge

Date:  Monday, May 14th, 2012

Time:  12-1pm  (Brown Bag Lunch)

Where:  Alaska SeaLife Center,  Research Theater

Seminar Speaker:  Sadie E.G. Ulman, Alaska SeaLife Center

Free Seminar, Everyone Welcome!

Chickaloon Flats is a tidal mudflat on Turnagain Arm, and a valuable area for migrating and breeding birds. Sadie will discuss results from her master’s research on shorebirds utilizing Chickaloon as a spring and fall migration stopover.  A main objective of her research was to utilize stable isotopes from feathers to determine breeding and/or wintering origins of six shorebird species migrating through south-central Alaska. These and other findings from the mudflats will be discussed.

This is the first of five articles about the challenges and changes that are likely headed our way in the next fifty years. It’s also about what the people of Seward want their community to be in fifty years, and how do we get there. Readers are invited to respond with their ideas and comments.

The main challenge will be building a sustainable economy that can provide income, energy, food, entertainment, transportation and recreation for its citizens for the long term. For example see Wikipedia for “Sustainable Community”

Given the fragility of today’s, and probably the future’s, world economy and supply/afford ability of carbon fuels, the first of concern should be reducing Seward’s carbon footprint. Some options here are heat pumps, fuel cells, hydro, solar, wind and tidal.

From a cost / benefit perspective, sea source heat pumps, such as the Alaska SeaLife Center’s, deserves a good look. This is an ambitious installation which, when fully integrated, will supply 60% of the SeaLife’s energy needs, the rest of the facility energy coming from electricity. Before the heat pumps,  SeaLife  was using 132,000 gallons of oil per year. After the heat pumps are fully integrated, oil usage will drop to zero. So no more oil at 4-5  dollars per gallon at half mil per year.

But sea source heat pumps are expensive,  complex and to benefit the community there will be substantial infrastructure distribution costs. If this is where the community wants to go, it needs to start planning and drumming up funds now. Heat pumps don’t just show up on the back of a truck, like an oil furnace. There’s a lot of homework to do.

Another possibility is to use a central heat pump to generate hydrogen from sea water and then distribute this to fuel cells in individual homes. This technology is still a bit sketchy but probably workable.

Another point to consider is whether it might be feasible to install a very large heat-pump to service this half of the Kenai Peninsula since we have the seawater source.

So the question is, what steps should we be taking now to make Seward as energy sufficient by 2050?

Presents:    Plastic Debris As a Source of Contaminants in the Alaska Marine Environment

Guest Speaker:  John M. Kennish PhD

When:  Friday, April 20, 2012  12-1pm (Brown Bag Lunch)

Where:  Alaska SeaLife Center

Free seminar, everyone welcome!

Marine debris accumulated from around the world has been the focus of recent studies because of the threat it poses to the marine environment.  The quantity present is recognized to be harmful for marine organisms and wildlife species.  Many of the wildlife ingest micro plastics (< 5 mm) mistakenly as food particles which they do not metabolize but are harmful for their health and survival.  Plastic has the potential to leach toxic compounds collected in the marine environment or that are present from their manufacture. The uptake and release of these compounds by sorption mechanisms is being studied.

Additionally little work has been done to determine the level of toxic plastic additives in the tissue and organs of marine animals.  The initial focus of our research in this area of study has been to determine the levels of phthalates in different species found in the coastal regions of Alaska, a location with one of the largest marine plastic debris accumulations.  Tissues from clams. halibut, salmon and marine birds were analyzed and significant levels of two of the most common phthalates (DEHP and DEP) were seen in these samples.  These compounds are known to be toxic endocrine disruptors in mammals and have already been banned in most of the European Nations and the United States. The implications of our studies will be discussed and a discussion of future research needs encouraged.

Saturday March 24th at the 7pm Rae building

The rescheduled 2012 Alaska Ocean Film Festival washes ashore at the Rae Building on Saturday March 24th. Showtime is 7pm. Elude sea monsters in Holland, canoe from Valdez to Whittier, and more in this action packed evening of ocean shorts. (Tickets are $5). Sponsored by the Alaska Center for the Environment and the Resurrection Bay Conservation Alliance.

Elude sea monsters in Holland;   Track exotic ocean Species;   Canoe from Valdez to Whittier;   Garden on the ocean floor

RESCHEDULED due to a blizard in January:
Alaska Ocean Film Festival
At the UAF Rae Building
Saturday, March. 24th
7pm
Admission:$5

Monsterboards, Holland, Matthew McGregor-Mento, 8 mins
Combine a crack up sense of deadpan humor, small waves, eco art surfboards, and a horrific fear of sharks … what do you get? Monsterboards, of course. Surf’s up, enjoy the ride!

Into the Deep with Elephant Seals, USA, Sedva Eris, 11 mins
Meet the UC Santa Cruz marine biologists using high-tech tools to track elephant seals along the San Mateo coast. Some of these marine mammals weigh 4,500 pounds, can dive for a mile, and hold their breath for an hour. The elephant seals incredible come back from near extinction is a testament to the power of protected areas.

Capture: A Waves Documentary, Peru, Dave Aabo, 22mins
This piece dives deep into the impoverished community of Lobitus, Peru and the experience of surf travelers who share their passion with the youth. Witness the opportunity for empowerment as kids learn about creativity and self-expression from international surfers turned humanitarians.

The Coral Gardener, United Kingdom, Emma Robens, 10 mins
Coral reefs are like underwater gardens, but who would have thought you can garden them in just the same way? Austin Bowden-Kerby is a coral gardener. He has brought together his love of gardening, and passion for the underwater world, to do something very special that just might save the coral reefs of Fiji. Directed by Emma Robens.

