Alaska Sea Grant

09/21/2026

Before her J.D., working on HABs 🤝🏼

Tessa Davis didn’t have to leave her home in Kodiak to take part in an Alaska Sea Grant Community-Engaged Fellowship. But for the aspiring human-rights lawyer, spending the summer helping with harmful algal bloom (HAB) research was still an opportunity to expand her horizons. 🌅

“While it seems like the most probable career for me, law is only one of my many interests,” noted the 17-year-old, who recently received her diploma from Kodiak High School as well as her Associate of Arts from Kodiak College. “There are so many different fields of academia and careers, so I wanted to test if I was sure about a career in law.” 👩‍⚖️

Davis spent much of her high school and college career focused on student government and on Kodiak Teen Court, but she became interested in HABs when she took a Kodiak College course on the subject last year. The accomplished student caught the eye of Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory agent Julie Matweyou, who encouraged her to apply for a community-engaged fellowship. 🩵

Matweyou served as Davis’ mentor during her 10-week fellowship at the UAF Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center. Davis’ principal responsibility was tackling a backlog of blue mussel samples: she prepared the samples, extracted toxins and tested them using the SeaTox Research Inc. PSP ELISA (paralytic shellfish poisoning enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) method, in addition to entering and proofing data. Davis also had the opportunity to collect blue mussel and clam samples in the field and to accompany NOAA researchers on small boat surveys for phytoplankton. 🦠

“My favorite part of this experience has definitely been field sampling,” Davis stated. “A close second is the lab work I performed. Running toxin extraction protocols and the ELISA tests made me feel like a true scientist!”🔬

Read the full story on our website 🔗 linked below. alaskaseagrant.org > News

🔗: https://alaskaseagrant.org/2026/09/before-her-j-d-working-on-habs/

09/15/2026

Return to Moss Island 🌿

Roxy Reynolds’ Alaska Sea Grant Mariculture Summer Apprenticeship was a homecoming in the most literal sense. 🫶🏼

Reynolds apprenticed at the Moss Island Oyster Farm, a Kachemak Bay enterprise founded by her grandparents. Growing up in Anchorage, she had spent parts of her summers at the farm, helping with chores like sorting oysters and lacing nets. It fostered a lifelong fascination with both the outdoor lifestyle and the oysters themselves.

“It’s just intriguing as a young kid to see the whole process, to see the oysters as little tiny babies and then see them as they grow,” she said. “It’s mind-boggling to look at that and say, wow, this is something that we grew, and it took three years to get this one oyster that I’m going to eat.” 🦪

Reynolds’ grandparents eventually sold the farm to one of their workers, Sean Crosby. Meanwhile, Reynolds left the state to earn a bachelor’s in environmental studies from Cal Poly Humboldt, then spent three years as a scuba instructor and marine educator on Catalina Island. But her mind never strayed far from Kachemak Bay, and when she learned about the Alaska Sea Grant mariculture apprenticeships she jumped at the unique opportunity. 🩵

Read the full story on our website 🔗 linked below. alaskaseagrant.org > News

🔗: https://alaskaseagrant.org/2026/09/return-to-moss-island/

09/11/2026

09/10/2026

Skiff school comes to Kasaan ⚓️

For the people of Kasaan, small boats are a big deal.

That’s why Alaska Sea Grant recently conducted a maintenance, operation, and safety workshop in the Prince of Wales Island community focused on the outboard-powered skiffs locals routinely use for subsistence. The event grew from discussions between Gabe Dunham, head of Alaska Sea Grant’s Marine Advisory Program, and Frank Nix, Cultural Foods Manager for the Organized Village of Kasaan. 🧡

“He (Frank Nix) wanted to help people gain the knowledge to take advantage of traditional foods,” Dunham explained. “He's looking at it from the perspective of, how do we create an educational event that people in Kasaan can really derive some value from, and that can help them access local foods?”

