The Need for Action Alaska is on the front lines of climate 

change. While temperatures are anticipated 

to increase globally, the largest changes 

are expected in the Arctic including the 

Bering Sea. 

The Bering Sea is one of the world’s largest 

and most biologically productive semienclosed seas. To reduce impacts and 

increase resilience of the region’s valuable 

marine resources and the communities that 

depend on them, decision-makers need 

information on what’s changing, why it’s 

changing and how to respond. 

Highlights from the

Alaska Regional Action Plan 

for the Southeastern Bering Sea

NOAA FISHERIES CLIMATE SCIENCE STRATEGY

National Marine Fisheries Service | Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Alaska Regional Office & Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
What’s at Risk? The southeastern Bering Sea supports some of the most valuable 

commercial fisheries in the world for salmon and walleye pollock. 

High numbers of seabirds, whales, walrus, seals and other marine 

mammals live in or visit these cold waters seasonally. 

In an area considered remote to most Americans, Alaska coastal 

communities continue a traditional way of life based on subsistence 

hunting that has endured for centuries. 

Climate-related changes in ocean and coastal ecosystems likely will 

impact the zooplankton, fish, seabirds, and marine mammals of the 

southeastern Bering Sea, and the people, businesses, and human 

communities that depend on them.
U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | National Marine Fisheries Service

This Regional Action Plan identifies key actions to 

address priority information needs over the next five 

years to better understand, prepare for and respond to climate changes in the 

Bering Sea ecosystem.

NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Fisheries Science Center is collaborating with NOAA 

Research’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory to acquire needed scientific 

data and information for science-based strategies that sustain fisheries, healthy 

ecosystems, marine mammals, and coastal communities in a changing climate.

The Regional Action Plan, part of the NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy, 

focuses on seven science objectives. Figure 2 shows how the Plan’s actions 

address each of the seven Climate Science Strategy Objectives.

This science will be used to inform policy and management decisions. “Climateready” management will be precautionary, preemptive, and flexible enough to 

respond rapidly to changing environmental conditions. 

Regional Action Plan for Southeastern Bering Sea

Cllimate Science
• NPFMC Bering Sea Fisheries Ecosystem Plan. Approved for 

development by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council in 

December 2015, this plan is expected to synthesize current climate 

change project outcomes and develop management measures for 

affected species and their habitat under different climate scenarios. On a 5-7 year cycle, scientists will produce an eastern Bering 

Sea Climate Change and Fisheries Assessment Report which will 

include updated data and information from ongoing research that 

will be used to guide future management actions. (Objective 2)

• Alaska CLIMate project (ACLIM). This multi-year project involves a suite of models designed to provide scenarios of future 

fish production under a variety of climate and fishing scenarios. 

(Objectives 1-4)

• Climate vulnerability assessment for the southeastern Bering 

Sea. This project will qualitatively assess species vulnerabilities to 

climate change and provide guidance on research prioritization, 

and will be completed during 2016. (Objective 4)

• Belmont Forum project. This project, which is expected to be 

completed in 2017, will synthesize information from regional 

studies conducted by Japan, the United States, and Norway to 

examine how climate impacts in the subarctic to arctic transition zone may affect future marine ecosystems of the Atlantic 

and Pacific Arctic (including the southeastern Bering Sea), their 

resource management, and the socioeconomic status of human 

communities in the regions. (Objective 2)

• Recruitment Processes Alliance (RPA). This ongoing research 

focuses on understanding recruitment processes of important 

southeastern Bering Sea fish species. The research includes fieldwork, laboratory analysis of field sample collections (e.g., feeding, 

growth, and bioenergetics), laboratory studies, and modeling. 

(Objectives 5–7)

• Loss of sea ice research. This effort extends standard surveys 

for crab, fish and marine mammals of the southeastern Bering 

Sea into the northern Bering Sea to better understand changes in 

species distribution that may be occurring as a result of changing 

sea ice conditions. (Objective 6)

• Ocean acidification research. This ongoing research seeks to 

better understand the potential effects of ocean acidification on 

commercially important king and tanner crabs, walleye pollock, 

cod and northern rock sole and cold water corals, which provides 

habitat for some of these species. (Objective 5)

• Fur seal research. The fur seal population on the Pribilof Islands 

has been declining since 1998. It is suspected that direct and 

indirect effects from fishery competition and climate could be 

affecting prey availability and distribution. This project unites 

fishery and marine mammal biologists who will link, for the 

first-time, fine-scale changes in fur seal foraging behavior with 

measures of walleye pollock distribution and abundance in real 

time. (Objective 5)

• Assess economic and human community impacts. Field 

surveys and modeling of the climate effects on fisheries and the 

related economic and human community impacts will continue. 

(Objectives 4–6)

• Alaska Integrated Ecosystem Assessments and Alaska 

Marine Ecosystems Considerations. The Ecosystem 

Considerations report is produced annually to summarize information about the Alaska Marine Ecosystem for the North Pacific 

Fishery Management Council, the scientific community and the 

public. (Objective 6)

• Standard ecosystem monitoring. Ecosystem trends are monitored through a combination of field observations, ongoing 

standardized resource assessment surveys, fisheries oceanography, 

seabird, and marine mammal surveys. (Objective 6)

The Alaska Fisheries Science Center, the Pacific 

Marine Environmental Laboratory and other 

partners already have the scientific infrastructure 

needed to produce the analyses and deliver 

benchmarks for the eastern Bering Sea. 

