Posted October 21, 2024
A cross-regional Gulf of Alaska fishing community effort is currently underway to advance understanding of climate adaptation and resilience. NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center and Alaska Marine Conservation Council (AMCC) have partnered to develop a fisheries adaptation plan for the Kodiak region. Our aim is to ensure planning efforts are inclusive of diverse perspectives, as well as broader regional climate impacts and resilience needs and to synergize existing community plans for hazard management, socioeconomic development and climate resilience.
Background
Climate change has taken hold in Gulf of Alaska fisheries, with numerous fisheries disasters over the last several years, and continuing ecosystem changes that are altering foundational relationships between the people in the region and the place. Across the many geographically isolated and fishing dependent communities within the Gulf of Alaska, fisheries losses may be devastating for local economies that lack economic diversity, maintain fishing-dependent food systems and have cultural fishing practices that cannot be replaced. Despite the tremendous costs of declining fisheries in the region, there is a dearth of adaptation planning to ensure the resilience of fishing communities into the future. This project addresses the critical need for fishing communities in the Gulf of Alaska to formalize fisheries resilience strategies in adaptation plans, focusing on three of the most highly dependent and diverse fishing communities in the region - Cordova, Kodiak and Sitka.
AMCC will lead the efforts in the Kodiak region under the leadership of longtime AMCC staff Theresa Peterson. Theresa Peterson is an active fisherman and a long time resident of Kodiak, Alaska. She has a diverse commercial fishing portfolio spanning nearly four decades: drifting, set netting and seining for salmon, longlining for halibut and sablefish and jigging for cod. Fishing is a family business for Theresa, her husband Charlie and their three children. The family also participates in a variety of subsistence activities around the island and depends on the bounty of fish and wildlife available for food and sustenance.
Kodiak
The community of Kodiak is located on Kodiak Island, the largest island in the Gulf of Alaska, located 90 miles southwest of the Kenai Peninsula. For the past 8,000 years, the island has been inhabited by the Alutiiq peoples who relied on the rich terrestrial and marine resources of the region. Kodiak is home to a diverse fleet of fishermen that target a tremendous variety of resources including pollock, rockfish, flatfish, halibut, sablefish, salmon, crab and dive fisheries. The planning effort in Kodiak will include the other Kodiak Island communities.
Climate adaptation planning is an iterative process that allows communities to understand and plan for localized vulnerabilities associated with climate-driven changes. Through iterations of assessment, planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation, communities develop strategies that are intended to minimize their risks from climate-driven changes. Climate adaptation planning is often a multi-year process and necessitates the participation of diverse community members with a variety of expertise and viewpoints.
Assess Vulnerability
Vulnerability is a concept that encompasses the nature and degree to which a system is exposed to significant climate variations (exposure), the degree to which a system would be impaired by climate stressors (sensitivity) and any inherent adaptive capacity that may mediate these impacts.
Save the Date
AMCC is hosting a community workshop in Kodiak on November 12th, 2024 from 9AM to 3PM at the NOAA Fisheries Lab on Near Island. In you're in the area, please join us! We'll use that time to review assessment results and engage in a facilitated Kodiak future visioning session.
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