The Bering Sea is our home, and we have relied on this unique marine ecosystem since time immemorial. The Northern Bering Sea Region supports one of the largest marine migrations on Earth, as well as critical fisheries and seabird habitats, and is home to countless species of marine plants and animals. We have always understood that the entire ecosystem is necessary to generate the resources that provide food security—in all its nutritional, cultural, generational, and governmental dimensions—for the people of the region. What is now known as the subsistence way of life is life for our people: without a healthy and resilient Bering Sea, we cannot survive. We have thrived here for centuries, and demonstrated our unique knowledges of the Bering Sea, as well as understandings of our obligations as stewards of this place.
Fish racks on the Bering Sea coast (photo credit: Jennifer Hooper)
Sealskin, drying salmon, and a beluga whale harvest (photo credit: Edward Kinegak and Jennifer Hooper)
Map of the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area.
The Traditional Knowledge we hold has been formed through our direct interactions with this environment over millennia; it has been handed down from generation to generation and is continuously being updated and refined. Traditional knowledge is not just a resource. It is a way of life. Our knowledge is action-oriented, reflecting our responsibilities as stewards and as relatives to the plants, fish, wildlife, lands, and waters. For example, the data we have about species locations, behaviors, habitats, and changes over time offers important insight into the environmental and community impacts of climate change.
Bering Inter-Tribal Advisory Council member, Tiffany Agayar and her son, enjoying a boat trip down the Yukon River.
A father and daughter gather edible plants on the shoreline. Alaska Native communities living on the Bering Sea coast rely on key nutrients contained in plants, as well as traditional medicines given by the land. (photo credit: Jennifer Hooper)