UAS Applied Fisheries

09/30/2026

It’s been a shell of a week for Alaska Aquaculture Semester Students🦪: visiting Merrick Shellfish to experience some FlipFarm ASMR, touring the UAS Mariculture facility, dissecting Pacific Oysters, and field tripping to the Southeast Alaska Tribal Ocean Research (SEATOR) lab to learn about shellfish testing.

Big thanks to Evan O’Brien of Merrick Shellfish for showing us his oyster farm and gear, and Shannon Cellan & Matteo Massotti of SEATOR for showing us how they can use a Receptor Binding Assay (RBA) to determine the concentration of paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) in a shellfish sample.

09/23/2026

Island hopping!

Alaska Aquaculture Students flew to Kodiak last week to learn from an array of mariculture farmers, researchers, and industry professionals.

A huge thank you to Allie Conrad from Greenwave, Chris Sannito from Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, the crew aboard the NOAAS Oscar Dyson Research Vessel, Pillar Creek Hatchery staff, Alf Pryor - Alaska Ocean Farms LLC, The NOAA Kodiak Laboratory, and Nick Mangini - Kodiak Island Sustainable Seaweed.

09/19/2026

We are very excited to announce the arrival of the newest addition to our mariculture program… the UAS Mariculture Facility!

The UAS-Sitka Campus has acquired a floating lab from OceansAlaska in Ketchikan that will give our Applied Fisheries programs the opportunity to grow the early life stages of a variety of mariculture species. This facility has the capacity to cultivate 3,000,000 pacific oyster seed and shellfish and seaweed species.

We are excited to provide unique opportunities for education, industry and research right in front of our campus. This project was made possible by the monumental effort of many people across the UA system and beyond. We can’t wait to share the space with you all!

09/18/2026

snorkeling for your kelp sorus tissue >>> tidepooling for your kelp sorus tissue

09/11/2026

09/11/2026

More fishy fun in Week 2 of the AK Aquaculture Semester!

Students spent their second week of class taking and reading otoliths with NSRRA, calculating fecundities at the Sitka Sound Science Center, collecting kidney and ovarian samples, spawning out at Medvejie Hatchery, and practicing some water sampling techniques in different areas within the Sitka Sound. Not a bad way to spend a sunny week

06/04/2026

Dive in with UAS!

If you are a student interested in fisheries, diving, and marine biology, and would like to deepen your studies with a field-based program in Alaska, please join us in the Spring of 2027 for a semester of diving in the Sitka Sound of Southeast Alaska!

Fill out an interest form in our bio.

05/13/2026

Mementos from a triumphant kelp harvest 🔱

Last week, the UAS Mariculture Team harvested Three-ribbed Kelp (Cymathaere triplicata) that had been outplanted by last fall’s Alaska Aquaculture Semester, in addition to an over wintered line of Split Kelp (Hedophyllum nigripes). The kelp was brought back to the university and distributed to local gardeners to be used as a soil amendment.

04/30/2026

A Kelp-tastic 2026 Aquaculture Lab!

Between visiting an oyster farm, touring two salmon enhancement facilities, pressing seaweed for the UAS herbarium, dissecting oysters, and inoculating microalgae students were BUSY during this 3-day lab intensive. Students came from across the state and country to learn about the current and growing industries of Alaskan Aquaculture. Big thanks to all those who attended in addition to our community partners for giving our students the opportunity to learn from Alaskan industry professionals.

04/08/2026

Shellebrating the success of our 5th annual Oyster Hatchery Training Workshop in Ketchikan that took place at the Oceans Alaska barge facility in Ketchikan!

Attendees got hands on experience learning about:

- Basic biology/anatomy including dissection
- Microalgae production techniques
- Spawning
- Larval rearing
- Seed setting
- Site selection and water quality
- Land-based nursery rearing
- FLUPSY production

Huge thanks to Oceans Alaska, Alaska Sea Grant, The Alaska Mariculture Research & Training Center, B&B Mariculture, Eric Wyatt, and SeaGrove for working with the UAS Applied Fisheries Team to make this workshop happen!