Landscapes at the World’s Ends, New Zealand, Richard Sidey, 15 mins
A non-verbal, visual journey to the polar regions of our planet portrayed through a triptych montage of photography and video. This piece is a multi-dimensional canvas of imagery recorded either above the Arctic Circle or below the Antarctic Convergence.

Eating the Ocean, USA, Jennifer Galvin, 21 mins
Narrated by Celine Cousteau, this film is a journey to the heart of  Oceania where an international team of researchers studies the rapidly changing  diet of French Polynesians. Through the cientists’ investigation and by spending  time with families, fishermen and school children we discover a public health crisis brought on by western influences.

Birdathlon, USA, Rachel Price and Karen Lewis, 4 mins
Who will win a race that involves both air and sea? Find out when our intrepid Rhinoceros Auklet is pitted against an Arctic Tern in an Olympic-caliber spoof that demonstrates the unique physiology and biology of the Alcid species.

Team Clark Goes Canoeing: Valdez to Whittier, USA, Dan Clark, 9 mins
Simply mesmerizing. This is the story of six weeks solitude and simplicity, the rewards of submersing children in the wilderness, and the challenges that make it memorable. A dream trip for many of us, no doubt, but does that dream include diaper swap outs at the re-supply? You’re not gonna believe this one!

The Majestic Plastic Bag, USA, 4 mins.
A brilliant mockumentary about the miraculous migration of “The Majestic Plastic Bag” narrated by Jeremy Irons. It was produced by Heal The Bay as promo in support of California bill AB 1998 to help put an end to plastic pollution.

By Heidi Zemach for Seward City News

 While bears hibernated in the mountains peacefully unaware, a gathering of humans met Tuesday evening in downtown Seward to discuss how to change their behavior and our own. Having made it through another wild summer of bear-human interactions, the Resurrection Bay Conservation Alliance assembled a diverse panel of experts to help pinpoint problem areas, and discuss potential solutions. But aside from the speakers, only about a dozen members of the public showed up.

 That’s to be expected, said Larry Lewis, with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, who is used to public interest peaking only after specific problems with wildlife arise. Bear/Human problems could be minimized with a more pro-active approach to bears, such as better garbage management, and better public education about living with bears, he said. Lewis’ sentiments were echoed by Dennis Smith, of Alaska Waste, and Seward Police Lt. Butch Tiner, both of whom spent the summer responding to calls about bears getting into people’s things.

 “I can almost track that bear,” said Smith, whose phone rings repeatedly as a bear or its family moves from one neighborhood to the next. Adult bears who find human food in a certain area teach their cubs to do the same—so the problem is repeated for generations, he said. “Yes, it was quite a summer!” Tiner said. Local police tallied 250 wildlife calls this summer compared to approximately 190-170 in the past few summers. They killed four particularly aggressive black bears that were not deterred by yelling, rubber bullets or bear spray, he said. The police department’s biggest challenge was bears visiting homes and apartments and four-plexes in the Dora Way area.  They had to deal with some owners who refused to purchase bear-resistant dumpsters, and tenants who left the dumpster lids or protective gates open, or piled garbage bags outside their containers. Police also stepped up the number of warnings followed by citations and fines for those who did not contain their garbage or attractants. But apparently the law is not clear on which party must provide bear-proof receptacles—the landlords or their tenants, Tiner said.

 In the past, bears moved away and problems ceased when certain problem areas in Kenai and Anchorage were blanketed with bear-resistant containers, or when fences were erected around Moose Pass and Cooper Landing’s garbage sites, Lewis said. But when the garbage became available again—the bears soon returned. One member of the public noted that when the Seward dump became a waste transfer facility, problems with bear ended there. But that’s perhaps why more bears began moving into town in search of food, he said.

 Physically moving garbage-seeking bears to another area rather than killing them doesn’t work, as they simply return, Smith added. One bear that ADF&G darted, tagged, and transported 52 miles away at Noon Saturday returned home and was shot by 6 a.m. Monday, having gotten into someone’s chicken coop, Smith said. He wished that his own GPS system was as good as that bears’. 

 Opinions differed about the advisability of allowing the hunting of bears within city limits to curtail their numbers. Some felt it would be reckless, while others felt experts with the right training might be careful. The lack of bear hunting these days might account for their higher numbers, someone suggested. Another said some feel that brown bears in outlying areas may be forcing the smaller black bears toward residential areas. One effort to allow bear hunting in the city failed at the council level last year, and some fear a pubic outcry would result were the idea to come back. (more…)

 Part Two:
By Heidi Zemach for SCN   

The Alaska SeaLife Center has been temporarily housing and studying five wild “transient” juvenile Steller sea lions captured by divers near haulouts in Resurrection Bay and Prince William Sound They are the latest subjects to be studied in eight years of research on transient Steller sea lions from Resurrection Bay and Prince William Sound in order to better understand the decline of the area’s sea lion populations, and the cause of high juvenile sea lion mortality. This particular study of juvenile sea lion mortality using transmitters has only involved 27 sea lions thus far, but ASLC plans to try to capture and release six more in late May, 2011. The sea lions, which were captured October 18-25th 2010, will soon be released into their home environment. They are permitted to remain at the center for up to three months, but are released earlier whenever possible. They will be carrying intra-abdominal transmitters designed to allow researchers to learn more about their health history, and their probable cause of death, said ASLC lead researcher Dr. Jo-Ann Mellish, an associate research professor and UAF scientist.   

