Oil patch bits: ABR publishes landmark study of Arctic subsistence fishery

Petroleum News

ABR Inc. recently announced the publication of a long-anticipated analysis of 30 years of subsistence harvest monitoring data collected on the Colville River delta in collaboration with the community of Nuiqsut, Alaska. "Factors influencing harvest success for an Arctic under-ice subsistence fishery," published in Polar Science, analyzes a long-term fishery dataset to find that, in addition to the recruitment of young fish to the river, westerly wind speed, salinity and week-of-year affect fish catch rates. Long-term fishery datasets are particularly rare in Arctic environments and are essential to understanding the variability in harvest rates. The fishermen and women of Nuiqsut are the major stakeholders in the management of this fishery, working with local and regional governments, as well as industry, to ensure that harvest efforts and results are closely monitored. They have shared their local knowledge of fishery trends and reported daily harvest data to fishery monitors each fall for decades. While lead author John Seigle has led harvest data collection in the fishery for 17 years, providing him with extensive insight into the factors influencing harvests of Arctic cisco in the region, the sharing of community knowledge has contributed greatly to our understanding of the fishery trends in the Colville River delta. The long-term monitoring effort detailed in this study will continue to inform sustainable fisheries management in the face of a rapidly changing climate and with ongoing infrastructure development in the region.

For more information visit https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polar.2024.101126.