Gay Sheffield is a champion for coastal residents of northwest Alaska who use marine mammals for food and cultural purposes. In her role as Marine Advisory agent in Nome, Sheffield routinely responds to conservation, food security and human health concerns about maritime ecological and industrial changes in the Bering Strait region. Sheffield coauthored two scientific papers this year—on bowhead whale scars and on algal toxins in mammals.
In partnership with Alaska Native coastal communities, Sheffield collected information on scars from bowhead whales recently harvested for subsistence to track frequency of line entanglements, ship strikes, and killer whale attacks, and to monitor overall whale health.
As part of Sheffield’s work, algal toxins were investigated for the first time in several marine mammal species throughout Alaska. Collaborators detected the presence of algal toxins as far north as the Beaufort Sea. Sheffield helped coordinate and collect tissue from harvested, dead and stranded marine mammals for analysis, which led to the new information.
Beginning in 2011, when sick seals appeared in large numbers in the Bering Strait region, Sheffield served on a seal Unusual Mortality Event team. She provided samples from stranded seals, led education efforts and contributed to the decision to close the UME although the cause was never confirmed. She gave dozens of presentations to local and national audiences to help inform, alert and coordinate with coastal maritime subsistence food gatherers.
