Community-Based Documentation of Ice Seals and Walrus in the Bering Strait Region

The ice seal and walrus populations of the Bering Sea, as well as the subsistence users who utilize them, currently face many challenges. These include loss of sea ice and the expansion of development, fisheries activities, and marine shipping in the northern Bering Sea. Concern over the future of these species is growing, but existing science cannot conclusively predict how these factors will affect ice seals and walrus or the communities that depend on them. Local knowledge of the ecology and biogeography of these species, in addition to local use patterns, may help communities and policy makers understand current and future impacts of these environmental and anthropogenic changes. This is a community based research project through Kawerak Inc., the Alaska Native regional non-profit corporation. As part of this project, Kawerak researchers will be working with local community members to implement ethnographic and GIS spatial mapping methods in order to increase our understanding of Bering Strait region Iñupiat, Central Yup'ik, and St. Lawrence Island Yupik relationships with two important subsistence resources, ice seals and walrus whose habitat is being affected by environmental change. Through mapping spatial and temporal knowledge of ice seal and walrus habitat and ecology and subsistence use area, documenting the cultural importance of hunting ice seals and walrus, as well as the challenges to subsistence ice seal and walrus hunting (as seen by hunters), the project will contribute to an increased understanding of the complexity of social-environmental dynamics in the Arctic. The project will give a voice to local analyses and solutions of these problems which will in turn inform wildlife managers and policy makers. In addition, the project will contribute to an Arctic Atlas of Important Ecological Areas (IEAs) being developed by the international conservation group Oceana, which will in turn be a tool for the region's communities.

白令海的冰海豹与海象种群，以及依赖这两种资源的传统生计使用者，当前面临诸多挑战。这些挑战包括海冰消融，以及白令海北部开发活动、渔业作业与海洋航运的扩张。社会对这些物种的未来愈发担忧，但现有科学尚无法确切预测上述因素将如何影响冰海豹、海象，以及依赖它们的社区。针对这些物种的生态学与生物地理学的本土知识，结合本土资源利用模式，或可帮助社区与政策制定者理解这些环境变化与人为活动带来的当前及长期影响。本项目是由阿拉斯加原住民区域非营利法人机构Kawerak Inc.发起的社区主导型研究项目。作为该项目的组成部分，Kawerak的研究人员将与当地社区成员合作，采用民族志与地理信息系统（Geographic Information System, GIS）空间制图方法，以深化对以下群体与两种重要传统生计资源之间关系的认知：白令海峡地区的伊努皮亚特（Iñupiat）族群、中央尤皮克（Central Yup'ik）族群以及圣劳伦斯岛尤皮克族群，而这两种资源——冰海豹与海象——的栖息地正受到环境变化的影响。通过绘制冰海豹与海象的栖息地、生态学特征及传统生计利用区域的时空知识图谱，记录捕猎冰海豹与海象的文化意义，以及猎手视角下的传统捕猎所面临的各类挑战，本项目将助力增进人们对北极社会-环境动态复杂性的理解。本项目将为当地针对此类问题的分析与解决方案提供发声渠道，进而为野生动物管理者与政策制定者提供决策参考。此外，本项目将助力国际保护组织Oceana正在编制的《北极重要生态区域（Important Ecological Areas, IEAs）地图集》，而该地图集后续将成为该区域社区的实用工具。