The Skipper Science Partnership was at ComFish 2022 in Kodiak this past week! In 2021, the Aleutian Bering Sea Initiative, along with the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Tribal Government, SalmonState’s Salmon Habitat Information Program (SHIP), and a number of commercial fishing industry partners kicked off a groundbreaking program with commercial fishermen in Alaska called Skipper Science. This program uses a smartphone app to collect ecological and biological observations, including changes in fisheries and ocean conditions, that allows fishermen to log observations in real-time from the fishing grounds. At ComFish, the Skipper Science team hosted a booth to engage with fishermen and get participants signed up. We got over 30 Kodiak fishermen signed up to begin logging observations in the coming 2022 fishing season. In addition to hosting a booth, we also gave a presentation on the history of the program, the highlights and lessons learned from the 2021 season, goals for 2022, and provided information to fishermen about how to be part of Skipper Science. Questions? Email skipperscience@aleut.com or check out our website, Instagram, or Facebook.
