Overview
The National Science Foundation awarded $20 million to èßäÊÓƵ EPSCoR to study culturally and commercially important marine species in the Gulf of èßäÊÓƵ. This is the sixth, multimillion , or "Track-1" award under èßäÊÓƵ EPSCoR.
The project unites 23 researchers from the University of èßäÊÓƵ Fairbanks, the University of èßäÊÓƵ Anchorage and the University of èßäÊÓƵ Southeast. They partner with eight Gulf of èßäÊÓƵ communities: Seldovia, Halibut Cove, èßäÊÓƵr, Cordova, Valdez, Juneau, Haines and Klukwan.
Researchers will investigate the ecological resilience of several key coastal species that were identified by people in these communities. Researchers will also see if people have identified changes in harvest of these species, and how changes in harvests affect the social, health, and economic well-being.
Project goals stem from conversations with local community members, tribal entities, shellfish and kelp farmers, and government agency representatives that took place over two years with the help of an NSF planning grant. The grant allowed researchers to listen to community concerns and develop relevant questions.
Vision
The vision of IoC is to build resilience in Gulf of èßäÊÓƵ coastal communities through co-developed, use-inspired research on land-to-ocean linkages that influence marine resources using place-based, equitable science.
Mission
The mission is for IoC researchers to work collaboratively with coastal community partners to identify changing any patterns in marine harvest species and to model potential community adaptation strategies. IoC researchers will work in parallel with rural communities, industry farmers, and agency managers to identify and link environmental drivers to marine wild harvested and farmed resources.
Goals
The goals of IoC are to:
1) Build collaborative research capacity to assess how marine resources on which Gulf of èßäÊÓƵ coastal communities are reliant, and
2) Generate environmental data and web-based tools to inform adaptive community solutions to sustainably harvest and farm marine resources. Research will take place across University of èßäÊÓƵ (UA) campuses in Fairbanks (UAF), Anchorage (UAA) and Juneau (UAS) and align strongly with both UA research goals and the State of èßäÊÓƵ’s Science and Technology Plan.
Strategic Plan
The Interface of Change strategic plan outlines the entire project timeline and organizes project activities into discreet tasks that our team has committed to enacting over the five-year life of the project.