the BREAKWATER 
A newsletter from the Prince William Sound Science Center
November 2019
FIELD SEASON MARKED BY LOW FLOW AND HIGH PRE-SPAWN MORTALITY
Pink salmon mortality after fish entered streams during a rain event. Photo: Brad von Wichman

It was a strange summer for the Science Center field crews collecting data on pink salmon for the pedigree component of the Alaska Hatchery Research Project (AHRP) in Prince William Sound. PWSSC has been doing field work for AHRP, a large, multi-organization study on straying and reproductive success of hatchery-origin pink and chum salmon, since the pilot study in 2012. 

This summer, a reduced field crew focused on three of the five "pedigree streams" in western Prince William Sound. In a normal year, field crews work long hours under drenching rain and high river flows in August and September. This year, virtually no rain led to extremely low stream flows and extreme pre-spawn mortality. Although the research project was mostly unaffected, PWSSC researcher Pete Rand expressed concern.  "This may be our 'new normal,' with natural spawning restricted to a very narrow time window, and fish spawning under very crowded conditions."

Read the full article on this year's unusual hatchery-wild field season here. 

ANNE TO ANTARCTICA! 
Gentoo Penguin adults and chick. Photo: Anne Schaefer

Prince William Sound Science Center research assistant Anne Schaefer is headed south for her second year working on long-term seabird research projects in Antarctica. This year, in addition to six weeks of at-sea seabird surveys, she will be spending a month doing land-based field work at Palmer Station, Antarctica.

Anne is especially excited about this portion of the trip because she will have the opportunity to do more hands-on work with penguins, such as collecting body measurements and deploying tracking tags. This type of work is similar to what she does at the Science Center with  Tufted Puffins ,  gulls , and  shorebirds . 

Read more about the work she will be doing and see some amazing photos from her research trip in Antarctica last year here. 

DISCOVERY ROOM
6th grade students aboard PWSSC's R/V New Wave. Photo: Nichole Webster

Recently, Mt. Eccles Elementary 6th graders have been learning about bioluminescence, the natural "glowing" of some ocean creatures in dark waters. After days of independent research  and lessons from Science Center educators , students received a special treat: a nighttime field trip! 

For the first time in recent years, PWSSC was able to take local students out on its research vessel, the New Wave . Students weathered the wind and rain in two separate nighttime expeditions, searching for signs of bioluminescence. Their efforts were rewarded with glowing phytoplankton, jellyfish, and ctenophores ("comb jellies")!
IN MEMORIAM: Richard "Dick" Thorne
Dick Thorne (center) with his son James and grandson Josh on the deck of a vessel used to deploy the acoustic towfin that Dick often used in his research. Photo: David Janka

We are saddened by the news that former PWSSC scientist Dick Thorne passed away last month. Dick started working at the Science Center in the mid-1990s. His acoustics expertise was integral to our fisheries research projects, especially those that pertained to Pacific Herring. He studied Pacific Herring abundance and movement, as well as herring predation by species such as sea lions and pollock. In 1990, he and colleague Gary Thomas published a paper demonstrating evidence that Pacific Herring release gas bubbles under certain conditions, leading to the hypothesis that herring gulp air at the surface to replenish their swim bladder--one possible mechanism for exposure to oil after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. 

Dick was an unfailingly kind man. He was good-natured with a quiet, steady demeanor who was worth listening to when he spoke up. He was a reliable team player who provided steady guidance to his colleagues, including by continuing to serve on the Scientific and Technical Committee for the Oil Spill Recovery Institute after he retired. We extend our deepest condolences to Dick's family.

Katrina Hoffman
President & CEO
The Science Center is committed to understanding how one place on earth can maintain a reliable economy and natural environment for the long term. 
 
We invite you-- donors, researchers, partners, funders, elected officials, citizens--to join us in better understanding one of the world's last, great natural regions, home of the world's richest waters.

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