Many Alaskans travel in the winter and spring to get a break from the snow and the dark (which this winter came in at a near record-breaking 100-inches!!). For me, winter and spring is often the quiet before the storm—the period before the chaos and excitement of the summer field season starts. You’ve heard from Kyle and Ana about their projects; but there are a few other things happening in the Bishop Lab that have turned my typical spring siesta into a whirlwind of travel…
Telemetry and Tea
First up was the 8th International Biologging Society Symposium (BLS8) in Tokyo, Japan! This is one of my favorite conferences to attend as it brings together researchers from around the world to share information on cutting-edge advances in engineering and how biologging devices are uncovering the hidden lives of wild animals to inform effective conservation. “Bio-logging” employs miniature animal-attached electronic tags to uncover the hidden lives of wild animals, including birds, mammals, fish and even insects. There were a lot of talks from marine mammals and shark researchers—including one that demonstrated they were able to monitor how seals sleep during dives!
I presented our North Pacific Research Board-funded research on Pacific sleeper sharks in Alaska and how satellite-transmitting telemetry tags revealed these elusive animals use a variety of deep and shallow habitats seasonally, and maybe aren't as 'sleepy' as we think! Markus also gave a poster about how the same tags are helping us explore the foraging behaviors of these sharks.
The Itsukushima Shrine and its torii gate are unique for being built over water, seemingly floating in the sea during high tide. Miyajima, Japan
Between the talks and workshops, it was amazing to experience the food, tea, culture, and welcoming people in Japan, and I’m really grateful these experiences are a part of my professional development!
BRAIDED Food Security
Not back in Alaska for even 2 weeks, I found myself once again at the airport--this time heading for a small island in the middle of the Bering Sea. For the people of St. Paul Island, specifically Unangax̂ (the People of the Sea, or the Aleut Peoples), connections to marine resources predate written historic records. The marine waters around St. Paul Island provide food, income, knowledge, community, personal health and well-being, and Unangax̂ cultural heritage. Community members and village Elders have voiced concerns in the face of climate change and pollution that environmental toxicants, such as mercury, are a threat to traditional wild foods like fish and fur seals.
The sun peaking through the clouds over St. Paul Island in April.
Current practices for monitoring food safety often include sending samples out to research or agency labs for testing. But information can take a while to get back to the community, and this lag may result in the avoidance of consumption of traditional foods ... even if contaminants are not presently a threat! Additionally, this approach to research places a lot of the emphasis on the university team members, and can sometimes exclude the community from engaging in key decision-making.
The Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Tribal government, Bishop Lap (UAA), and METAL (UAF) are co-Leading a new project that is funded by USDA-NIFA as part of the NSF CIVIC Innovation Challenge. Our goal is to flip the script by centering mercury monitoring in traditional foods within the community--creating analytical, personnel, and data infrastructure on-site. Specifically, we will be the first project set up in the new Bering Sea Research Center on St. Paul Island.
Our amazing team ready to see the new Bering Sea Research Center come alive!
In April, we went to St. Paul to speak with the community about the project kicking off and were excited to unpack all the boxes of laboratory equipment that had been shipped to the center. By the end of the weekend, the first samples had been run on the new analyzer! As more samples are brought in, we will BRAID together the cultural and nutritional dimensions of traditional foods with resource monitoring data, in order to enhance place-based decision making and improve resilience.
From Top Left Clockwise: a) Angie getting the mercury analzyer set up, b) We hosted an open house for community members to stop by and see the setup and lab space, c) All the new equipment and instruments ready to go! d) Dallas running the first batch of practice samples--we have data!
Grounded
There were a few other small trips in the following weeks: a pop up to Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow and the northernmost city in the US, to do some community outreach, and a short weekend down in Seward to plan some future shark projects.
Eventually, the semester ended and I boarded a plane one more time to fly 6.5hrs back to the Midwest to see my family. Over the following days, I watched my nieces run around the yard, giggling and hopping through the sprinkler on an unusually warm May afternoon. I paddled along the Chicago river with my Mom. My brothers and I were threw frisbees at the new disc-golf basket that Andy had gotten for his birthday, and then wandered down to the Mississippi River, listened to the local band (lead by the school's Principal) at the brewery, and eventually grabbed some "hamburger pizza" for dinner. No big plans, no data, no emails...
I love traveling, and would be lying if I said I wasn't already planning my next adventure. But it is helpful sometimes to remember that as much as I love my work, the new cultures, the new data, the people and friends I meet along the way… it is also important to maintain balance, grounding in the relationships that recharge our batteries, and not lose ourselves chasing the next boarding gate.
Midwest sunsets
Written by: Dr. Amy Bishop
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