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Outer Continental Shelf Program Active

By Alaska Science Center May 17, 2023

This is a nation-wide collaborative program, supported by the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area, through which USGS and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management staff address priority research needs identified by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.  On this page, we highlight research taking place in Alaska as part of this program.

Return to Ecosystems >> Collaborative Science for Priority Information Needs

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management priorities change annually through this program and results of past studies can be found under Data and Tools and Publications on this page. 

For 2020-2023, the USGS Alaska Science Center is focusing on the following science needs identified by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Alaska and Pacific Regions: 

Below are other science projects associated with this project.

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A lot of small fish from a fyke net set near Kaktovik, AK. Biologists sort through them.

Nearshore Fish Surveys in the Beaufort Sea

Nearshore systems provide habitat to a unique community of marine and diadromous (lives in both fresh and saltwater) fish and support high fish abundance.
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Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
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Nearshore Fish Surveys in the Beaufort Sea

Nearshore systems provide habitat to a unique community of marine and diadromous (lives in both fresh and saltwater) fish and support high fish abundance.
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Below are data or web applications associated with this project.

Nearshore Fish Isotope Values, Beaufort Sea, Alaska, 2017-2019

This dataset contains isotope values of muscle tissue from fish collected in the nearshore Beaufort Sea, Alaska in summers 2017-2019.
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Alaska Science Center

Assessing the Status and Trends of Seabirds and Forage Fish in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska

This data release is composed of six datasets regarding colonial seabirds and forage fish at two seabird nesting colonies on Gull and Chisik Islands in lower Cook Inlet, Alaska. These data were collected to detect changes in the breeding population of Black-legged Kittiwakes and Common Murres on two nesting colonies in lower Cook Inlet and to compare those counts to baseline counts from 1995-1999.
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Alaska Science Center

Walrus used and available resource units for northeast Chukchi Sea, 2008-2012

Sea ice loss represents a stressor to the Pacific walrus, which feeds on benthic macroinvertebrates in the Bering and Chukchi seas. However, no studies have examined the effects of sea ice on foraging walrus space use patterns. Thus, we examined walrus foraging resource selection as a function of proximity to resting substrates and prey biomass with a matched use-availability design. We quantif
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Alaska Science Center

Below are multimedia items associated with this project.

Common Murre on the water in Kachemak Bay, Alaska
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Photo of the juvenile Chum salmon under a ruler to show size. First confirmed successful reproduction of Pacific salmon, AK
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A Red-throated Loon swimming in a small lake
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Below are publications associated with this project.

Borealization of nearshore fishes on an interior Arctic shelf over multiple decades

Borealization is a type of community reorganization where Arctic specialists are replaced by species with more boreal distributions in response to climatic warming. The process of borealization is often exemplified by the northward range expansions and subsequent proliferation of boreal species on the Pacific and Atlantic inflow Arctic shelves (i.e., Bering/Chukchi and Barents seas, respectively).
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Vanessa R. von Biela, Sarah M. Laske, Ashley E. Stanek, Randy J Brown, Kenneth H. Dunton
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Alaska Science Center

Barrier islands influence the assimilation of terrestrial energy in nearshore fishes

We examined the relative importance of landscape features on estuarine fish trophic structure and dependence on terrestrial organic matter (OMterr) in four barrier island lagoon systems along the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast. Our study compared two relatively large lagoon systems characterized by high river discharge and relatively free ocean water exchanges (central region near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska)
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Ashley E. Stanek, Vanessa R. von Biela, Sarah M. Laske, Rebecca L. Taylor, Kenneth H. Dunton
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Alaska Science Center

First juvenile Chum Salmon confirms successful reproduction for Pacific salmon in the North American Arctic

The distributional extent of Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. in the North American Arctic is unresolved. While adult Pacific salmon have a recurring presence across the Alaskan North Slope and into the Canadian Arctic, it is uncertain if these fish are part of established Arctic populations, vagrants from outside sources reproducing unsuccessfully, or both. Here we present the first confirmed rec
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Karen M. Dunmall, Darcy G. McNicholl, Christian E. Zimmerman, Sara E. Gilk-Baumer, Sean E. Burril, Vanessa R. von Biela
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Monitoring the recovery of seabirds and forage fish following a major ecosystem disruption in Lower Cook Inlet

Following the North Pacific marine heatwave of 2014-2016 and associated extreme die-off of seabirds in the winter of 2015-2016, we repeated historical marine bird and forage fish surveys around two seabird colonies (Gull Island, Chisik Island) in lower Cook Inlet during 2016-2019 in order to document immediate and lingering impacts of the heatwave on resident fish and seabird populations. At sea,
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Mayumi L. Arimitsu, Sarah K. Schoen, John F. Piatt, Caitlin Elizabeth Marsteller, Gary S. Drew
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Red-throated loon (Gavia stellata) use of nearshore marine habitats—Results from a 2019 pilot study in northern Alaska

Red-throated loons (Gavia stellata) are a species of conservation concern in Alaska due to recent evidence of a population decline on the Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) in northern Alaska. In 2019, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a pilot study to evaluate diet and use of nearshore foraging areas as possible drivers of the population decline. We collected fat
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Brian D. Uher-Koch, Christopher J. Latty, Joel A. Schmutz
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Space use of a dominant Arctic vertebrate: Effects of prey, sea ice, and land on Pacific walrus resource selection

Sea ice dominates marine ecosystems in the Arctic, and recent reductions in sea ice may alter food webs throughout the region. Sea ice loss may also stress Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens), which feed on benthic macroinvertebrates in the Bering and Chukchi seas. However, no studies have examined the effects of sea ice on foraging Pacific walrus space use patterns. We tested a series
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William S. Beatty, Chadwick V. Jay, Anthony S. Fischbach, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Rebecca L. Taylor, Arny L. Blanchard, Stephen C. Jewett
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center

Below are news stories associated with this project.

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USGS Alaska Science Center Project Updates for Collaborative Science with USFWS, NPS, and BOEM

One of the primary missions of the USGS is to provide science for decision making, particularly for Department of Interior management bureaus such as...

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