 Once the sea lions arrive in Seward, they are quarantined at the “Steller South Beach” facility—a set of four round outdoor pools where they can swim together or visit one another in a different pool, or remain in isolation. Standing just outside the Alaska SeaLife Center, one can sometimes hear their barks mingling with the captive sea lions, Woody and Sugar, and the center’s many sea ducks and birds. One can also view them the distance from the center’s second-floor viewing window, below.   

 In keeping with strict federal permit guidelines, and the conditions that Mellish helped design for their care, ASLC keeps these sea lions as close to wild conditions as possible while minimizing their contact with humans. They are fed live fish in order to maintain their fishing skills, but aren’t given man-made toys to play with. All food is delivered remotely through ‘fish cannons’ tied into the plumbing system so they won’t associate food or treats with humans. The gates between the tanks are opened and closed by remote pulley systems. The amount of time humans spend on the deck nearby is limited to only that necessary for cleaning and husbandry. The humans who do come into contact with the quarantined marine mammals also must follow strict quarantine procedures. Mellish, who had been working with the quarantined sea lions earlier in the day, asked to be interviewed by Seward City News in a location outside ASLC, as she could not enter the main part of the ASLC building for fear of cross-contamination.   

 The juvenile sea lions visit the veterinary clinic once a week at most. They are given gas anesthetic during their health check, as it is more humane, Mellish said. This particular group was studied primarily for their implants, with some sample collection taken for ongoing studies of nutritional biomarkers. (more…)

By Heidi Zemach for SCN

A group of researchers and divers from the Alaska SeaLife Center had another great adventure October 18-25th capturing juvenile Steller sea lions near their haul outs in Resurrection Bay and an area in north Prince William Sound. The five juvenile sea lions captured are being carefully studied, and cared for at the “Steller South Beach” a four-tank outdoor facility at ASLC. These wild juveniles captured on this trip would have had their first birthday in July. They have recently been implanted with intra-abdominal transmitters. When they die, the transmitters will relay information via satellite on their health history and on their possible cause of death, said ASLC lead researcher Dr. Jo-Ann Mellish, an associate research professor and UAF Scientist. ASLC plans to release them back to the wild next week.

The Capture:
Being chosen to participate on the sea lion dive team is a highly coveted position among the divers because it is so interesting and challenging, said Chip Arnold, ASLC’s dive safety officer. The divers he selects for each trip must be extremely comfortable with the underwater equipment and dive techniques, and must have the required scientific diver ratings certified by the American Academy of Underwater Sciences.

Three boats carrying researchers, divers and veterinarians/lab technicians participate in these collection trips. After arriving within range of a well-populated Steller sea lion haulout, two divers aboard a dive boat descend to 20-30’ feet below the surface and wait patiently for the juvenile sea lions to come find them. Groups of these intelligent, most curious youngsters will approach the divers to watch, play, or nip at their fins, Arnold said. The more sea lions there are in the area, the higher their confidence level, and the closer they dare approach. They eventually come close enough to allow divers to poke inside their mouths. While juvenile, they are playful underwater rather than aggressive, Arnold says. But those they typically catch for research, one to four year-olds, can weigh between 180-560 pounds, and an overly friendly bump or nibble can inflict serious damage to a divers’ suit, Arnold said. One might get hold of a piece of a divers’ suit, and tug with his teeth like a puppy, breaking an X- seal, for example. One of the teams’ divers has twice had his suit punctured and flooded, necessitating his quick retreat to the surface. “It gets pretty cold pretty quick,” Arnold said.

While engaging with the youngsters, the divers try to select a good specimen for the research. Checking their teeth, which sea lions will bear during play, helps verify their age. A juvenile sea lion generally looses its baby or milk teeth after being weaned, when it’s about 12 months, and then it begins to develop its large, canine teeth.

Once a sea lion is chosen, and is in a good position to catch, the divers will slide a slip-noose on a large pole around its neck. The noose is attached to a line with a buoy on the other end marking its location on the surface. Usually the sea lion doesn’t like this, and will immediately take off in the opposite direction. The diver will hang onto the end of the line to make sure that it is securely fastened before letting go, allowing the animal to swim away—its buoy in tow.

“It’s actually really exciting to noose them,” Arnold said,“…and they’re not small animals! We do have to hold onto that line and make sure it’s secure, so we kind of go for a little bit of a ride for a few seconds.” The scariest thing that Arnold can remember has happened to an ASLC diver over the 14 sea lion capture trips was the time the line of a fleeing juvenile got tangled around Chip’s tank valve, pulling him backwards through the water! If anything should go wrong, divers need to be able to keep their heads, not panic, and wait for a couple minutes, because eventually the animal will tire and take a breather, Arnold said.

Once the divers are sure that the sea lion’s buoy is not tangled in the line, and that the diver isn’t tangled either, they will send up another buoy to let the six people in the center’s catcher boat Jubatus know where they are, and that it’s O.K. to make chase. Noosed sea lions can travel possibly as far as the length of an entire haulout area of maybe a couple hundred feet before they tire and stop swimming, Mellish said.

Once the buoy stops, the catcher vessel will move in closer, and someone in the front will lean forward and catch its hook line with an extended pole, and then pull the animal in just close enough for the others to drop a net under it. Then they scoop it up much like a fish, and bring it into the boat. As the catcher boat can only hold two juvenile sea lions at a time, a third “mother” vessel, even larger than the other two, waits nearby to accept the captured animals. There, a medical team with portable surgical equipment will anesthetize the sea lion, examine it and take a blood sample, its weight and measurements. Some sea lions will be kept for further research, while others are released on site data have been taken. The team has only a 48-hour window following each capture to get each sea lion safely back to Seward in good health, so they must be efficient.

