A Steller Study

Paper in a Nutshell: Bishop, Dubel, Sattler, Brown, Horning. 2019. Wanted dead or alive: characterizing likelihood of juvenile Steller sea lion predation from diving and space use patterns. Endangered Species Research. Endangered species is a topic that we can all relate to. Whether it is a Blanding’s turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) that is living in your […]

ASLC Science goes LIVE!

Even with our doors closed, the mission of the ASLC carries on–to generate and share scientific information. In fact, our organization was founded for the specific purpose of conducting marine research and we love sharing our research adventures, antics, analyses and accomplishments with you here on the blog. With everyone safely hunkered down at home, […]

2019: A Year in Review

In case you missed any of our posts, over the past 365 days we have been very busy in the ASLC Science Department! Here are some of the highlights from 2019: Here Sharky Sharky Sharky! Our biggest research project of the year entailed an exploration into the world of the elusive and enigmatic Pacific Sleeper […]

Sleeper Shark Science 2020

My forearms were starting to burn as hand over hand I pulled in the 950ft of line from the depths of Resurrection Bay. The first 3 lines we pulled in were empty, save for the salmon heads we used as bait, but this one sounded different. The whir of the hauler was a bit louder, […]

Live slow and prosper

I shivered as my legs slipped beneath the 42⁰F water; everyone was up to their thighs in the cold water for our first day of metabolic trials with the Pacific sleeper shark. Even with waders on, I could feel the chill in my toes. Angelica handed me a large red plastic board and I carefully […]

We need a smaller shark (or a bigger boat)!

Well, after an exciting summer of 2018 where we captured and worked with nine Pacific sleeper sharks here in Resurrection Bay, we are at it again for the summer of 2019. Our capture efforts are for a research project funded by the North Pacific Research Board. The project is carried out in collaboration with the […]

Adventures in Exploring the Unknown: Q & A

With the initial excitement calming down from our new shark visitor (see this post for details), I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the people behind our Sleeper Shark Project—lead by Dr. Markus Horning and Dr. Chris Lowe. In the past two years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with this amazing team of […]

WHO’S EATING WHAT?

Paper in a Nutshell: Nielsen, Christiansen, et.al. 2019. Greenland Shark (Somniosus microcephalus) Stomach Contents and Stable Isotope Values Reveal an Ontogenetic Dietary Shift. Frontiers in Marine Science. What can sharks tell us about ocean food webs? The ocean is full of creatures, from benthic invertebrates to pelagic fish to the largest mammals in the world. […]

Sunset on Shark Season 2019

We had our last day sharking on this past Sunday, but no weekend sharks were to be found. So as we pack up the totes of line, buoys and gear— it looks like it’s a wrap for shark season 2019! And what a season it was! Our team spent over 30 days on the […]

Operation Sleeper Keeper

“Straight ahead!” Dr. Horning called out to the crew, taking his binoculars down and smiling. We had been gently bobbing south down Resurrection Bay for the last 40min, listening for the soft beep of the goniometer to confirm we were getting closer to our target—a miniPAT tag that had detached from a Pacific Sleeper Shark […]

Gummy Bears and Math

Electronic mark-resight studies: part 1 Aspiring young scientists often joke that they should put “expert counter” on their resume. Counting seals, counting barnacles in a quadrat, counting birds, counting cells… you name it, an intern has counted it. This is because a lot of ecological research and conservation requires knowing how many of something there […]

Sleeper shark necropsy!

On November 27th, we got to perform a necropsy on the carcass of a Pacific sleeper shark.

Friday Frontiers 12-14-18

For our Friday Frontiers this week we get back to our favorite topic: sharks! In a recent study from California (appropriately published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science), scientists were trying to find new techniques for monitoring Great White Sharks. Shark conservation and research is difficult. For some elusive species, half of the battle is […]

Sleeper Shark Season Wrap-up

Lessons learned and new horizons Well our first season of researching sharks is wrapped up! It has been a roller coaster and an example of teamwork in action. Since our first efforts at camera deployment and attempts at fishing, we have logged over 20 days on the water, from 3 different boats, and with a […]

It’s a shark!

To wrap up Shark week, we will continue the story of our Pacific sleeper shark research project. Now where did we leave off…? “It’s a shark!” Everyone clambered to the side of the boat to lean over and get a look. Sure enough, on our last hook of the day was a huge shark! Days […]

We’re gonna need a bigger boat…

Our first Pacific sleeper shark, and already we need a bigger boat! Story to follow. Permit CF-18-041.