Kasaan is a Haida village of around 65 residents located on Kasaan Bay, on the eastern side of Prince of Wales. The village’s protected location means small skiffs with outboard motors are commonly used for fishing, and are also a popular way to access hunting and gathering spots. 🌊

With that in mind, Dunham organized and led a three-day small boat workshop, which drew eight attendees ranging from teenagers to 60-year-olds. The first day and a half focused on repair and maintenance of small engines and boats, followed by an afternoon on aspects of boating like knots, float plans, and marine safety. Dunham drew content from multiple sources: a long-running Alaska Sea Grant curriculum for small engine maintenance, the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association’s (AMSEA) Onboard Drill Conductor course, and even an AMSEA class for novice women boaters called “Boating Without the Boys.” 🛥️

“It is an amalgamation of workshop content from several different workshops,” Dunham noted. “It's not just all about fixing outboards. It's about the boat more holistically and operating the boat in a safe way.” 🤝🏼

Read the full story on our website 🔗 linked below. alaskaseagrant.org > News

🔗: https://alaskaseagrant.org/2026/09/skiff-school-comes-to-kasaan/

09/09/2026

09/09/2026

Alaska just may be top tier for color hunting... 😌🎨

Which color is your favorite ??

09/09/2026

Talking Trash in Goodnews Bay 🌾

To most of us, trash talk is something reserved for the basketball court or football field. But in the Bering Sea coastal village of Goodnews Bay, it’s a key part of a program for kids to keep their community clean. 🤝🏼

Trash Talk sprang from an effort to clean up the 250-person village’s streets and beaches, part of a Community-Led Marine Debris Removal project supported by the Alaska Center for Marine Debris. Led by Alice Julius, the Marine Debris Coordinator for the Native Village of Goodnews Bay, a group of 36 elementary school students picked up over 1,000 pounds of trash between June and August of 2025. Students collected everything from derelict fishing gear to buckets, roofing material, and old bikes, much of it buried in the sand. 🌊

“Fighting and digging on the beach to take out nets covered with dirt and sand was an all-day thing,” Julius said.

Julius saw the cleanups as an opportunity to teach the young volunteers the importance of being strong advocates for the land. She began Trash Talk, a program that encourages the students to become active voices in their community. 💪

Read the full story on our website 🔗 linked below. alaskaseagrant.org > News

🔗: https://alaskaseagrant.org/2026/08/talking-trash-in-goodnews-bay/

📸: Rich Buzard photo

09/08/2026

Still time to register!! 🐟🧡

NEXT MONTH !! 🐟

Seafood HACCP Segment 2
🗓️ September 18
9:00 am – 4:00 pm AKDT

Alaska Sea Grant offers Seafood HACCP Segment 2 practical training via online video conferencing, conducted at the specified time with a live instructor. 🧑‍🏫

The class will cover the principles of HACCP and provide the tools and training to create a seafood HACCP plan. Students will need to register for and complete the Segment 1 training online prior to September 18 through the National Seafood HACCP Alliance for Training and Education. The Segment 1 training has a separate registration and fee. 💰

You can register here for your Segment 2 training using the button below, prior to completing Segment 1, just be sure to complete the Segment 1 training before September 18.

This course meets the requirement for HACCP Segment 2. Participants will attend this HACCP training live, using online video conferencing to complete the practical training session. The training will be conducted September 18 from 9 am to 4 pm. 🌊

All seafood processors in Alaska are required to have an approved Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan. This class prepares the participant to develop this plan. 📄

Class size is limited to 20 participants. A basic HACCP certificate issued by the Association of Food and Drug Officials is awarded upon completion of the class. 💪

Learn more and register on our website 🔗 linked below.

🔗: https://alaskaseagrant.org/event/seafood-haccp-segment-2-september-2026/

08/26/2026

Faces of Alaska Sea Grant: Katie Baldwin Basile 🌾

Katie Baldwin Basile is a coastal resilience specialist with the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program, based in Bethel. 🩵

Working with the Alaska Ocean Observing System, Katie uses storytelling to connect communities with science, local and Indigenous Knowledge and resilience planning. 🤝

Watch the whole video on the Alaska Sea Grant YouTube channel 🔗 linked below.

🔗: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRD1fLf7bxE&feature=youtu.be

08/19/2026

THANK YOU for all of the love on the new Salmon Sisters “Know Your Ocean Farmer” tee !! 🩵

We are so happy that these are out and available.

Remember, each oyster you log on the Alaska Oyster Voyage Oyster Tasting Portal gives you the opportunity to win one of these buttery soft tees! 🤭

Not sure where to begin?? 🤔

Head over to the Alaska Shellfish Growers Association (ASGA) website to access the Oyster Tasting Map and find the closest Alaska oysters near you. There, you can also learn more about growers around the state, access delicious recipes, & more !! 🗺️

Happy voyaging !! ⚓️🦪