(Coming soon in Part Two: How the juveniles are cared for at ASLC, and what the latest research is showing.) hzemach@gmail.com

AVTEC's Fred Esposito

By Heidi Zemach for SCN

Bringing wind energy to Seward moved a step closer to becoming a reality following Monday night’s Oct 11 Seward City Council meeting. The council approved an ordinance setting the framework for citing, constructing, and operating wind energy conversion systems as permitted secondary uses in the Seward City code. This move will allow wind turbines to be set up, and used internally to power buildings, although net metering, or allowing wind energy systems to tie into the city electrical grid, is some unknown time in the future.

AVTEC, in cooperation with the Denali Commission, the Alaska Energy Authority, and the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development is developing wind energy operator and technician training in Seward. It hopes to install a new 100 kW wind turbine adjacent to its existing diesel generator power plant along the Seward Highway (across from Safeway) by December.
The sleek, three-bladed Northwind 100 Community Scale Wind Turbine, whose tower will be 121 feet tall, is optimized for low winds, and can begin producing power at wind speeds as low as 6 mph, according to specs provided from its manufacturer-Northern Power Systems, of Vermont. The training facility will integrate essential elements of wind power into its existing Power Plant Operator and Industrial Electrical Programs. The new Wind Power Technician program, currently being created, is expected to be offered as early as spring of 2011, and will be the only such training facility in North America, said AVTEC’s Fred Esposito. This will give Seward the unique opportunity to be on the leading edge for alternative energy, and will help train rural Alaskans, he said. Many rural villages are looking to alternative energy sources to help combat high fuel prices.

The new codes establish height and noise restrictions, and allow for one turbine per lot—a move that should help minimize bird and bat strikes, a hazard often attributed to wind farms. In an amendment to the new code change, the council altered existing restrictions in industrial areas to accommodate up to 80 db, the limit for decibel levels that could be expected for the new turbine, depending upon the time of day. Decibel levels from turbines in Commercial districts would be limited to 60, and to 50 in Residential districts.

From readings taken at 150 feet from its base, the AVTEC turbine is estimated to create 55 or slightly less decibels at a 20 mph wind speed, Esposito said. He accompanied a Northern Power sound expert who took readings at the site Monday. Seward Highway traffic noise was measured at 65 decibels, and the coal facility operations were measured at 70 decibels Esposito said.

Calling the code changes exciting, Councilmember Marianna Keil said, “We’ve always been told wind energy won’t work for Seward. This is a chance for Seward to get some data on whether it will work.”

Mayor Willard Dunham suggested the city’s new website include a survey of how many more cents per Kilowatt local residents would be willing to pay for their electricity in exchange for alternative forms of energy. Calling himself a fan of alternative energy, Dunham warned, “We could see an increase in our electrical bill. Renewable energy comes with a cost. You’ll benefit at the end, but it comes with a cost.”

Dunham and all council members present, including Keil, Tom Smith and Robert Valdatta, voted in favor of the wind ordinance. The rest, Linda Amberg, Vanta Shafer and Jean Bardarson were absent from the meeting.

Twelve year old Keefer Brown, of Wasilla, Alaska will present the Alaska SeaLife Center with a donation of over $1,300 which he has raised over the summer.    Dr. Ian Dutton, Alaska SeaLife Center President and CEO, will accept Keefer’s donation in a small ceremony on Saturday, September 18^th at approximately 11:00 A.M. at the Center.

Keefer first visited the Alaska SeaLife Center on an overnight school visit last year.  Initially, Keefer’s goal was to raise $50.00 to “adopt” a harbor seal through the ASLC SeaStars program.  To raise the money he sold candles which he had decorated with items he found on the beaches of Seldovia, such as shells and seaweed.  Keefer spent his time chatting with visitors and tourists alike at the Herring Bay Mercantile in Seldovia and at the Seldovia Harbor ramp selling his candle creations.

Keefer is very passionate about protecting the environment and its wildlife.  His mother, Kim Brown says, “Keefer is a wonderful young man who is always ready with a smile and possesses an unfailing kindness that touches everyone he meets.”  In addition to fundraising for the Alaska SeaLife Center Keefer is also very active in Boy Scout Troop 368 for which he proudly holds the rank of Tenderfoot.

Dr. Ian Dutton, ASLC President and CEO, says, “The Alaska SeaLife Center is honored to accept this donation and to have the opportunity to meet this extraordinary young man.  If Keefer was inspired by our mission, we are equally inspired by him.   Keefer’s donation will help us fulfill our mission, which is to generate and share scientific knowledge to promote understanding and stewardship of Alaska’s marine ecosystems.  We thank Keefer for this amazing effort and recognize not only the donation, but also the time and effort that went into achieving it.”

The Alaska SeaLife Center is a private non-profit research institution and visitor attraction which generates and shares scientific knowledge to promote understanding and stewardship of Alaska’s marine ecosystems.  For more information please reference the Alaska SeaLife Center website at www.alaskasealife.org.

When it comes to climate change, pessimism is hard to avoid. Considering the popularity of bottled water, plastic bags and other conspicuous manifestations of our carbon addiction, it often looks as if our culture is oblivious to the environmental precipice. Or at least, this was my assumption at the beginning of the summer. As the 2010 marine climate change intern at the Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC), I surveyed nearly 100 people of all ages and from various backgrounds about their opinions, concerns and concepts of climate change. What I found was dramatically different from what I had anticipated.

