Every year at the end of January, a bevy of scientists, managers, and communicators descend on Anchorage for a week to celebrate Ocean Science: the Alaska Marine Science Symposium. Similar to the daylight starting to extend a bit longer, this event generally serves as a boost for our energy, creativity, and sense of community as we meet old friends and make new connections. This year the whole Bishop Lab was in attendance!
Graduate students all excited to be at the first day of talks about the Gulf of Alaska Ecosystem.
This year Ana, Kyle, and Natalie presented their MSc research at the poster sessions. Unlike talks, posters are a great way to have more organic conversations, get advice, and network with attendees.
I have been attending the Alaska Marine Science Symposium for close to 10 years now and have seen it weather its fair number of storms; from government shutdowns (2018), to earthquakes (2020), the global pandemics (2021-22). This year might have been the worst: with a mid-week announcement that the work we do, the scientific evidence of climate change, the people who are our colleagues and friends, and the communities we serve all were under very real and direct threat. Anxiety wove as an under current through the room. It was pervasive at every coffee break: folks fielding rapid emails, checking on funds needed for supporting healthy economies and ecosystems, and for many... wondering if they'd have a job the next day.
I'm grateful, in a way, this news happened when it did, as we were were surrounded by our colleagues and friends. I'd love to wrap up this post with a "false alarm! everything is okay!" but it isn't. All I can say is I'm proud to be a part of this community dedicated to creating resilient coastal communities, studying the effects of climate change and identifying solutions, and working towards a diverse, equitable, and vibrant future of scientific research...and we won't give up.
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