ComFish 2016 Brings Informational Talks to Town

Kayla Desroches/KMXT

The ComFish Alaska Trade Show will not only offer booths – and products for sale – but will also provide a selection of informational talks. The majority of the forums are scheduled for Friday, but there are several on Thursday, including one about the history of the seafood industry in Alaska and Kodiak and a presentation on the Navy’s Pacific Fleet and its training exercises in the Gulf of Alaska. That update will include information on the Navy’s environmental impact analysis on the exercises.

Then, on Friday, the schedule is packed with talks, the majority of which address aspects of the fishing industry and the fish that keep it going. The first talk of the day at 10 a.m. is with Jane Sullivan from the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, and she’ll speak about the decline in weight and size of Pacific halibut. In the ComFish description of the talk, they write that the “average weight of a 20-year-old halibut declined from 120 pounds in 1988 to less than 45 pounds in 2014.”

Another standout forum at 11 a.m. addresses climate change and ocean acidification in the Bering Sea. According to the roster of talks, NOAA scientists at the Kodiak Laboratory have conducted studies that suggest ocean acidification could have a negative impact on crab. Presenter Robert Foy, from the NOAA Fisheries Kodiak Lab, will talk about long-term effects on crab populations.

All the forums will be in the Best Western Kodiak Inn Harbor Room. You can find link to the full list of events by following this link.