Current Efforts

The Center and its partners have long-standing, regular field surveys. Socio-economic studies, regional 

and ocean modeling and ecosystem process studies complement this time series of physical and 

biological observations. All are used to produce timely information on short-term changes and long-term 

shifts in the abundance and distribution of federally managed species. 

More than 30 projects are ongoing including:
Management

Ecosystem modeling

NOAA surveys Process oriented

research

Fishery data

Fisheries

Stock & Ecosystem

Assessments

coupled 

human-biological 

system

Alaska Fisheries Science Center

NOAA Fisheries

1. Climate-Informed Reference Points

• Climate enhanced assessment models

2. Robust Management Strategies

• Council Fisheries Ecosystem Plan, climate module

• Management Strategy Evaluations

• Alaska CLIMate project (ACLIM)

• Multispecies technical interaction model

• Belmont Forum project

3. Adaptive Management Processes

• Design adaptive decision processes

• Identify ecosystem thresholds & regime shifts*

4. Project Future Conditions

• Comprehensive climate assessment (every 5 yr)*

• Ocean model projections

• Climate-enhanced projection models

• Climate vulnerability assessment for the 

SE Bering Sea

• Identify climate impacts on living marine resource 

dependent human communities

• Arctic Council, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment 

Programme (AMAP), impacts on coastal communities

• Incorporate ocean acidification effects into 

existing ocean models

• Integrate tools and data*

• Integrate and couple models*

5. Understand Mechanisms of Change

• Bering Sea Project

• SE Bering Sea Ecosystem Assessment

• Ocean acidification research

• Fur seal research

• Ice-associated seal surveys

• Passive acoustic surveys for whales

• National seabird program

• Economic effects of climate change

• Social and human community impacts 

of climate change

• Rapid response surveys*

• Climate impacts on growth and survival of 

fish and shellfish*

• Climate impacts on seabird and 

marine mammal species*

• Climate change impacts on human communities*

6. Track Change and Provide Early Warnings

• Alaska Integrated Ecosystem Assessment and 

Ecosystems Considerations Report

• Standard ecosystem monitoring

• Loss of Sea Ice research

• Coastal Assessments

• NOAA oceanographic moorings*

7. Build and Maintain Adequate 

Science Infrastructure

• Existing surveys and stock assessments

• Recruitment Processes Alliance

• Laboratory infrastructure

• Predator-prey food habits studies

• Ecosystem modeling

• Assess economic impacts

• Assess community impacts

• International coordination*

• Build and maintain critical partnerships

• Communication of climate change risks

• Training, education, and outreach*

• Invest in modeling infrastructure*

Climate Science Strategy Objectives

Build and Maintain Adequate Science Infrastructure

Robust Management Strategies

Adaptive Management Processes

Project Future Conditions

Understand Mechanisms of Change

Track Change and Provide Early Warnings

Climate-Informed

Reference Points

DataScienceManagement Cycle

Figure 1. The AFSC integrated research approach. 

Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries

Figure 2. The seven NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy objectives and the research 

projects supporting these objectives for the southeastern Bering Sea.

*Asterisks indicate projects that will be supported if additional funding is available. 

The remaining projects will be supported if funding remains level.
Looking for More Information?

The Regional Action Plan identifies key actions 

needed over the next five years to increase 

the production, deliver and use climate-related 

information in fisheries management and 

protected species conservation. 

U.S. Secretary of Commerce

Penny Pritzker

Administrator of National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration and Undersecretary of Commerce

Dr. Kathryn Sullivan

Assistant Administrator for Fisheries

Eileen Sobeck

October 2016

www.nmfs.noaa.gov

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

National Marine Fisheries Service

1315 East-West Highway

SSMC 3, F/SF, Room 13362

Silver Spring, MD 20910

These actions will provide decision-makers with some of the 

information they need to help reduce impacts and increase 

resilience of the region’s valuable marine resources and the 

industries and communities that depend on them including:

WHAT’S AT RISK: Scientists will seek to determine the vulnerability 

and adaptability of fish, crabs, protected species of whales and seals, 

fisheries, and coastal communities to changing environmental 

conditions by conducting rapid assessments. They will identify 

potential “winners” and “losers” of climate change, updating these 

analyses every five years.

WHAT IS CHANGING: Eventually, the Alaska Fisheries Science 

Center and the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory’s 

integrated surveys can be used to provide climate-informed 

reference points to project future conditions, and identify climatedriven mechanisms of change. These reference points will inform a 

range of adaptive management strategies and harvest limits that can 

help mitigate or amplify climate impacts. 

HOW TO RESPOND: The Regional Action Plan will help Alaskan 

communities, commercial and recreational fishermen and others 

who are dependent on Alaskan marine resources respond and adapt 

to changes that may be ahead in response to a changing climate and 

help ensure the sustainability of these marine resources.

Future Efforts

Please visit:

Regional Action Plan at 

www.afsc.noaa.gov/News/Regional_action_plan_Bering_Sea.htm

NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy at 

www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/ecosystems/climate/national-climate-strategy

Alaska Fisheries Science Center at 

www.afsc.noaa.gov