Abstract
Alaska has the longest coastline of all of the states in the USA. This coastal zone stretches from the temperate zone to past the Arctic circle. Oceanographic conditions vary from quiet estuaries to exposed open coasts. Water temperatures range from over 20°C in the summer in the south to ice covered water in the north. Consequently, the marine flora is plentiful and diverse with over 500 species of seaweeds. Three species of floating kelps occur from the southern boundary to Kodiak Island and westward along the Aleutian Chain. Species of Fucus are dominant in the intertidal along most of the coastline. There is also an abundance of red algae in the intertidal and subtidal. There is only minimal subsistence and commercial utilization of the seaweed resource. The major commercial use of seaweeds is in the herring spawn-on-kelp fishery. “Black seaweed” (Pyropia sp.) is a special resource for Alaskan Native subsistence harvest. Recently, there has been increasing interest and activity in the commercial mariculture of kelps such as Saccharina latissima and Alaria marginata.
About the author
Michael S. Stekoll is professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Alaska. He received a BSc in chemistry from Stanford University in 1971 and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of California Los Angeles in 1976. He began serious marine research as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Alaska Fairbanks investigating the effects of crude petroleum on intertidal clams. His research interests have focused on the physiology, ecology and culture of seaweeds and the effects of pollution on marine organisms. He is currently involved in research on the mariculture of kelps and other seaweeds.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank the Alaskan Department of Fish and Game, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Auke Bay Laboratory and Sandra C. Lindstrom for providing valuable data for this manuscript.
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Supplementary Material
The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/bot-2018-0064).
Article note
This article is part of the special issue series of Botanica Marina: Seaweed resources of the world: a 2020 vision, starting publication in Botanica Marina 2019, vol. 62, issue 3. The series will be guest-edited by Alan T. Critchley, Anicia Hurtado, Leonel Pereira, Melania Cornish, Danilo Largo and Nicholas Paul.
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