Fishing People of the North Wakefield Symposium

August 12, 2011

Alaska Sea Grant will host the 27th Wakefield Fisheries Symposium, Fishing People of the North: Cultures, Economies, and Management Responding to Change, Wednesday – Saturday Sept. 14-17, at the Hilton Downtown Anchorage Hotel. The program includes nearly 100 presentations, including 27 posters, on northern fishing communities, indigenous knowledge, governance and fisheries management, and the environment.

The Wakefield meeting is one of the first to focus on the work of anthropologists, sociologists, Native knowledge experts and other social scientists. The goal of the symposium is to clarify how to characterize northern people and places that depend on the sea, and to investigate how values and livelihoods can be best incorporated into management processes.

Kenai Peninsula Dena'ina Elders Clare Swan and Alexandra "Sasha" Lindgren will present the keynote address: Kenaitze Tribe and Subsistence Fishing Rights in the Face of Urbanization and Industrial Development.

Alaska research and experiences are at the heart of the symposium, and a wealth of information will also be presented on fishing communities based in Canada, Greenland, Hawaii, Iceland, Japan, the Northern Mariana Islands, Norway and Russia. Scheduled talks will cover a broad spectrum of interests, many addressing subsistence, salmon fishing, traditional knowledge, communities, indigenous peoples, culture, economics and policy.

The early bird special for registration fees expires after August 14 — the $200 cost will increase to $250 after that date and the $150 student price will rise to $200. Likewise, the $139 discount room rate at the hotel will increase after August 14; call the Hilton Downtown Anchorage Hotel at 907-272-7411 to book a room.

For more information contact Courtney Carothers, clcarothers@alaska.edu.