Successes and Challenges of Interdisciplinary Ocean Acidification Research in Alaska

Arctic regions are a bellweather for ocean acidification (OA) impacts, experiencing rapid and extensive onset of anthropogenically acidified conditions. OA is already occurring in important commercial and subsistence fishery habitats and could have cascading economic consequences. In response to this risk, the NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center and the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory formed a novel partnership, the Alaska OA Enterprise. Our goal is to produce interdisciplinary work that helps define ocean acidification impacts on fisheries through ocean chemistry observations; experimental species response approaches; biogeochemical and fisheries population modeling; and economic impact studies. This interdisciplinary scaled approach has been extremely successful in calculating and communicating potential economic risks and community vulnerabilities to decision makers. Here, we highlight these successes to demonstrate the potential of this interdisciplinary framework to (a) develop community research and monitoring priorities and (2) build support for a sustainable long-term research program.