For starters, 82.8% of surveyed Seward community members and 71.4% of ASLC visitors believe that climate change has already impacted or will impact their lives. “My grandchildren don’t see the butterflies and bees that I enjoyed as a kid” commented one ASLC visitor. Residents spoke about a variety of problems they associate with climate change that ranged from melting glaciers, dwindling fish populations and shifts in droughts, storms and floods. “We have already seen the weather change in our lifetime” remarked a resident taking the survey. Some attributed personal losses of businesses and livelihoods to the altered climate as well.

The question “In your opinion, what is the cause of climate change?” elicited a spectrum of responses, but the majority listed human produced carbon emissions as a major factor. Additionally, nearly all participants said they personally engage in actions that help reduce their carbon footprints. Their choices entail composting their scraps, powering their homes with alternative energy and using their legs instead of steering wheels to get around. With 73.3% of community members choosing reusable over disposable products, 70% supporting alternative energy and 40% opting for a low impact diet, it seems that a dose of positivity is in order. As one young Seward resident put it “people are finally starting to take ownership over their impact on the environment.”

Yet despite the shift in attitudes towards responsibility, many people are still uncertain about the symptoms of climate change unfolding in the underwater world. The primary objective of the Alaska SeaLife Center’s surveying project was to comprehend the aspects of climate change that the public feels are educationally underrepresented. Almost every person that completed the survey listed factors that they would like to learn more about, e.g. the consequences of climate change on fisheries and data on habitat loss. The Alaska SeaLife Center will strive to fill in these educational gaps, as part of its mission to generate and share scientific knowledge that promotes understanding and stewardship of Alaska’s marine ecosystems.

Dominique Rossi is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in publications including Northwest Travel, Oregon Coast and Adbusters.

By Heidi Zemach for SCN

Trail Lakes Hatchery in Moose Pass

The Trail Lakes Hatchery at Moose Pass will continue to maintain its salmon programs in their current configuration this year. Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association will try to keep the hatchery open while its director seeks a state loan to enable it to continue its programs.

The CIAA Board of Directors met Sept 14 in Soldotna to discuss what to do about a budget shortfall that threatened to end, or further curtail hatchery operations. CIAA had hoped to raise $1.4 million from its summer cost recovery program for sockeye salmon to operate the hatchery and its programs next year. But a dismal harvest only generated about $250,000. After discussing several options, the board voted 15-2 to have Executive Director Gary Fandrei seek a state loan to help the hatchery finish out the current year.

“We were in a state of limbo,” said Fandrei, who is pleased to finally get direction from the board on this issue. He thought that there had been a good discussion on the various options presented.

CIAA already has received eight loans from the states’ revolving Salmon Enhancement Loan Fund through the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. The loans are secured by future harvests and by the salmon enhancement tax. The association has repaid one of those loans, but is still paying approximately $230 thousand per year on the remainder of the loans.

“I’m not too afraid of not getting a loan,” Fandrei said. “I think we meet the qualifications for that program. The whole loan program was directed at the aquaculture program associations.” Other hatcheries programs have taken greater advantage of the state loan program than CIAA has, he said.

CIAA board member Kenneth Tarbox, who represents the Kenai Area Fishermen’s Coalition, voted against keeping the hatchery open, however, along with Norm Darch, a Kenai set-net fisherman. Pointing to a “history of failures” at Trail Lake Hatchery, Tarbox, a former Fish and Game employee, said he would have preferred to suspend the hatchery and its operations, consolidate CIAA’s resources, and take a break until the board can figure out what to do next.

“My opinion is that taking that amount of a loan, with the problems the hatchery has already suffered, puts the organization at risk of future collapse,” Tarbox said.

This past summer, Trail Lakes lost all of its net- pen Resurrection Bay sockeye smolt to IHN disease, a phenomenon it hadn’t seen it in years. IHN also caused the destruction of some sockeye smolt stock from Hidden Lake (destined for a smolt program at Tutka Lagoon near Homer) representing two future brood years, Tarbox said.

The Kenai Area Fisherman’s Coalition is concerned about the organization’s ability to repay its loans in the future, Tarbox said. Two years ago, CIAA began an experiment to grow sockeye smolt in net pens placed in the salt water of Resurrection Bay for several weeks prior to their release. But none of those fish returned to the nets this year, and no one knows why, Tarbox said. That mystery leads him to question whether two more years of net pen-raised sockeye will return either. “If they don’t come back from this year, and in future years, the association would not have cost-recovery funds,” Tarbox said.

“Basically, from a fairly biased point of view, the community, (sports fishermen) and charter operators, only get stuff out of association when we put things in with the net pens, and we couldn’t do either one without keeping the hatchery open,” said John French, Seward City’s representative on the CIAA board. He voted to apply for a hatchery loan. “We have both a coho and sockeye sports fishery, and charter operators enjoy catching both,” he said.

French agrees with Tarbox that the question for the board is how much financial risk they want to put the association to assume. CIAA was in a better position a year ago, but the cost recovery run didn’t turn out, and if the red salmon net pen runs continue to be a bust, the association will dig itself into a bigger and bigger financial hole, French said. As a Seward representative, French was happy when the association received plenty of grants for general fisheries enhancement. But now, when most of its money is coming in through salmon enhancement tax, the Cook Inlet-dominated board is trying to focus most of their projects on the commercial fisheries, he said. French would have preferred that the board focus on projects other than the Resurrection Bay ones.

