Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute (Photo by John Hudson).

The Alaska Fisheries Science Center's Auke Bay Laboratories (ABL) conducts scientific research throughout Alaska on fish stocks, fish habitats, and the chemistry of marine environments. Information from this research is widely used by commercial interests such as fishing industries, and governmental agencies involved in managing natural resources (click here for a list of data sets). The headquarters of ABL is the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute (pictured to the right), an office and laboratory building located at Lena Point, north of Juneau, Alaska (driving instructions). The ABL headquarters serves as the focal point for four other ABL facilities. Three ABL facilities are located in the City and Borough of Juneau at Auke Bay, Auke Creek, and downtown Juneau, and one is located at Little Port Walter, on Baranov Island, southeast of Sitka. Auke Bay Marine Station includes fresh and salt water laboratories, offices, and dive and docking facilities. Auke Creek Research Station is a permanent fish weir and hatchery owned by NOAA that is jointly operated with the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The Juneau Subport Dock and Warehouse has berthing and crane facilities for ocean going vessels, warm dry storage, office space and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game boat repair and storage facility. Little Port Walter Marine Station has fixed and floating docks, office space, dry storage, bunkhouse and kitchen, and fish weir and hatchery.

Habitat and Marine Chemistry. Beaufort Sea sampling of coastal fish populations near Barrow, Alaska.

Marine survey data from ABL research on commercially marketable species such as rockfish, sablefish, and salmon, and on non-marketable and/or protected species such as eel grass, plankton, Steller sea lions, and harbor seals are packaged in information products essential to fishing industries, state and federal regulators, and international treaty bodies. Groups involved in managing human activities in coastal environments frequently base their actions on ABL's knowledge of the quantities and qualities of fish habitats in the affected areas. ABL's capabilities in environmental chemistry research contribute to greater understanding of the fate and effects of pollutants in marine ecosystems, genetics of marine animal populations, and the structure and functioning of marine food webs. ABL is organized into the three major research programs: Marine Salmon Interactions, Marine Ecology and Stock Assessment, and Habitat Assessment and Marine Chemistry (Organizational Chart).

Marine Ecology and Stock Assessment. ABL sablefish longline survey on Alaskan Leader.

For more information on ABL please contact (907) 789-6000. The ABL Director, Phil Mundy, can be reached at Phil.Mundy@noaa.gov or (907) 789-6001, and the ABL Deputy Director, Steve Ignell, at Steve.Ignell@noaa.gov or (907) 789-6029. For e-mail and telephone contact information on other ABL employees, please visit our personnel page.

News and Research Highlights

		NOAA's Little Port Walter Marine Station Celebrates 75 years Established in 1934, it is the oldest year-round biological field station in Alaska and has fostered more than 200 scientific publications, documents, and reports on marine resources of this region. More>

Featured Research, Publications, Posters, Reports, and Activities

• "Evidence of hook competition in longline surveys" by Cara Rodgveller, Chris Lunsford, and Jeff Fujioka
   
• "Density-dependent growth of Alaska sockeye salmon in relation to climate–oceanic regimes, population abundance, and body size, 1925 to 1998" by Ellen Martinson, Jack Helle, Dennis Scarnecchia, and Houston Stokes
   
• "Morphology and molecular phylogeny of Aureophycus aleuticus gen. et sp. nov (Laminariales, Phaeophyceae) from the Aleutian Islands" by Hiroshi Kawai, Takeaki Hanyuda, Mandy Lindeberg, and Sandra C. Lindstrom
   
• Forecasting Pink Salmon Harvest in Southeast Alaska
   
• Auke Bay Laboratories Research Reports and Activities
   
• Bioenergetic model estimates of interannual and spatial patterns in consumption demand and growth potential of juvenile pink salmon (Onchorhynchus gorbuscha) in the Gulf of Alaska.
  MOSS, J. H., D. A. BEAUCHAMP, A. D. CROSS, E. V. FARLEY, J. M. MURPHY, J. H. HELLE, R. V. WALKER, and K. W. MYERS. 2009. Bioenergetic model estimates of interannual and spatial patterns in consumption demand and growth potential of juvenile pink salmon (Onchorhynchus gorbuscha) in the Gulf of Alaska. Deep Sea Res. II 56:2553-2559. 
   
• A top-down survival mechanism during early marine residency explains year-class strength of coho salmon in Southeast Alaska.
  LaCROIX, J. J., A. C. WERTHEIMER, J. A. ORSI, M. V. STURDEVANT, E. A. FERGUSSON, and N. BOND. 2009. A top-down survival mechanism during early marine residency explains year-class strength of coho salmon in Southeast Alaska. Deep Sea Res. II 56:2560-2569. 
   
• Electrical phase angle as a new method to measure fish condition.
  COX, M. K., and R. HEINTZ. 2009. Electrical phase angle as a new method to measure fish condition. Fish. Bull. U.S. 107:477-487. (.pdf, 370KB).  Online.
   
• Growth and survival of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from Karluk Lake and River, Alaska, in relation to climatic and oceanic regimes and indices, 1922-2000.
  MARTINSON, E. C., J. H. HELLE, D. L. SCARNECCHIA, and H. H. STOKES. 2009. Growth and survival of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from Karluk Lake and River, Alaska, in relation to climatic and oceanic regimes and indices, 1922-2000. Fish. Bull., U.S. 107:488-500. (.pdf, 924 KB).  Online.
   
• SECM Insights into Zooplankton Dynamics in the Northern Region of Southeast Alaska
  By:  M. STURDEVANT, E. FERGUSSON, J. ORSI, W. PARK, B. WING, A. WERTHEIMER
  Conference:  Salmon Ocean Ecology 11th Annual Meeting, Juneau, AK, Apr 2009
  (2009 poster, .pdf, 291KB)   Online.
   
• Stock-structured Distribution of Western Alaska Juvenile Chinook Salmon from U.S. BASIS Surveys, 2002-2007
  By:  JAMES MURPHY, WILLIAM TEMPLIN, EDWARD FARLEY, JAMES SEEB
  Conference:  Salmon Ocean Ecology 11th Annual Meeting, Juneau, AK, Apr 2009
  (2009 poster, .pdf, 174 KB.)   Online.
   

See the publications and posters databases for additional listings.