natural resources

This summer, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game closed two lakes in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough to control the spread of the freshwater invasive plant Elodea by floatplanes and boats. Clean-up efforts for the two lakes are predicted to cost $1 million.

ISER’s Jennifer Schmidt, Assistant Professor of Natural Resource Management and Policy, is working with researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Alaska Center for Energy and Power and College of Engineering and Mines to examine food, energy and water (FEW) security issues in rural Alaska and determine how small-scale renewable energy might ease the issues. 

Tourism in Alaska is a growth industry, with much of the revenue generated below the Arctic Circle. But the Arctic’s unique natural environment and tourists' desire to see the Arctic before it changes – sometimes called “last chance tourism” – is drawing more and more travelers above the Arctic Circle. The increase in nature-based tourism offers Arctic communities around the world development opportunities, but also risks to community and environmental systems.

Chris Southcott, who has been involved in community-based research in the circumpolar north for more than 30 years, will share final results from his Resources and Sustainable Development (ReSDA) project, which looked at developing ways to ensure that a larger share of resource development benefits stay in the region, and what it means for communities in Northern Canada, Alaska and other Arctic regions at a lunchtime talk at ISER on Thursday, May 16 at noon. 

Reproduced with permission from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

 ISER’s Matt Reimer is co-author of a new paper on fisheries management released by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). 

Matthew Berman and Jennifer Schmidt, faculty members at ISER, recently completed a study titled Economic Effects of Climate Change in Alaska. Findings from that research were also included in the Alaska chapter of the recently released report from the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).

The graph shows Alaska statewide annual average temperatures for 1925-2016.

Alaska has hundreds of commercial fisheries, and fishery managers issue unique permits for each fishery. But in a new blog post, Matt Reimer, an ISER economist, and his co-authors report that many of those who fish in Alaska waters have multiple permits, allowing them to take catches in different fisheries. That means if managers change a policy for one fishery—for instance, reducing the catch limit—permit holders could react by changing where they fish, going after different species, or using different gear.

So how can managers assess whether a policy change in one commercial fishery might have such unintended consequences in others? Matt Reimer and his co-authors argue that having statistical data on cross-fishery networks among permit holders—and analyzing those data—could help managers better understand the potential spillover effects of changing policies for a given fishery. The authors also created an interactive map, showing existing cross-fishery networks. Check out the blog.

If you have questions, get in touch with Matt Reimer at: mreimer2@alaska.edu or 907-786-5430.