Northern Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program (IERP)

About this program

The North Pacific Research Board (NPRB) is leading the Northern Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program (IERP), a $21.4M, multidisciplinary initiative (2026–2031) to investigate how oceanographic and environmental conditions affect abundance, distribution, condition and survival of commercially, ecologically and subsistence-important species and to inform fisheries management and coastal communities. NPRB provided $8.3M to support multi‑institutional research teams led by NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, with substantial in‑kind contributions, and the program includes four years of field data collection (2026–2029) and coordinated analysis and outreach through 2031. Research priorities include stratification and fronts influencing ecosystem dynamics, lower‑trophic responses to warming (impacts of sea‑ice loss on productivity and plankton), and food‑web effects on crabs, forage fish, salmon, groundfish, seabirds and marine mammals. The program emphasizes direct involvement of Alaska community members and Alaska Native Organizations, supports travel/time and increased proposal budgets to enable community participation, and funds integration of western science with traditional, local, and Indigenous knowledge.