Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area
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| Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area | |
|---|---|
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| Area | 112,300 square miles (291,000 km2) |
| Established | December 9, 2016 |
The Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area, encompassing 291,000 square kilometers,[1] is a protected area within the Bering Sea, established by President Obama on December 9, 2016, by Executive Order 13754.[2] It represents a hugely productive, high-latitude marine ecosystem and supports one of the largest seasonal marine mammal migrations in the world, including thousands of bowhead and beluga whales, hundreds of thousands of walruses and ice seals, and millions of migratory birds. Moreover, it is home to more than 40 tribes of coastal Yup’ik and Inupiaq peoples whose way of life has been linked with the marine environment for thousands of years.
Native villages in the northern Bering Sea region of Alaska largely practice a subsistence-based lifestyle that is inextricably tied to the rich marine ecosystem of the Bering Sea. Warming ocean temperatures, Arctic sea ice decline, and increasing ship traffic all threaten the subsistence practices and food security of these communities. The coastal tribes along the northern Bering Sea and the Bering Strait have requested that the Federal Government of the United States of America take action to protect the health of the marine ecosystems of the Northern Bering Sea and Bering Strait while maintaining opportunities for sustainable fishing and sustainable economic development.