2011 ADF&G Youth Days June 13 - 15th

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game held an outdoor youth days camp last week and the week before in Anchorage. These two camps lasted three days each and were open for kids ages 10-14. The camp is design to promote awareness and respect of Alaska’s natural resources and outdoor activities. The three days were filled with fishing, hunter safety, survival skills, map and compass education, wildlife ID and tracking, boating safety, ecology, and lots more.

I helped out during the second week to teach the kids about animal tracks, scat, watershed ecology, and a little fishing too. Thirty kids were divided into three groups and spent about an hour and a half in each area. On Monday we met at the Rabbit Creek shooting range and I worked with Elizabeth Manning. The kids first made plaster replicas of animal tracks. We also had a game that helped the kids learn how to identify scat and a relay to see how well they knew their tracks. We also had the kids break up into small groups and conduct a scavenger hunt while they made their way down to a crime scene. Earlier in the morning Elizabeth set up an area with feathers, tracks, and fake blood so that the kids could figure out what happened. The small groups were let in one at a time to scan the area and then were given a wanted list to help them figure out who died and who did it. After everyone had a look they all got to share what they thought had happened and they all had a variety of ideas. It was a lot of fun!

I joined the camp again on Wednesday when the kids were learning about identifying fish, looking at macroinvertebrates, learning salmon anatomy and life cycle, and learning how to fish. The longest activities were fly fishing and spin casting. The kids learned knots, how to cast, and once they were all setup with hooks got to go out and do some fishing at the lake. Although no fish were caught the kids had a blast and could have spent all day out there with their poles.

This camp was a great way to get the kids outside while learning about different aspects of science. Plus the kids all walked away with loads of information and even got a fishing pole so they continue to practice their safe fishing skills.

2011 Making Waves Summer Camp!

The Sitka Sound Science Center offered a summer camp for grades 7 – 9 from May 31^st till June 10^th this year. This camp allowed students to explore marine biology, fisheries, and marine mammal science through fun, hands-on experiences. During the first week the kids learned basic laboratory skills, went kayaking, explored nearby beaches, and even got to snorkel with Coast Guard rescue swimmers.

A few days into the camp I joined in on the fun and worked with three wonderful counselors including one of the AMSFCC funded interns, Taylor. The second week included activities that ranged from combing beaches to cleaning whale bones. The kids caught fish for the center using a beach seine and enjoyed scooping up the fish, releasing the ones we couldn’t keep, and identifying them all. They learned about Humpbacks and scientific communication. They also had their own mini Ocean Science Bowl competition and even got to explore some little caves. They also got to play some games including a version of Marco polo to explore how echolocation works and a hatchery game that included water balloons.

Campers spent their last few days at camp participating in a few cultural activities and cleaning whale bones. The students were lucky enough to help out Dr. Shannon Atkinson in the process of starting to clean the bones of a juvenile male killer whale that washed up on a nearby beach in the spring. The kids worked on getting the ribs, skull, and vertebrae cleaned and did an amazing job even though they didn’t enjoy the smell. Work on the skeleton will continue during the next few months and once completed, the rearticulated skeleton will be on exhibit at the Sitka Sound Science Center.

The camp was loads of fun and got the attention of the whole community! You can find tons of pictures from the camp in our photos and on the Sitka Sound Science Center’s Facebook page. Also listen to a cool broadcast about the orca skeleton that was aired on Raven Radio.

Before and after of one set of vertebrae that were cleaned.

Dillingham Sea Week!

Sea Week returned to Dillingham last week! This fun-filled week of marine activities was revived, May 9th-13th, by MAP agent, Izetta Chambers. Izetta invited kids K-5 to join her after school for an hour every day and participate in sea-themed activities. I joined her for the week to help show the kids what could be found in the water around them.