Rare new footage of the Pacific sleeper shark!

Here is some rare video footage of a sleeper shark collected near the Solomon Islands by researchers from the University of Rhode Island via remote video cameras in an expedition supported by the National Geographic Society.

Shark Tag Recovered!

On May 31st, our ASLC Shark Research Team caught our first Pacific Sleeper Shark (we posted the picture of our success a few weeks ago here). As she was too big for our main study, we collected various measurements, samples, and attached a satellite tag to track her movements and diving patterns after release (Permit […]

A summer in the life of a research fellow

Back in 2015, I participated in #LibWorkIT, a social media campaign that highlighted some of the diverse professional responsibilities of librarians throughout Florida. My contributions weren’t terribly exciting, but it was fun to participate and see what my colleagues were up to throughout the week. While there isn’t a similar hashtag for ASLC fellows, I […]

Needle in a haystack

Back in August we caught our 4th Pacific Sleeper shark. This animal was tagged with a Wildlife Computers mini-PAT (satellite pop-up tag) and then was released right off Caines Head in Resurrection Bay. The mini-PAT had been scheduled to detach itself 90 days after deployment, which was Monday. And right on schedule, on Monday, the tag […]

AMSS 2019

I am always excited when in the dark of winter, the Alaska Marine Science Symposium rolls around. It’s a beautiful but long 126 miles from Seward to Anchorage. “We’re at the end of the road” quite literally—the SeaLife Center is at mile 1 of the Seward Highway with only the Pacific Ocean behind us. There […]

Here Sharky, Sharky, Sharky

A few weeks ago we posted about the surprising saga of the shark satellite tag scavenger hunt. Due to the unexpected nature of that occurrence, we actually got ahead of ourselves here on 60N on the story of the Sleeper Shark Research Project. Before the tag could be lost and then found–we first had to […]

From the Fellow Series: Introductions

Greetings! My name is Philina Richardson and I am a science outreach fellow at the Alaska SeaLife Center this summer. My primary objective this summer is to develop an outreach website for the Pacific Sleeper Shark Project. To help support this objective (and to shed some light on the nature of outreach and why it’s […]

Murphy’s Law: A day on the water

It was one of those rare truly epic days in Resurrection Bay: sun shining, sparkling calm seas, endless snowcapped mountain views. Our team assembled, and everyone was sipping the last of their coffees as the Jubatus, the ASLC research vessel, pulled out of the harbor. “Everyone ready?” I asked. When smiles and nods were returned, […]

Sleeper Shark vs. Great White Shark

5 reasons why Sleeper Sharks are cooler than the Great White Shark

Jargon and Readability

When I started drafting this post, I planned to write about how to use (or not to use) technical language in science communication. Technical language (more frequently referred to as “jargon”) is a hot topic in the science communication world and articles, essays, and tip-sheets on the topic abound. Rather than re-hashing what’s already been […]

Happy Anniversary to 60° North Science!

Hard to believe that it has been a year since this blog started!! In the past 365 days, we have shared stories about what we can learn from scooping sea lion poop how we are teaching girl scouts about science research how smartphones can help prepare communities for climate change new papers unexpected company in […]

Summer of Science 2020

Right about now, we would be sharing stories about how our researchers are dusting off their field gear, checking xtratufs (wellies) for leaks, and making those first few voyages out onto the water. Research is a team sport—data collectors, observers, boat operators, laboratory technicians—and often requires travel to field sites either by the researchers themselves […]

Coming to an ASLC near you in 2018!

Congratulations to Dr. Markus Horning and colleagues on recently finding out the North Pacific Research Board is planning on funding their Pacific sleeper shark study starting this fall!

Science “Rocks”!

Last week, we set out into Resurrection Bay on the ASLC research vessel Jubatus to test its new addition: an A-frame and winch system. The sturdy archway with hydraulic lift was outfitted to Jubatus to enable the deployment and retrieval of heavy moorings and equipment at sea, or in this case, some heavy rocks!

Best Practice Recommendations

New Paper in a Nutshell: Best practice recommendations for the use of fully implanted telemetry devices in pinnipeds. Horning et al. 2017

How we get research ideas

You’ve probably heard stories about how scientists get ideas that might include ‘it came to me in a dream!’. This blog post shares a different kind of story–one about how scientists take an idea, design a scientific study, discover an answer, and excitingly, end up with more questions!