The Bering Sea Sub-Network is a regional initiative of community-based organizations in Western Alaska and Northeast Russia for the collection and local management of a part of regional research and monitoring data required for a pan-arctic perspective on environmental and biological changes. The overall goal of BSSN is to improve the scientific knowledge of the environmental changes in the BSSN region that have significance for understanding of pan-arctic processes, enabling scientists, arctic communities and governments to predict, plan and respond to these changes.

BSSN will address the questions of: 1) historical and present distribution and properties of economic and subsistence important species as derived from collective indigenous and traditional knowledge; 2) types of major variables and indicators that could be correlated with western science to develop predictable models based on indigenous and traditional knowledge; and 3) spatial and temporal convergence and divergence of community-derived and western science data.

The “pulse” IPY activity will be production of a report entitled the State of the Bering Sea Bioresources: Perspectives of Local Residents, an assessment based on observations of local and indigenous residents. Observations will be collected across the network using standard protocols and will be based on sophisticated surveying methods, such as Cognitive Interviewing techniques. Other important products will be a web-based interface for sharing results, maps, and a tool kit for communities developed from the process of this project and other international community-based monitoring programs.

Intellectual merits of this projects are 1) a comprehensive regional scale documentation of existing and new ITK data on species important for subsistence and local economies, 2) a comparative analysis of data between communities, instrument and human-derived data sets and, 3) placing humans as major sensors in the Arctic observing system.

BSSN was conceived by the Aleut International Association (AIA), a permanent participant of the Arctic Council, in response to the findings of ACIA under the leadership of AIA Executive Director, Victoria Gofman, who has extensive experience in the U.S. – Russian Far East. The other principles in the project are Dr. Lillian Alessa, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, who will bring scientific experiences in environmental sciences, ecology, and research on human changes to the project; Ms. Joan Eamer, UNEP-GRID Polar Programme Director, will advance international linkages with such programs as UN initiative on traditional knowledge. Ms. Cochran has extensive experience guiding researchers in working with indigenous peoples and making proper connections to Alaska Native communities.

BSSN received unprecedented formal support from all indigenous regional organizations in the project area. This is one of only twelve indigenous group-led IPY projects that received full endorsement of the IPY Joint Committee because it satisfied their entire requirement, especially as it assesses large scale environmental changes in the Arctic and looking at both the physical and human dimensions of change and its impact. Success of this project will leave a legacy not only for IPY but also for a broad community of arctic residents striving to organize an observing system that is a valid partner in pan-arctic observations.