ACF-Funded Publications
2007
Estimating Future Costs for Alaska Public Infrastructure at Risk from Climate Change
June 2007
This report, prepared by the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage, creates a probabilistic life-cycle model to estimate how much climate change could add to the costs of public infrastructure in Alaska in the coming decades. The report describes how the model was developed, as well as preliminary estimates of additional public infrastructure costs resulting from climate change. These are the first estimates of what climate change could add to the future bill for Alaska's public infrastructure.
Nature-Based Tourism in Southeast Alaska
March 2007
This report, prepared by the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage and Eco-Systems, explores the economic importance of nature-based tourism in Southeast Alaska based on field research conducted during 2005 and 2006. We define nature-based tourism as those tourism activities for which the natural environment is a significant input. This report covers Phase 2 of a larger research project whose goal is to provide a broad overview of the regional economy of Southeast Alaska, including trends over time for individual communities and boroughs. The purpose of the Southeast Alaska economy project is to add to the information and knowledge base available to help people make informed decisions.
2006
Ice Dependent Marine Mammals
October 2006
The white paper surveys information about four species of ice seals (bearded, ringed, ribbon and spotted seals), Pacific walrus, 2 stocks of polar bears (Southern Beaufort Sea stock, Chukchi/Bering seas stock) and western Arctic bowhead whales. The information covered includes general descriptions; abundance estimates, population trends and stock structure; management entities; international treaties, federal legislation and co-management agreements; current research projects; issues of concern and recommendations. The paper provides valuable information about these remote and vulnerable species.
Rethinking Sustainability: A New Paradigm For Fisheries Management
September 2006
Greenpeace, together with the Alaska Oceans Program, Trustees for Alaska and the Center for Biological Diversity produced this report that calls for an overhaul of the management of the nation's fisheries in light of the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the law that governs federal fisheries. The report criticizes proposed legislation that would essentially maintain the status quo and details recommendations for a new management system based on ecosystems as opposed to the current focus on single species.
2005
SOS (State of the System): Beyond the Boundaries
The Alaska Oceans Program co-funded this report by the National Wildlife Refuge Association, which found the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge to be one of the six most threatened in the United States.
Hook, Line, and Trawler: Gear Impacts and International Cooperation in the Bering Sea
August 2005
The Alaska Oceans Program co-funded this report by Pacific Environment. This report on fishing gear usage in the Bering Sea represents a compilation of materials and analysis gathered from both sides of the Bering Sea, highlighting negative impacts associated with gear usage while calling for larger solutions to fisheries management issues.
Vital Signs for the North Pacific: Code Blue for the Oceans -- July 2005
Alaska Oceans Program released this report critical of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council. This report uses a strong health analogy to look at the numerous marine species declines in the North Pacific as symptoms of a serious disease of single species management in which commercial fisheries are emphasized at the expense of the rest of the ecosystem. It examines the North Pacific's vital signs, develops a diagnosis and prognosis, and then prescribes the changes needed for the future to restore the health of this important ecosystem.
Breaking Point in the Bering Sea -- March 2005
A Winter 2005 special issue of the Cascadia Times contains this significant report regarding the North Pacific, funded by the Alaska Oceans Program. It tells the story of wildlife collapses in one of the world's richest ecosystems, and the home of America's biggest commercial fishery. The Cascadia Times exposes holes in the fishing industry's arguments as it follows the flow of money from the industry to politicians and scientists.
2004
Bycatch: Wasting Alaska's Future (2nd edition) -- September 2004
Alaska Oceans Program co-funded this report by the Alaska Marine
Conservation Council. It documents the amounts and sources of groundfish, crab, halibut, herring and salmon discards in commercial groundfish fisheries in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska.
Performance Indices That Facilitate Informed, Value Driven Decision Making in Fisheries Management -- 2004
Sponsored by the Alaska Oceans Program and authored by former Alaska Oceans Program Scientist Joshua Sladek Nowlis. This paper develops and explores the indicators and solutions of common miscommunication that takes place between marine resource managers and their scientific advisors. It further discussing how these can provide valuable framework to managers in asking for scientific advice while also offering scientists a mechanism for presenting likely consequences of management decisions without favoring particular standards.
Published in the Bulletin of Marine Science, 74(3): 709–726, 2004
2003
Living Marine Habitats in Alaska -- July 2003
Alaska Oceans Program co-funded this report by the Alaska Marine Conservation Council. This 16-page booklet explores some of the important habitats that make up the North Pacific and Bering Sea ecosystems. It is filled with information about kelp forests, eelgrass meadows, sea whips and sea pens, cold-water corals, pinnacles and seamounts, king crab nursery grounds, and the Bering Sea ice edge.
Deep Sea Corals: Out of Sight, But No Longer Out of Mind -- 2003
The Alaska Oceans Program co-funded this Oceana report. Just as scientists are beginning to discover the breathtaking coral and sponge gardens of the deep sea - nurseries, protection and feeding grounds for myriad ocean creatures - industrial fishing is beginning to destroy them.
2002
A Review of the Theory, Application and Potential Ecological Consequences of F40 Harvest Policies in the Northeast Pacific by John C. Field, Ph.D. (School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences, University of Washington) -- November 2002
This paper, funded by the Alaska Oceans Program, discusses why the theory behind the capacity of U.S. fisheries to sustain, over time, harvesting at current levels may not be valid.
Trawling the North Pacific: Understanding the Effects of Bottom Trawl Fisheries on Alaska's Living Seafloor -- April 2002
The Alaska Oceans Program co-funded this report by the Alaska Marine Conservation Council. Bottom trawls are used throughout the North Pacific region, including the central and western Gulf of Alaska, Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea. Studies of bottom trawl impacts in Alaska confirm worldwide studies that show that trawling reduces habitat complexity. Alteration of habitat features such as coral gardens, sponges, rocky ledges, and pinnacles can reduce fish populations and biodiversity, and compromise ecosystem processes.
2001
The Economic Importance of Healthy Alaska Ecosystems -- February 2001
Alaska's healthy environment provides six times more direct jobs than the petroleum industry, and more than double the number of direct employment opportunities than the petroleum, mining, and construction industries combined. These findings are just one element of a comprehensive study assessing “The Economic Importance of Healthy Alaska Ecosystems,” released by the Alaska Conservation Foundation.
Prepared by UAA's Institute of Social and Economic Research, the study was conducted under the direction of Dr. Steve Colt. The report assesses the economic importance of Alaska's ecosystems in their unimpaired state and analyzes the links between healthy ecosystems and a healthy Alaska economy. The study quantifies the overall value generated by Alaska's sustainable natural environment in terms of jobs, income, and several other economic measures.