The hatchery currently employs three full-time workers, and one seasonal worker, said Mark Thomas, Assistant Manager of Trail Lakes Hatchery. They eliminated a position after the recent loss of sockeyes. Programs that will remain in place for the time being include sockeye smolt for Bear Lake, coho fry for Bear Lake, sockeye for Hidden Lake and three Lower Cook Inlet lakes, and a sockeye program for villages of Port Graham and Nanwalik, along with some youth education programs, Thomas said.

By Heidi Zemach

Go down to the beach in Seward, and look out over scenic Resurrection Bay. These days you’re more likely to see rainbows than the splashes of silvers jumping. And you won’t see too many fishermen casting for them either– except at the local snag hole. The most action you’re likely to see is at the cutting tables when the charter fleet comes in. What’s happening? And can anything be done to help? Those questions were raised at a recent Seward City Council meeting, and the tenor of discussion reflected the same quiet alarm that many residents, tourists, and some charter boat operators have been feeling over the course of a pretty poor summer for fishing.

“I don’t blame the shore anglers for being mad,” said Alaska Department of Fish and Game Area Management Biologist Dan Bosch. “The silver salmon fishery in Seward continues to grow, but effort, and the harvest is shifting in time and place. Much of the harvest that used to be late August has shifted to July, and the harvest that used to be from the shore has shifted to boats.”

“Salmon fishing started out really good, and it looked like a good year. It started early, but then it stared slowing down and they never really came into the bay,” said J-Dock Seafoods Operator Blaine Bachman early last week. Charter boat operators had to continue taking their customers outside the bay where the limit is three silvers a person, rather than the six allowed inside Resurrection Bay proper. With greater distances traveled to locate the good fishing grounds, some charter operators could not start running two charters per day, rather than one. And with less fish brought in, there were less processing dollars received, Bachman said.

The early mixed stock fishery started out really good near Aialik Cape in July where salmon gather in large numbers to feed prior to moving out to their streams to spawn all along the North Gulf Coast and Prince William Sound, said Alaska Department of Fish and Game Area Management Biologist Dan Bosch. And the proportion of harvest from boats there continues to increase. Fishermen have been harvesting 100 thousand silvers out of Seward annually in recent years compared to just 70 thousand during the 1990s, he said.

But silver salmon fishing appeared to go downhill by mid to late summer, when they should have come into the bay. They still don’t seem to have returned in strong numbers to the bay, or to the beaches.

Fish and Game numbers clearly document the decrease in Seward shore-side fisheries: In 2005, despite a record year with a total catch of over 170 thousand in north gulf coast, the total harvest was about 136 thousand silvers, but the shore fishery catch was only 13 thousand. In 2004, only 4,700 were harvested from the beach. In 2007, only 2200 were, and in 2008, only 1,700. The numbers aren’t available yet for last year.

One reason for the shoreline decline is more interception from sports fishing boats, and total increased angler effort, Bosch said. The year 1990 saw less than 70,000 “angler days of effort” out of Seward. These days, they’ve been averaging over 100 thousand.

Less understood reasons for lower returns of adult salmon could have something to do with changes in the ocean, in food sources, temperatures, acidification, or in their breeding grounds—such as streamside flooding.

Failing State Hatcheries:

The two aging state hatcheries also are having major troubles with smolt production that won’t get fixed for a couple of years. Those hatcheries, one near Fort Richardson, the other near Elmendorf, have been releasing smaller, less hardy Coho smolt into the various systems. Beginning in 2005, after the military bases’ power plants were decommissioned, the hatcheries lost the warm water (warmed by the plants) that they had used to rear silvers. Prior to ’05 they could raise smolt to the proper size for release in a single year. In cold water, it took two years to rear them to releasable size—but they still were smaller, less hardy and less likely to survive their journey, Bosch said. The state hatcheries also experienced problems with diseases.

Next year, ADF&G will begin putting eggs into a new state hatchery, which is scheduled to be built, and running by 2012. That hatchery will have better, more efficient warm- water technology, and closed water systems that can contain and limit diseases from spreading, Bosch said. The results, he said, should be more fish growth, and a higher output of smolt.

Silver Salmon Derby:
Although 2010 Silver Salmon Derby ticket sales were down 20-percent over last year, the derby went well overall, said Laura Cloward, the Seward Chamber of Commerce executive director. And the largest fish turned in was the biggest one since 2004 at 18.89 lbs. The weather was “atrocious,” during first four days of the derby however, which had a big impact. But when it improved during the last five days of the derby, more fish were turned in than during the last five days of 2008, Cloward said. Anchorage and Mat-Su schools also started up earlier this summer, so many fewer families came to Seward to fish the derby, hurting participation, she said. What worries Cloward most however, is what’s happening with the hatchery programs that help cushion low return years of wild salmon.

When Cloward assumed her position in 2004, the chamber had a contract with Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association for production of smolt. With money from the sale of sport- caught fish turned in during the derby, the chamber purchased smolt from CIAA for 10 cents per fish, or 150 thousand smolt per year for $15,000. But when that 10-year contract expired in ’05, CIAA began charging market prices for the smolt, which increased to 50 cents per smolt (fish). The price better reflected the true cost of rearing the salmon, which CIAA had been subsidizing. The higher price decreased the amount of fish that the chamber could purchase. Between 100 -200 thousand smolt were released annually from 2000 to 2008, but last year CIAA released just 68 thousand coho smolt.

