Tag Archives: The Blob

Over the last decade, two massive marine heatwaves, better known as “blobs” swept the North Pacific Ocean, raising surface temperatures more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit causing blooms of toxic algae and major die-offs in the ecosystem. A new study from the University of British Columbia reports that as these heatwaves continue, they may have far more devastating implications to fisheries …

This summer the North Pacific was hit with the second marine heatwave of the decade. Mirroring the first so-called “Blob” of 2014, scientists measured ocean temperatures as more than five degrees above normal, across millions of square miles stretching from Alaska to California. The first “Blob” decimated fisheries, caused a mass seabird die-off, and spurred toxic algal blooms up and …

Alaskans may remember a few years ago, when huge numbers of common murres, a type of northern seabird, were washing up dead onshore. A new study from the University of Washington links the large die-off up to food scarcity during a period of extremely warm water temperatures. A dead common murre found in Kodiak during a seven-month beach survey (Photo …

Thick snow continues to blanket Kodiak as the island enters its third day in a row reaching record low temperatures. Lows the last three days have hovered around zero degrees Fahrenheit, even dipping to negative 1 early Tuesday morning. “To get three days in a row, especially in a place like Kodiak that has records going back more than 80 …

The latest Gulf of Alaska trawl survey shows the lowest cod numbers on record. That threatens to close the federal Gulf cod fishery which was slated to begin in less than two months. Cod numbers have been declining for four years, and in Kodiak, just a handful of fishermen are still going after cod. It’s another example of how climate …

When the Board of Fisheries moved its Upper Cook Inlet Finfish meeting from Kenai to Anchorage it took a lot of people by surprise, among those the folks in Kenai. A recent report by the Alaska ombudsman finds that the Board of Fish actions violated the state’s open meeting law. A familiar name in the fishing industry had his catch …

Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced on Thursday that millions of square miles of water in the Pacific Ocean are heating up. They’re calling it a marine heatwave, and it’s looking pretty familiar. NOAA maps illustrate the similarities between the 2014 “Blob” and the 2019 heat wave event in ocean temperatures (Map courtesy NOAA). This new warming …

Coming up this week, the Sitka Tribe would like to see changes to how herring are managed, part of The Blob, let’s call it “Blob Jr.,” had some significant effects on Kachemak Bay, and how Fish and Game is coping with ongoing budget cuts in the face of the state’s fiscal situation. We had vital contributions this week from KCAW’s …

Coming up this week, The Blob is not only back, but it turns out it never really left us; and so how is climate change affecting our fisheries? All that, could offshore surveys be predicting an improving king run on the Yukon? We had help from Alaska Energy Desk’s Zoe Sobel and Annie Feidt, and KIYU’s Tim Bodony.