The Fisheries Research and Development (FR&D) Program is a dynamic program that will be continually modified as projects are accomplished and new issues of concern develop. The Program is an integral part of the NSEDC mission to fully participate in the Bering Sea fisheries.  As part of the strategies to ensure sustainability for the corporation and the fishery resources, the FR&D Program addresses scientific and technical issues regarding the Bering Seas fisheries, with an emphasis on the Northern Bering Sea.

The FR&D Program has two primary functions: salmon rehabilitation and fisheries development.  For robust stocks, our roll is to facilitate the sustainable harvest of these fisheries. For the salmon fishery, we work to return depressed salmon runs to their historic healthy levels. For under-utilized fish stocks, we explore opportunities for developing new fisheries or finding new uses for these fish stocks. The preservation of subsistence fisheries is a priority for NSEDC. The FR&D Program aims to utilize local knowledge where possible and to make training available where local expertise is not available.

History
Many of the Bering Sea salmon stocks were at a low point during the late 1990s.  The Norton Sound salmon were some of the most affected.  In unfortunate coincidence with the biological decline, the commercial markets for salmon were depressed during the same period.  As a result, NSEDC and the State of Alaska, along with some federal agencies, formed a Regional Planning Team to address the rehabilitation of salmon stocks.  Within a few years, NSEDC began granting monetary support to salmon counting projects to ensure that state managers had essential information.  When Federal Disaster Funding was granted through the Norton Sound Research and Restoration Plan, the FR&D Program became a participant in the steering committee and active partner in research with Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G), LGL environmental research associates, and Kawerak, Inc. NSEDC remains the largest non-governmental organization doing fisheries research in the Bering Sea drainages.

Accomplishments
NSEDC takes particular pride in its efforts to improve the sockeye salmon stock recovery in Salmon Lake and the Pilgrim River.  Beginning in 1996, NSEDC partnered with ADF&G and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to fertilize Salmon Lake.  The returns to the lake from 2003 to 2008 were more than four times the levels of the previous thirty years, and this is due in large part to the improved conditions for rearing salmon in the lake.  Although returns have fallen since 2008, NSEDC is working to create conditions for a reliable return of sockeye salmon every year that will ensure ample subsistence opportunities for residents of Pt. Clarence and Nome area districts. NSEDC continues to operate the adult counting weir on the Pilgrim River with ADF&G.  We also work with several federal agencies to study the early life history of those same sockeye. 

NSEDC is involved in several innovative projects to advance salmon management in Norton Sound.  We are a leader in mist incubation and eyed egg planting, a new technology that has become increasingly popular in other locations, and we have assisted others with advice and training.  The new sonar salmon counter in Shaktoolik is an advanced model, which will allow more accurate counts than have been possible in the past; this device could have applications on other large rivers in the region.  We are also in the process of inventorying salmon spawning sites and measuring temperature, gradient, and substrate to determine suitability for the different species. These projects address immediate fisheries management needs and will bring increased benefits to our region with time.

Shaktoolik River Sonar	Re-establishment of Depleted Salmon Runs
Salmon Enumeration Projects	Juvenile Coho Salmon Studies
Salmon Lake Restoration

Shellfish
The Red King Crab is currently the most important commercial fishery in Norton Sound and has been a significant commercial fishery for over two decades.  While that fishery is fully developed, there are incidental species and related species that have the potential to be important commercial fisheries as well.  ADF&G conducts standard surveys to track the Norton Sound red king crab stock; NSEDC is conducting expanded trawl surveys so that we can inventory blue king crab and opilio crab as well as two benthic species: halibut and cod.  During the 2008 summer trawl survey, a camera sled was used in the northern Bering Sea to make comparisons with areas further south with high crab abundance.  The photos from the sled were studied to investigate habitat requirements of crab and bottom-dwelling fish.  The shellfish assessment survey of 2006 has shown how some species have expanded their range since the 1976 survey, the survey that provided baseline data for the northern Bering Sea.  NSEDC has been able to facilitate this work through the purchase of the R/V Pandalus, an ADF&G research vessel that the State of Alaska continues to use with NSEDC's assistance.

Promising Opportunities
The Port Clarence commercial salmon fishery was opened for the 2007 season after being closed since the mid-1960s.  Sockeye is the most important salmon in this fishery, but strong numbers of chum salmon are also present.  These northern chum salmon are high-quality fall chum with a nice firm meat and an oil content that compares well with coho salmon.  Although this will not be a large commercial fishery, it could be important to Port Clarence residents.

Prior to statehood, local fisheries allowed for personal subsistence uses of fish and modest commercial sales.  The commercial sales in excess of the subsistence user’s need are termed “customary trade”.  Prior to 1961, commercial sales of most salmon, crab, and herring were exactly that. Historically, several species of freshwater fish were also sold in small quantities.  Today’s fisheries managers are not comfortable with customary trade and have been reluctant to allow it since the mid-1970s.  NSEDC is working to provide opportunities for very limited commercial sales of traditional customary trade fish, like Dolly Varden, burbot and whitefish.

The FR&D staff are currently working with other NSEDC employees to develop fisheries a cod fishery, which are caught incidentally to existing commercial fisheries.  The greatest potential fish harvest in the Norton Sound region is herring, which produced an average harvest in excess of 5000 metric tons over a 20-year period.  We are currently tracking the biomass of the spawning herring in eastern Norton Sound.

Red King Crab Research	Herring Surveys
National Science Foundation Sea Ice Study

Other NSFR&D Projects

Clean Water Program

For further information please contact:

Charlie Lean
NSFR&D Director