Marine Cultural Heritage Zones

Many changes are taking place in the Bering Sea that are affecting the Native peoples of the region and the environment in which their lives are so intricately intertwined.

Commercial fishing has removed more than a hundred billion pounds of fish from these waters, with enormous consequences for the ecosystem. Giant nets have dragged across most of the Bering Sea, uprooting and crushing fragile corals and sponges. Global warming has begun reducing the sea ice which polar bears, walrus and many seals require for survival. Climatic changes are beginning to affect distribution of fish populations as well, and are likely to impact currents and upwelling areas in the coming years. Populations of Steller sea lions, fur seals, harbor seals, and other fish-eating predators have plummeted.

However, hope in these isolated villages, settlements far from Westernized influences of a culture foreign to communal sharing and caring for the health of the environment, is still strong. Hope that together we may find ways to prevent the extinction of a way of life that has thrived for 10,000 years. Hope that this is not an end of the protectors of this vast and life giving sea in the West.

As a native Alaskan, George is working with tribal communities to establish Marine Cultural Heritage Zones to protect the Bering Sea ecosystem and the communities that depend on it. Read George’s blog >>