“The big issue for us now is there aren’t any smolt for us to purchase. Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association did not produce any,” Cloward said. “We feel we’ve been doing everything we could do. Now we need to figure out what happened, so we know what to do moving forward.”

Trail Lake Faces Collapse:
When CIAA made that cooperative agreement in ‘94, they believed they could harvest and sell the returning adult salmon to compensate the hatchery for the cost of rearing them, explained CIAA executive Director Gary Fandrei. For a decade it worked. But then things changed. There was no longer a market for CIAA silvers, and due to the higher harvest rate by others, the hatchery catcher boats harvested fewer cohos for its cost recovery program. This summer, for example, CIAA had hoped to raise $1.4 million to operate the Trail Lakes Hatchery next year from its cost recovery program for the sockeye salmon project (at Nash Road). But the poor harvest only generated $250,000, Fandrei said.

Another thing happened with CIAA finances. Sen. Ted Stevens’ earmarks that helped keep the programs from going under stopped coming. So did Chamber funding. The CIAA board finally decided that it could no longer afford to gamble on recouping the money it spent raising fish, when the adult fish returned two years later. So they asked the chamber to pay the rearing cost up front, or make a partial payment, or commit to pay the cost regardless of the actual return. That’s something the chamber did not do—so until things change, there will be no smolt produced at the Trail Lakes hatchery for the Resurrection Bay fishery. The CIAA Board will meet Tuesday Sept 7, at its Soldotna office, to discuss its future—which includes taking out a loan, or even shutting down the hatchery, Fandrei said.

Meanwhile, Trail Lakes is continuing to raise coho fry to stock Bear Lake, which was part of its contract for its sockeye stocking project. CIAA is down to producing about a third of the total number of fish it has produced for the past 10-15 years. If Trail Lake Hatchery closes, both red and silver salmon stocking projects in Resurrection Bay would end, Faudrei said.

By Heidi Zemach

“So we’ve really gone back to basics. We’ve looked at what the long term sustainability of SeaLife Center is, and how to grow that sustainability over time,” Dutton said. Squeezing in an interview between racing to meetings, signing forms, and handling media inquiries, Dutton summed up how and why the center needed to change.

(Photo: ASLC President Dr. Ian Dutton)

“When I first took the job a year and half ago I faced two serious challenges,” Dutton said. One incredibly tough challenge was the economic downturn, Dutton said. Most philanthropic foundations had stopped giving out large grants, so a lot of the center’s ideas and proposals were not funded. Another problem was that although the center had a number of “shovel ready” projects for which they hoped to receive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, ASLC was knocked out of the running when it was classified as an “aquarium” along with zoos, golf courses and casinos. These dissimilar entities were expressly not allowed to qualify for federal stimulus dollars, although public museums were.

To add to those challenges, the saltwater intake system that the center depended upon to fill its tanks was failing. It was pumping less than half of its capacity—and without significant repairs, the center could be brought to a grinding halt within a few years, Dutton said. Thankfully, the state recently has since agreed to fund major repairs to the sea water system in its new capital budget— the first contribution that ASLC has received from the State since it was built.

One of the first things they did was to analyze all of their operating costs. They learned that it takes about $7 million just to keep the Seward building open and running each year, with minimal staffing. This did not include components such as their research, education, or marine mammal rescue operations. They also discovered that the center was spending about 60 thousand gallons of fuel oil just to heat the building, and with rising fuel prices, they needed to explore ways to reduce that. Two innovative heat pumps that use thermal energy from the ocean will be installed this winter and should be running by spring—dramatically lowering future energy costs, Dutton said.

Planners also assessed the number of visitors. More than a decade ago, ASLC was built on inflated assumptions about the potential number of visitors to Seward, and the amount of research dollars they could generate, Dutton said. Some mammal centers in big cities such as Chicago, New York City, or Monterey (between San Francisco and Los Angeles) may thrive mainly on ticket sales, but ASLCs’ location in Seward, with its short tourist season, and two-hour distance from Anchorage, a city with a relatively small population base, makes that expectation unrealistic, he said.

One might think that iconic megafauna like “Woody” the 3,000 pound male resident Steller sea lion, and the yearly addition of cute sea otter or seal pups would attract large crowds—and they do. But ticket sales are actually only small part of the centers’ total revenues. Last year for example, $2.3 million, (24-percent) of its $9.6 million revenue stream came from ticket sales, while $6.7 million (or 70 percent of revenues) that year came from grants. Meanwhile, the cost of intensively caring for a rescued sea otter pup like Tazo or Mojoe for 10 days is $7,000—about the amount raised annually in the summer fun runs! To bring in a new sensation such as a shark exhibit, as visitors often suggest, would cost the center $5-$10 million, Dutton said. ASLC has come to realize that they really are limited to the amount of space available for their tanks and the number of critters they have, Dutton says.

So the real moneymakers must be research and education. In the past the center enjoyed federal support for major research on species impacted by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, such as Steller sea lions and sea ducks. But now, the center is eager to expand its research to new areas such as ocean acoustics and climate change, the effects of ocean warming, ocean acidification, and marine invasive species.

With the new emphasis on oil and gas exploration, along with increasing shipping traffic, ocean acoustics is a big issue for many industries in Alaska right now, Dutton said. It’s an area of research that the center could get into. ASLC researchers could test marine mammals in house for their responses to different sound levels and sound types, and to other disturbances for example—just as San Diego researchers are exploring passive acoustics on Polar Bears.

