Bering Sea Ecosystem Research

The Bering Ecosystem Study (BEST) Science Plan was developed during community workshops in 2002 and 2003, which were supported by the National Science Foundation. The science plan provides background information and frames science questions to guide integrated, interdisciplinary studies of eastern Bering Sea ecosystems.

Download the science plan (5.7 MB) or request a hard copy.

The Sustaining the Bering Sea Ecosystem: A Social Science Research Plan seeks to initiate research to elucidate the dynamic relationship between humans and the Bering Sea ecosystem. The plan outlines a research program focused on three broad themes:

• Impacts on humans: How past, current, and possible future changes in the Bering Sea ecosystem affect the health and wellbeing of human communities living and depending on this region for subsistence, employment, and cultural survival.
• Human impacts: How changing human uses of the Bering Sea region affect the natural cycles of this ecosystem by moderating and/or accelerating systemic changes.
• Dynamics of human and non-human natural systems: How the human-environmental dynamic has changed through time and may change in the future due to internal and external opportunities and pressures.

Download the science plan (348 KB).

The Bering Ecosystem Study Program Implementation Plan was developed by the BEST Science Steering Committee with input from the scientific community. This document outlines the first phase of a ten-year research program focused on the marine ecosystems of the eastern Bering Sea and the people dependent on its resources.

Download the implementation plan (696 KB).