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National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis

Project Description

Human well-being has been widely promoted as an important dimension of sustainability, and is increasingly gaining application in fisheries. At the same time, efforts to measure well-being and incorporate these dimensions into resource governance and decision-making remains hamstrung by availability of data and broad assumptions about important components of quality of life and well-being. This state of the knowledge synthesis project is driven by the overarching goal of identifying and applying well-being concepts to improve the social sustainability and management of Alaska salmon systems. We address the following questions: 1) How do salmon-dependent individuals and communities define well-being, and how do salmon-human connections contribute to various forms of well-being? 2) What dimensions of human well-being are currently understudied in the context of Alaska salmon systems? 3) How have human well-being concepts been incorporated into fishery management decision-making processes? and 4) What information gaps currently exist? Workgroup members include Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, practitioners, and knowledge bearers from diverse communities across Alaska, as well as several national and international experts representing a range of disciplines, organizations, and governmental bodies. Guided by the above questions, we engage in a cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural dialogue with the aim of understanding interdependencies between sociocultural and ecological systems, salmon-human connections and contributions to well-being in Alaska, and relationships between management and well-being. We pay special attention to well-being concepts inclusive of Indigenous people’s priorities and perspectives.
Working Group Participants

Principal Investigator(s)

Rachel Donkersloot, Jessica C. Black, Courtney L. Carothers

Project Dates

Start: December 1, 2016

End: March 31, 2018

completed

Participants

Andrea Akalleq Sanders
First Alaskans Institute
Jessica C. Black
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Sara Jo Breslow
University of Washington
Caroline L. Brown
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Courtney L. Carothers
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Freddie Christiansen
Old Harbor Native Corporation
S. Jeanette Clark
University of California, Santa Barbara
Patricia M. Clay
NOAA, Northeast Fisheries Science Center
Jorge Cornejo-Donoso
University of California, Santa Barbara
Rachel Donkersloot
Alaska Marine Conservation Council (AMCC)
Ian Dutton
Nautilus Impact Investing, LLC
James A Fall
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Ann Fienup-Riordon
Calista Education and Culture
Carlos Garcia-Quijano
University of Rhode Island
Charles Hahn
University of Washington
Wilson Justin
University of Alaska, Anchorage
Stephen J. Langdon
University of Alaska, Anchorage
Jordan P. Lewis
WWAMI School of Medical Information
Liza Mack
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Melissa Poe
University of Washington
Julie Raymond-Yakoubian
Kawerak, Inc.
Katherine Reedy
Idaho State University
Danielle J. Ringer
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Jonathan Samuelson
Robert A Sanderson
Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
Katherine Schake
Nautilus Impact Investing, LLC
January Scott
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Benjamin Stevens
Tanana Chiefs Conference
Carrie M. Stevens
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
William Voinot-Baron
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Sarah E. Warnock
Nautilus Impact Investing, LLC
Michael Williams
Akiak Native Community

Products

  1. Journal Article / 2006

    Sustainability - Resolving mismatches in US ocean governance

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