UAF professor Jeremy Mathis has already placed Ph sensors on an offshore mooring line in Resurrection Bay in order to track the rate at which the North Pacific is acidifying. “That kind of work is being done in places like Oregon, but not being done very widely on the coast of Alaska yet, and we have a very rich laboratory to be done right at the doorstep—right here at Resurrection Bay,” Dutton said. Mathis has agreed to work with ASLC in this area.

The center also has begun partnering with the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council on Invasive Species monitoring, In the future ASLC hopes to engage more citizen scientists in environmental monitoring and measurement of changes in Resurrection Bay, along with a cadre of volunteer divers.

(more…)

Invasive weeds in tracks

    The Alaska Railroad Corporation has received a permit from state regulators to spray the herbicide AquaMaster (key ingredient Glyphosate) and Agri-Dex, a substance to help spread it, along 30 miles of track between Seward and Indian. The railroad has not used chemical weed control for the past 26 years due to widespread public opposition, and an inability to obtain the needed permits. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation permit is for two years. But last week six Alaska environmental groups and the Native Village of Eklutna intervened to delay DEC from activating the permit. The groups are hoping that the agency will reverse its decision altogether.

“The Alaska Railroad does not take the use of an herbicide lightly,” stated ARRC spokeswoman Stephenie Wheeler, in an email to SCN. “After spending considerable resources and time trying to control weeds without the use of herbicides, the railroad has continued to lose ground,” she said.

Last year the Federal Railroad Administration issued 130 vegetation-related violations to ARRC for failing to meet federal safety mandates with regard to vegetation in, and around the tracks. These carry potential fines of $1,000 apiece. As recently as late May, FRA inspectors returned and issued 20 additional violations for vegetation. FRA warned the railroad that its safety situation was critical and needed be corrected. They say if the problem isn’t addressed, they could be forced to slow down the trains, or close the tracks in certain areas. The railroad says it fears trains could derail. Alaska’s train system carries nearly 500 thousand passengers a year, and approximately 40-percent of its freight is classified as hazardous materials.

“Alaskan’s should be proud of our railroad’s safety record, and proud that we have maintained this record without the dangerous use of herbicides,” said Russ Maddox, the activism director for Resurrection Bay Conservation Alliance, one of the six Alaska environmental groups. Maddox says the Alaska Railroad appears to be more interested in cutting costs than funding the alternative, less toxic methods that it has used successfully for more than two decades. The railroad only recently quit using prison labor to pull weeds, and is no longer using safer eradication methods such as steam heating, currently in use by railroads throughout Europe and in Canada.

An administrative law judge was assigned to the case Monday June 7, and a 20 day public comment period will follow, whereby the DEC Commissioner will have 15 days to decide whether to grant the stay.

Herbicide use by state agencies was first halted by Alaska Governor Jay Hammond in 1978. The railway’s spray program was halted in an August 1982 injunction by a U.S. District Court Judge after Talkeetna area residents claimed that the chemical herbicides were polluting their water and sickening them and their animals. The Judge James von der Heydt found that internal regulations by the railroad allowed it to implement a spraying program without any consideration of the environmental consequences. Since then public opposition to the railroad’s efforts to get permits has continued. As recently as 2006, both the Seward City Council and Kenai Peninsula Borough passed unanimous resolutions against herbicide spraying within their limits—citing environmental and health concerns. Last September, ADEC received 106 comments in opposition to the proposed permit, versus 17 in favor. The City did not object two years ago however, when the railroad asked permission to conduct a two-year research project on the herbicide downtown.

Two issues of particular contention are whether the chemicals are safe, and whether they would leach off the tracks and into water bodies. (more…)

A couple taking a beach stroll on Kodiak Island played a key role in saving a small treasure they discovered on the shores of Mayflower Cove this week.  A very young sea otter pup had lost its mother and was on the beach alone.

The couple contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, who notified the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward.  A local veterinarian assisted in evaluating and stabilizing the female pup by giving her fluids while transportation was arranged.

“We appreciate the help provided by Tonya Lee of the USFWS and Dr. Angie Johnson of the Kodiak Veterinary Clinic,” says Brett Long, husbandry director at the Alaska SeaLife Center. “Fortunately, the pup was found and taken care of by the right people.”

Era Aviation donated a flight to Anchorage, where a veterinary team from the ASLC performed a basic exam and found the pup was in good condition. They administered additional fluids and encouraged her to nurse from a bottle during the drive to Seward. Staff members named her “Kaladi” in keeping with this year’s theme of caffeine-related products.

“Kaladi weighed less than three pounds when admitted, so she was probably under two days old,” says Tim Lebling, the Alaska SeaLife Center’s stranding coordinator. “Her mother may have abandoned her soon after giving birth, though we rarely know how an animal gets orphaned.”

Although she is still very fragile and needs plenty of sleep, Kaladi is in stable condition and has become adept at suckling sea otter formula from a baby bottle. She will remain at the Center until a permanent home is identified and she is stable enough for transport. Although Kaladi will stay in the quarantined nursery, live camera feeds will allow many ASLC visitors to see her on a video display in the exhibit area.

The Alaska SeaLife Center operates the only permanent facility in the state that is licensed to hold stranded marine mammals and seabirds for rehabilitation. Because sea otter pups demand 24-hour-a-day, hands-on care by staff members at the Center who become their surrogate mothers, they cannot be released to the wild after rehabilitation.

The SeaLife Center operates a 24-hour hotline for the public to report stranded marine mammals or birds, and encourages people who think they may have found a stranded or sick marine animal to call first at 1-888-774-SEAL and avoid touching or approaching the animal.