Indigenous peoples to help track changes around Bering Sea

The National Science Foundation has awarded $3 million to the Bering Sea Sub Network (BSSN), a regional initiative connecting coastal communities in Western Alaska and Northeast Russia for systematic gathering of local observations on the changing environment around the Bering Sea. The five year project is implemented by the Resilience and Adaptive Management Group at the University of Alaska Anchorage and the Aleut International Association as a partnership between scientists practicing in both western and indigenous traditions.

The Bering Sea -- one of the most productive seas in the world, which includes globally important habitats for many biological resources -- is now undergoing far-reaching environmental changes including climate change that alarm scientists, coastal residents and others from around the world. The region is of vital economic importance to both the U.S. and Russia. U.S. commercial fisheries in the Bering Sea are worth close to $1 billion per year, and make up more than half of all annual domestic fish landings. In Russia, the fishery is worth about $600 million a year, and makes up about a third of the country's fish harvest.

The multi-year research will help better understand the occurring changes, their consequences to the local societies, and will improve the ability of coastal communities to respond to these changes. BSSN will include four more villages in Alaska over the course of five years.

For more information, contact Victoria Gofman at (907) 332-5388 and e-mail victoriag@alaska.net or Lilian Alessa at (907) 786-7749 and e-mail afla@uaa.alaska.edu. Visit the Bering Sea Sub Network Web site.