What happens when the ice melts?

Bering Sea food webs—from plankton to fish and marine mammals targeted by subsistence and commercial harvests—will feel the effects of physical and biological changes in the Bering Sea, including the loss of seasonal sea ice.

These changes will also likely the social, economic, and cultural systems of the people dependent on Bering Sea resources.

Agencies such as ADFG, NSF, NPRB, NOAA, USGS, and USFWS. are conducting research to find out more about the implications of ecosystem change—essential for future sustainable management of eastern Bering Sea resources.

dutch harbor and clouds

The Bering Sea Ecosystem

The Bering Sea is an extraordinarily productive marine ecosystem: Alaska’s fisheries provide more than half of the seafood consumed in the United States.

fishing boats at dutch harbor Pollock, cod, flatfish, halibut, crab, and salmon are abundant in the Bering Sea and form a powerful economic engine for fishing communities. Whales, seals and seabirds flock here from afar to feed on these prolific fisheries — some staying year round, others migrating here to feed and mate.

Fur seals breed on island rookeries, while walrus haul out on sea ice to bear young.

Cetaceans abound: Fin, minke, humpback, gray, and right whales, as well as belugas and porpoises, feast on huge schools of smaller fishes and tiny crustaceans, while orcas hunt other whales, seals, or salmon.

Sea otters stay close to shore near kelp forests, plucking invertebrates from the seafloor.

More than 30 different species of seabirds breed here, some 36 million individuals, from shearwaters, fulmars, kittiwakes, albatrosses, storm petrels, and puffins to murres. Nearly half of Alaska’s seabirds live in 10 colonies in the Bering Sea.