Herring returned to Auke Bay near Juneau, Alaska, last month, later than usual, and they’ve laid eggs for the first time in decades, but people in the region, as well as UO anthropologist Madonna Moss,are wondering whether eggs from the fish will survive their spawning in warm temperatures.

Moss recently co-authored a research paper that looked at data on herring populations over the last 2,500 years and beyond at numerous sites in the Pacific Northwest, from near Seattle to Alaska. Pacific herring have been a foundation for coastal ecosystems and an important food source for indigenous populations.

Juneau Empire reporter Mary Catharine Martin provided readers with spot news coverage of the return of the fish and a feature story that provided the historical perspective. The latter was built around a talk Moss delivered to the Sealaska Heritage Institute in the spring.

For details, see Martin's stories:

• Herring return to Auke Bay
• Herring search spans millennia (featuring the talk by Moss)

The newspaper also posted a link to a video of her entire talk.

The research by Moss and colleagues was detailed in a February news release.

—By Jim Barlow, Public Affairs Communications