Fisheries Research & Development

The NSEDC Fisheries Research and Development (FR&D) Program promotes scientific research in the Norton Sound region with an emphasis on supporting local fisheries.  For established fisheries, FR&D aims to provide Norton Sound communities with as much benefit as possible from the resource while at the same time ensuring its long-term sustainability.  FR&D also works to explore the potential of under-utilized stocks and, when possible, enable greater use by local residents.

Reflecting its importance in the region, many of our projects focus on salmon.  Our member communities utilize all five species of Pacific salmon.  When salmon stocks were in decline in the 1990s, NSEDC began working with other stakeholders and started funding projects to reverse the trend.  One of our first collaborative efforts was with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to fund interns working on summer salmon projects.  This collaboration continues today.  Other salmon projects include chum and Coho stock rehabilitation by means of mist incubation and eye-egg planting; sockeye rehabilitation through lake fertilization; and various salmon-counting projects using weirs, towers and sonar equipment.

In addition to our work with salmon, our projects support other local fisheries and investigate possible future fisheries.  These include research on red king crab, the most lucrative single-species fishery in Norton Sound; and herring, the largest under-utilized stock in Norton Sound.  We are also investigating the possibility of a long-line fishery for cod and halibut in the northern communities of Teller, Brevig Mission, Wales and Diomede.

Projects

• Salmon Enumeration
• Incubation and Egg Planting
• Salmon Lake Sockeye
• Norton Sound Red King Crab
• Herring Monitoring
• Clean Waters

Staff