Knowledge Sharing Across Cultural Boundaries

Posted on April 23, 2025 by Jamie O'Connor

I traveled home to Bristol Bay last week for the Western Alaska Interdisciplinary Science Conference (WAISC) hosted by Sea Grant in Naknek. While it was the “wrong” side of the Bay for this Dillingham/Ekuk kid, the tundra and the wind were a familiar welcome along with all the friends and family ties that bind us in the watershed. The conference brought together an eclectic crew of community members and interdisciplinary researchers to support this year’s theme, Sustaining the Past While Advancing the Future.

I presented on the “From Tide to Table: Fisheries Access in Southeast Alaska” report and my University of Edinburgh MSc Dissertation, “The Undercurrent: Fishery Access as the Foundation of Community Resilience and Well-being in Southeast Alaska,” research done in collaboration with the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust and Sustainable Southeast Partnership. My presentation focused on the correlation between the loss of fisheries-related infrastructure and the loss of fisheries access for coastal communities. It motivated a discussion on how Bristol Bay can strategically invest in its resilience through robust working waterfronts.

Photo courtesy of AMCC archives

Our research highlights that declining infrastructure, such as harbors, tenders, processors, and maintenance services, negatively impacts the economic viability of fishing and the communities that depend on it. Additionally, this decline threatens cultural continuity, food security, and access to local fisheries ownership. We observed that communities that managed to retain key infrastructures, such as buying stations and processing facilities, had a better chance of retaining their permits and Individual Fishing Quotas (IFQs). Conversely, communities that lost their infrastructure rapidly also lost access to their fisheries and local economic stability.

The reports also identified policy and investment opportunities to reverse these trends, advocating for strategic public investments that prioritize community ownership, working waterfronts, and generational access to fisheries. This issue is a common theme statewide. Alaska faces the challenge of how to support its oldest and most sustainable industry, its fisheries, in a rapidly changing economic, regulatory, and environmental climate.

One way to address this challenge is by strategically and collaboratively investing in fisheries infrastructure at the local, state, federal, and Tribal levels. This investment can include community cold storage, boat ramps, and accessible processing and transportation infrastructure. It also encompasses reliable and affordable energy grids, broadband, and water and wastewater systems.

My colleagues at AMCC and I will continue to strategize and work with our partners statewide to focus on rallying support for key regional investments that will enable us, as seafood harvesters and community members, to continue thriving. 

I want to give special thanks to the Sea Grant organizers for their thoughtful work in organizing this year’s WAISC and for all the work they do to support our fisheries and communities. 

Deputy ED Jamie O’Connor presenting at WAISC

Jamie O’Connor serves as the Deputy Executive Director of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council and was raised in Dillingham and Ekuk, Alaska in Bristol Bay. AMCC is proud to support research and advocacy that uplifts coastal voices and sharpens the policy tools needed to ensure a resilient, equitable future for Alaska’s fisheries.