The Alaska Fisheries Science Center is the research branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service. The AFSC generates scientific information for the conservation, management, and utilization of the region's living marine resources. The North Pacific Ocean and the eastern Bering Sea support some of the most important commercial fisheries in the world, and are home to the largest marine mammal populations in the nation.
The Kodiak Laboratory Aquarium & Touch Tank is popular with school groups, and features crabs, mollusks, seastars, fish, and other invertebrate species.