Gulf Watch Alaska’s long-term monitoring program tracks marine ecosystem changes at multiple scales to develop a better understanding of relationships between living organisms and their environment. The monitoring program is comprised of three components: Environmental Drivers, Nearshore Ecosystems, and Pelagic Ecosystems. Each of the components and the projects that make up the components are described under the links to the right. In addition, the program supports a Science Synthesis component that works closely with all monitoring projects to integrate findings, analyze the studies across projects and components, and develop a greater understanding of ecosystem effects across the northern Gulf of Alaska. Findings from this program are shared and utilized by the scientific community, resource management agencies and decisionmakers, spill-affected communities, and the public.
The overall goals of Gulf Watch Alaska are to:
- Provide sound scientific information on biological resources and environmental conditions to management agencies, the scientific research community and the general public,
- Identify and help understand the impacts of multiple factors on recovery of resources injured by the 1989 oil spill, and
- Leverage partnerships with state and federal agencies, universities, non-profits and private entities to integrate and provide access to data from broader monitoring efforts in the region.