Estuary fish communities along a glacial gradient in the Gulf of Alaska, AK NSF EPSCoR Fire and Ice, 2019–2022

Climate change is accelerating glacial melt in Gulf of Alaska watersheds and concomitant changes in runoff will affect coastal and estuarine habitats and ecological communities. This dataset consists of fish community data from beach seine collections in Southeast and Southcentral Alaskan estuaries. Southeast Alaska sites were located in Gastineau Channel and Lynn Canal, near Juneau, and Southcentral Alaska sites were in Kachemak Bay, near Homer. Watersheds adjacent to estuary sites varied in their degree of glacierization (i.e., contemporary ice cover), ranging from 0% to 60% glacier cover. Estuary sites were sampled between April and October, yearly from 2019 to 2022. The dataset consists of fish abundance by species, fish length measurements, and sampling information (e.g., fishing effort, locality, sampling date). These data were collected as part of the Alaska EPSCoR Phase 5 “Fire and Ice” Program by the EPSCoR Coastal Margins team.
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This metadata record was created by Anne Beaudreau, Associate Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks, in Oct–Nov 2020. Following Beaudreau's departure from UAF in December 2020, it is to be maintained by Brenda Konar or designee from the EPSCoR Coastal Margins team. Beaudreau may be contacted with questions regarding the metadata record or Juneau 2019-2020 data at [e-mail].