Educational Resources | Gulf Watch Alaska

Magnified image of a copepod captured in the continuous plankton recorder. Photo credit: Sonia Batten
Zooplankton are captured in large, fine-mesh nets that are pulled vertically through the ocean surface layer.
Recovered temperature, salinity, fluorescence recorder instrument from a stationary mooring. Photo courtesy of David Leech.
Deployment of the continuous plankton recorder behind a vessel. Photo credit: Sonia Batten
Krill are key prey animals in the Gulf of Alaska marine food webs. Photo credit: Russ Hopcroft.

A researcher quantifies intertidal organisms within a quadrat.
Whale Bay sampling site with dominant biobands of Black sea side lichen, Verrucaria spp. and Rockweed, Fucus gardneri
Iktua Bay sampling site with fringing wetlands, including dune grass and sedges.
Sampling site outside Drier Bay.
Brenda Konar samples in the lower intertidal zone.

Surf Scoters take flight. Photo credit: Elizabeth Labunski
Gulf Watch principal investigator, Craig Matkin, takes a biopsy sample from a killer whale.
A travelling pod of killer whales. Photo Credit: C. Matkin, permit 545-4761-00
Mother and calf killer whales. Photo Credit: C. Matkin, permit 545-4761-00
Killer whale surfaces. Photo credit: Craig Matkin, 545-1761-00
Diving humpback whale. Photo credit: J. Moran, permit #14122
Humpback whale breaching. Photo credit: J. Moran, permit #14122
Pigeon guillemot foraging on a Pacific sand lance. Photo by Tamara Zeller, USFWS.
Like fingerprints, unique markings and distinctive trailing edges on the flukes allow individual recognition of whales.
A humpback whale breaches in Prince William Sound. Photo by John Moran under NMFS permit 14122.
A humpback whale and flock of gulls feed on a school of forage fish and krill in Prince William Sound.

Gulf Watch Alaska Program	Seth and Currents
Normal Years	Anomaly “Blob” Years
Gulf Watch in Kenai Fjords National Park	Cook Inlet Oceanography
Ecological Trends in Kachemak Bay	Nearshore Ecology in the Gulf of Alaska
Herring Scatter from Humpback Whale	Nearshore Sampling in Kachemak Bay
Responding to Seabird Die-off	Wildlife Recovery 28 years Post Spill
Kathy Kuletz and the Common Murres	Gulf Watch Alaska Youth Film Outreach
Science and Stewardship: Keys to Restoring Kachemak Bay	Alaska’s Ecosystem Status Report