Coastal Community Resilience
Coastal resilience in Alaska
Temperatures in the Arctic are warming at four times the global average. Many residents of Alaska, a geographically and culturally diverse state, are experiencing thawing permafrost, significant erosion, coastal inundation, ocean acidification, invasive species, and other impacts to their way of life. This is impacting traditional activities such as subsistence activities and commercial fishing, which provide food security and economic well-being to coastal communities. Although there are significant impacts to the coasts and resources Alaskans rely on and are connected to, coastal residents are resilient and are learning to adapt.
Climate Stressors (red box): Large circles labeled "Fish Size", "Warmer Conditions", "Range Shift". Smaller circles include "Uncertainty", "Ecological Change", "Scale of Impacts", "Timing", "Magnitude".
Bio-Ecological System (green box): Central large circle labeled "Salmon". Surrounding circles include "Halibut", "Herring", "Crab", "Deer", "Clams". Additional smaller circles: "Ecosystem", "Health", "Society".
Socioeconomic System (orange box): Large circles labeled "Ecosystem Health", "Subsistence". Smaller circles include "Food Security", "Co-production", "Traditional Knowledge", "Community Well-being".
Adaptation Actions (blue box): Large circle labeled "Management". Smaller circles include "Local Knowledge", "Monitoring", "Partnerships", "Capacity Building", "Research", "Policy Development".
Barriers to Action (yellow box): Circles labeled "Capacity", "Funding", "Governance", "Coordination", "Expertise", "Resources", "Policy", "Communication", "Trust", "Equity".
Movements Toward Adaptation (purple box): Circles labeled "Pathways", "Networks", "Collaboration".
Red and green arrows indicate bidirectional relationships among all components, showing feedback loops between climate stressors, ecological systems, socioeconomic systems, and adaptation strategies.
Social, Economic, and Environmental Stressors (red) and Resilience and Adaptation Strategies (green) in Gulf of Alaska Communities. Gulf of Alaska Ocean Acidification Regional Vulnerability Assessment, Alaska Sea Grant and NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center. Figure by Abigail Sweetman, Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.Click on the image to enlarge it in a new tab.
The Alaska Sea Grant Coastal Resilience Program provides expertise, research, and extension services to communities across Alaska. Our team facilitates workshops and other activities by building trusted collaborations. We provide data and decision support tools to Alaskans to adapt to rapidly changing environmental conditions, build resilience, and enhance community well-being. Our team facilitates workshops and other activities to empower the communities we serve to enhance their community well-being, including but not limited to community and environmental health, economic development, workforce development, and other aspects that make communities more resilient.
Climate adaptation StoryMap
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Adapt Alaska
Developed by Alaska Sea Grant and partners, Adapt Alaska provides a guide for resilience and adaptation planning. The website provides an overview of changes that are impacting coastal communities across Alaska. The core function of the website is to guide users through the resilience and adaptation process, from initiating a community conversation to monitoring and mitigation activities, and ultimately to resilience and adaptation planning. Each step of the process includes case studies from resilience and adaptation efforts statewide, along with useful resources.
News
Improving sea ice forecasts for safer subsistence harvests
Alaska Native people have lived along the coasts of the Chukchi and Bering seas in northwest Alaska for thousands of years. The rich bounty of the ocean, including marine mammals,…
New publication helps Alaska homeowners prepare for emergencies
Alaska Sea Grant released a new homeowners guide to help Alaskans prepare for natural disasters and extreme weather conditions around the state. The free book, Alaska Emergency and Disaster Homeowner’s…
Helping a Western Alaska fishing community cope with an influx during the pandemic
By Davin Holen Each summer, around 13,000 workers from outside Alaska travel to the Bristol Bay region to participate in the world’s most valuable wild salmon fishery. How the fishery,…
Record low level of Bering Sea ice causes profound, widespread impacts
“This is an extreme event with immediate and long-lasting repercussions. It’s indicative of very rapid change in the entire northern Bering Sea ecosystem. It has ramifications for everyone in the region,” said lead author Rick Thoman, a climate specialist at the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
Report suggests how to prepare for Arctic oil spills
A new report is out on how communities can anticipate, plan for and build resiliency around oil spills. The report is the product of regional workshops in Anchorage, Alaska; Virginia…
KDLG Radio: City council weighs options as rapid erosion threatens Dillingham sewer
Erosion is eating away the coastline by Dillingham’s sewage lagoon. The city council held a meeting with contract engineers to discuss options for the lagoon before it’s too late. Alaska Sea Grant’s Gabe Dunham has studied the coastline by the lagoon since 2016. In a project with Alaska Sea Grant, Dunham and three other scientists installed three transects, including a camera, to measure how much land is being lost.
Kodiak workshop helps fishing community build resilience
More than 70 people gathered in Kodiak recently for a workshop to address how the island community can build resilience and adaptability in the face of climate change. The October…
Kodiak Daily Mirror: Kodiakans discuss future of sustainable energy
The two-day Adapt Kodiak workshop was organized by Alaska Sea Grant and funded by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Western Alaska Landscape Conservation Cooperative, the National Park Service and the Aleutian and Bering Sea Islands Initiative.
NYT Opinion: Where the sea ice recedes, so does an Alaska way of life
With climate change, animals that sustain Native hunters are disappearing, and harmful algae are contaminating waters. This opinion article was written by Gay Sheffield, Alaska Sea Grant marine advisory agent, Vera Trainer, president of the International Society for the Study of Harmful Algae, and Rick Thoman, climate expert at the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy.
Volunteers trained to respond to whale entanglements
When whales get entangled in fishing gear or other marine debris, it’s a potentially life-threatening event that takes a group of trained specialists to provide help. And with whale entanglements…
Upcoming Events
Coastal resilience team
2025–2026 Alaska Sea Grant State Fellow
Erica Ebert
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