Fostering local resilience for Alaska fishing communities

Climate change has dramatically impacted Gulf of Alaska fisheries. The global phenomenon has led to fisheries disasters over the last several years, including declines in Chinook and other salmon as well as Pacific Cod, and is impacting commercial fisheries important for livelihoods in coastal Alaska fishing communities. Across many geographically isolated communities within the Gulf of Alaska, fishery losses may be devastating for local economies that lack economic diversity, maintain fishing-dependent food systems, and have multi-generational cultural fishing practices that cannot be replaced. 

“Every fishing boat is a business, often a family business. Stress to the fishery will impact business decisions and trickle down, creating economic stress to the households in these communities,” explained fisheries anthropologist Davin Holen, the coastal community resilience specialist with Alaska Sea Grant.

Despite the tremendous costs of declining fisheries in the region, adaptation planning can be applied to fisheries to ensure the resilience of communities dependent on commercial and subsistence fisheries.

To address these concerns, Alaska Sea Grant is supporting a new grassroots effort in fishing communities in the Gulf of Alaska. The project Advancing Understanding of Climate Adaptation and Resilience in Gulf of Alaska Fishing Communities is being organized by research social scientist Marysia Szymkowiak at the NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center. The project provides support for organizations in three Alaska fishing ports, Sitka, Kodiak, and Cordova, to understand their fishery and community vulnerabilities and plan for climate scenarios. The project includes hosting a community participatory workshop in each location that brings together commercial fishery interests to do a vulnerability assessment that will lead to an adaptation document.  

“The uniqueness of this project is that instead of the project and workshops being led by NOAA or Alaska Sea Grant, the workshops are organized and led by our colleagues at the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust in Sitka, the Alaska Marine Conservation Council in Kodiak, and the Prince William Sound Science Center in Cordova,” Holen said. “These organizations know their communities, know their fisheries, and know the people who have the most in-depth knowledge of changes occurring in the marine environment that are impacting their livelihoods and way of life.”

Workshop support is provided by Holen at Alaska Sea Grant, Darcy Dugan at the Alaska Ocean Observing System, and Syverine Bentz at the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. 

Preliminary workshops have taken place in Sitka and Kodiak, with a workshop in Cordova currently being planned. More information about the fisheries resilience project is available from the Alaska Ocean Observing System.