About 40 kids participated and each day was filled with interactive activities including a number of games and crafts. Crafts included making whale mobiles, a number of activity books, and even helping decorate a poster for the celebration of learning that took place on Wednesday. The kids also saw a presentation about sea birds, learned about the salmon life cycle, played a food web game, and got to play with a bunch of little critters. Microscopes were setup one day for the kids to look at plankton and we finished the week off with isopod races.

Sea week was a great success and will hopefully become an annual event. Thank you Izetta for getting the ball rolling on Sea Week again and for the people who volunteered their time to supervise. We would also like to extend a special thanks to Terry Fuller, Tim Sands, and Lilly Capell for leading activities.

May Newsletter!

The Alaska Marine Science & Fisheries Coalition has a bunch of exciting things to share! Check out our newsletter to see what the coalition is up to, some opportunities available for this summer, and find out how you can get involved!

National Ocean Sciences Bowl Final

The 14th annual National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) took place April 28th through May 1st. Winners from the regional competitions all met in Galveston, TX to compete in the finals. During the weekend the kids enjoyed competing against each other while getting the chance to get out for some field trips and exploring the area. This years winner was a team from Marshfield High School in Wisconsin.

Alaska was represented at the NOSB this year by the Tsunami Bowl champions from Juneau-Douglas/Thunder Mountain High School. They took 11th place overall but took first place in the inaugural policy briefing section of the competition and won a trip to Washington State to meet with members of the Pacific Coast Growers Association.

Congrats to all the teams who competed this year and thanks to the adults who helped get the teams together!

Kodiak Area Marine Science Symposium

The first ever Kodiak Area Marine Science Symposium (KAMSS) took place April 9^th – 12^th and included presentations, workshops, and posters about research around Kodiak. Over 200 people attended the symposium including students from the local schools. Dr. Tom Weingartner and Dr. John Piatt helped get everything started at the Kodiak Harbor Convention Center on Saturday with talks about the physical settings of the Gulf of Alaska Continental shelf and local upwelling and marine hotspots around the Kodiak Archipelago. The next three days were filled with presentations ranging from physical and biological oceanography to marine mammals.

A total of nineteen posters were presented on Sunday night during

the symposium. Posters were submitted by researchers from Alaska, California, and Washington with some posters from students at the local High School too. The posters were put together nicely and the speakers were excited to share their research.

On Monday night the Fishery Industrial Technology Center (FITC) held an open house with lots of delicious food and tours of the facility. FITC, which is a division of the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, primary mission is to increase the value of Alaska's fishing industry and marine resources through research, technological development, education and service. The tour was exceptionally informative and even allowed visitors to walk away with samples from one of FITC’s projects, freeze-dried salmon cubes.

There also were a number of workshops held on Saturday and Tuesday. Saturday included workshops on seabird mortality monitoring, communicating ocean science, and teaching the Alaska Seas and Rivers Curriculum. On Tuesday Kate Wynn, the person who put this wonderful symposium together, lead a roundtable discussion on what future research needs to be done in the Kodiak area while Gary Freitag did a monitoring marine invasive species workshop.

I was fortunate enough to join Gary out in the harbor earlier that morning to collect

a tunicate plate for the workshop that has been in the water since September. Numerous tunicates, barnacles, and other little organism were on ten plates placed through out the harbor however no invasive tunicates have been found in Kodiak! These plates will continue to be monitored by locals to keep track of any invasive tunicates that may make it to the Kodiak area.

Another Opportunity for Students in 7th-9th Grades!

The Sitka Sound Science Center is having a summer day camp called MAKING WAVES from May 31st till June 10th. This camp will allow students to explore marine biology, fisheries, and marine mammal science through fun, hands-on experiences. Campers will participate in marine mammal research, explore the intertidal, learn basic laboratory skills and even get the opportunity to kayak and snorkel. Tuition is $350, 10% discount if registered before May 1st, and scholarships are available. Contact the Sitka Sound Science Center at (907) 747-8878 to register or pick up a form at the Sage Building, 834 Lincoln Street.

Space is limited so Register soon!