This is a litany of real challenges and impediments to any change in status quo which we cannot expect the scientists and researchers alone to deal with. We must create the public, political, financial support to go along with the commitment of the scientific and native communities to work together.
What I put before you today is a proposal that accomplishes this; a proposal that combines the vested interests and abilities of Bering Sea communities, the scientific/management/policy-making communities, commercial fishers, and environmentalists. I have no illusions that this body can bring this proposal to fruition even if there was unanimity and a sincere commitment to do so. However, I am providing this to seek your support and to give you a heads up to what I am proposing that the Bering Sea communities strongly advocate for. I invite further ideas and constructive critiques of this vision for the Bering Sea.
I propose that Bering Sea communities be supported in building their own capacity to conduct their own research, exchange information and observations in a formalized and systematic process. By doing so, we will have the unprecedented opportunity to receive useful information throughout the year around an entire marine ecosystem. It can serve as an early warning system of trouble, and systematic observations throughout a wide geographic range can aid scientists in constructing scientific hypotheses perhaps in a more timely fashion, and perhaps allow a quicker targeting of causative factors for adverse wildlife population trends. It creates a legitimate and meaningful role of stewardship by the people whose cultural viability depends on informed and decisive action.
I propose the establishment of a Bering Sea bulletin board and information clearinghouse accessible and useful to serious researchers, the lay public, and stakeholders.
I propose the establishment of international research centers equipped to conduct demonstration projects of innovative ecosystem and ecosystem monitoring approaches, and cooperative cross- cultural research programs. There should be two primary research centers-one located in the eastern Bering Sea and the other in the western Bering Sea. The centers would be tightly coordinated in terms of research targets, methodologies, and information exchanges. One specific mandate to these centers is to explore the feasibility and usefulness of mesoscale scientific research approaches in monitoring entire marine ecosystems. This concept has been pioneered in the Bering Sea by the Pribilof Aleuts and Dr. Mikhail Flint who is now the new director of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology in the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Flint oversees a thousand Russian marine scientists and he is committed to working in the Bering Sea.
I propose a formalized effort to develop lateral partnerships and fora between coastal communities, secondary stakeholders, federal and state agencies, and environmental organizations which are focused on close cooperation, collaboration, and mutual support for stewardship in the Bering Sea. Given the varied interests in the Bering Sea and the international scope of the issues we are dealing with, a top down approach will not work here. World history is replete with this lesson when dealing with environmental and economic interests. There are some issues which will require a top down approach, so a two tiered approach is required here-top down and bottom up.