Alaska Fish & Wildlife News
November 2022

European Green Crabs are Here in Alaska
Now what?

I’ve got bad news to report, dear reader; invasive European green crabs have reached Alaska.

I wrote an article for Alaska Fish and Wildlife News in May of 2021 suggesting that European green crabs could be the next invasive aquatic species to threaten Alaska and described the reasons we should be concerned. While writing that article, it’s likely they had already found a suitable spot to settle and reproduce in a lovely eelgrass meadow in the waters of southern Southeast ...   European Green Crabs Article Continued

Become a Skull Detective

Finding animal bones, especially skulls, can be exciting! And everyone loves a good mystery. There are many fascinating things you can learn from animal skulls. Skull characteristics offer clues about animal diets and helps to classify animals into related groups.

Notice the mystery skull. Do you know what animal it is? To make solving this mystery a bit simpler we will focus on mammals only, though some of these concepts apply to other groups of animals as well.

What can we learn ...   Be a Skull detective Article Continued

Fatality-free Year for Alaska Commercial Fishing

No one died commercial fishing in Alaska over the past year. Fishing is a famously dangerous line of work, and this is remarkable news. This happened only once before, in 2015, but it may well happen again. Better gear, industry oversight, and safer practices are improving the odds for those at sea.

The Coast Guard 17th District Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety office reported the news in late October, 2022. These statistics are measured in the federal fiscal year, which runs Oct. 1 through ...   No one died fishing Article Continued