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- By Chez Oxendine
- Economic Development
As warming waters threaten traditional fishing economies in the Bering Sea, the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island (ACSPI) is building a new future focused on research and education.
Plummeting populations of snow crab and halibut in the Bering Sea have cost ACSPI roughly $2.7 million a year in lost harvest revenue, according to the tribe's president, John Melovidov. The federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say the losses will worsen, with a 2024 report projecting the conditions supporting snow crab are 200 times more likely to disappear compared to the pre-industrial era.
“Fishing isn't always what it used to be,” Melovidov told Tribal Business News. “Outlooks aren't so great, but we can't sit here and hope that things come back. We have to do something different.”
The community has begun diversifying its fishing-based economy through partnerships. In July 2024, ACSPI signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Iḷisaġvik College, an Iñupiaq tribal college on Alaska’s North Slope, to establish a satellite campus and research station on the island. The agreement builds on a partnership that began with workforce training in 2018 and expanded to MOAs in 2022 and 2023 that focused on educational opportunities and dual-credit programs for high school students.
The tribe’s Bering Sea Campus already houses K-12 programs, the Bering Sea Research Center, and offers college-credit courses including Unangam Tunuu language instruction through Iḷisaġvik.
Iḷisaġvik College President Justina Wilhelm and ACSPI Tribal President John Melovidov signed an MOA on July 27, 2024 to begin development of a satellite campus in the Aleut of St. Paul community. (Courtesy photo)
This month, ACSPI also signed an MOA with the NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service to formalize co-management practices. The agreement, the first of its kind for a federally recognized tribe, includes research on fur seals and marine studies, Melovidov said.
Under the agreement, the fisheries service will share research with ACSPI, collaborate on subsistence programs around marine mammals, and seek out opportunities to implement traditional ecological knowledge in their research and activities. The MOA also permits the fisheries service to work with the Aleut community in locating funding and other federal support.
Melovidov said he hopes the agreement will help attract more research partners to the island as they pivot their economy.
“Anytime we can get that recognition and get our importance of St. Paul and the water surrounding our island — it's a win for us,” Melovidov said. “We can point to this document and tell who we are, and say that St. Paul is a natural place for science, and it makes sense to come and do research out here.”
The MOA follows a generally fraught relationship between the federal government and the ACSPI. The Pribilof Islands’ Indigenous people have alternated between Russian and U.S. citizenship, with changing rights throughout history.
From 1910 to 1983, the Aleut people were considered wards of the United States with restricted rights. After 1983, the island established itself as a fishing center in the region.
“I think we're always hoping for improvements with co-management. I think having those government-to-government relationships — they don't always feel equal, but they should be equal. That's the whole reason I'm a president — is because the US Government has a president,” Melovidov said. “This agreement shows that the government is ready to work with us regardless of how tough it is.”
