Foundational, program-building meetings are listed here. See the Meetings section for program meetings from 2008 onward.
BEST 2005 participants met to discuss current and future BEST program plans, each individual research project, cruise planning, and NOAA's Bering Sea activities and plans. See agenda and participant list
The meeting provided an opportunity to share information and plans, assess what areas of Bering Sea work had been funded, identify research gaps, and organize resources. See agenda and participant list
Participants commented on a draft version of Sustaining the Bering Ecosystem: A Social Sciences Plan and discussed concerns about community involvement in Bering Sea research and interactions between scientists and communities. See agenda and participant list
Workshop informed stakeholders and the scientific community about the opportunities for climate-related research in the Bering Sea, particularly research opportunities in the BEST program and to elicit comments on the draft BEST Implementation Plan.
Participants discussed the kinds of research that would best serve the interests of the resident communities of the Bering Sea, since these communities are the most directly engaged in and dependent on the Bering Sea system. These discussions led to the development of Sustaining the Bering Ecosystem: A Social Sciences Plan to initiate responsible community centered research and partnerships between communities and researchers. See agenda and participant list
The BEST Science Plan was developed during this meeting. See agenda and participant list
Participants identified priorities for a major research initiative in the Bering Sea and to investigate the possibility of developing a series of comparative studies of the marine ecosystems of the sub-Arctic seas.