Operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks under a Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), the laboratory on the shore of Kasitsna Bay, near the intersection with Kachemak Bay, provides an ideal location for studying subarctic marine life and their interactions with the environment. NCCOS is part of the Commerce Department’s National Ocean Service, within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The mission of NCCOS is to provide coastal managers with scientific information and tools needed to balance society’s environmental, social and economic goals. This mission is being addressed through this partnership between NCCOS and UAF which together are linking with the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Homer in an attempt to provide scientific information needed for the management of resources of the Kachemak Bay region.
The laboratory has been an active site for education and research for several decades with multiple university courses being taught and research ranging from embryology to molecular biology to contaminants to marine ecology. More information can be obtained on UAF work at www.westnurc.uaf.edu/ kbay.html.
The lab itself is located within the boundaries of the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, responsible for enhancing public understanding and appreciation of the Kachemak Bay estuary and adjacent waters to help ensure a healthy and productive ecosystem. In providing coastal resource managers with scientific information and tools to meet society’s environmental and economic goals, the research being done by UAF staff and students and NCCOS’s own scientists focuses on habitats and links between plants and animals and provides scientific information directly relevant to managing coastal resources.
Additionally, some of the more recent research is being conducted in cooperation with the Port Graham community. We believe that the partnership and linkage with both the research reserve and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game will forge an ecosystem research, education and training program that will afford the opportunity to explore the application of an ecosystem-based approach to the management of cold water, fiord-type ecosystems in which increased human use has begun before the effects of that development have been fully realized.
The redeveloped laboratory has a new dormitory and bunkhouse with sleeping accommodations for 48 people, kitchens, laundry facilities and a lounge. The lab also includes a new scuba dive building, a newly constructed wet laboratory with running seawater, a series of dry labs for sorting and other work, and a combined pier and dock.
The laboratory is used primarily by researchers and students, but the facility also is available for use by community groups. The remodeling construction is scheduled for completion this summer.
Gordon Thayer, Ph.D., recently retired as the acting deputy director of the NOAA Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, Beaufort, N.C., and is currently serving as the Kasitsna Bay Laboratory coordinator as an IMSG contractor for NOAA located in Homer.
Photo caption: The redeveloped Kasitsna Bay Laboratory is shown from near McDonald Spit. The large building to the right is the new seawater and dry laboratory building. In the foreground are the new pier and dock at the laboratory. Photograph by Gordon Thayer
Major renovations are nearing completion at the Kasitsna Bay Laboratory, nine miles from Seldovia near Jakalof Bay, providing scientists and area residents a new world-class, state-of-the-art scientific research and teaching facility.
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