COVID-19 Bristol Bay Survey

Pandemic Preparedness in Remote Rural Fishing Communities Facing Rapid, Massive, Seasonal In-Migration

Around 13,000 people from outside Alaska in summer 2020 will arrive in the Bristol Bay region of Western Alaska to participate in the world’s most valuable wild salmon fishery. This project will take place in Dillingham, the home port of the Nushagak salmon fishery. The National Science Foundation has provided funding for a RAPID project to assess planning needs for the fishery, community, and region. In this project we propose to develop pandemic preparedness scenarios for local residents and decision-makers; conduct surveys with fishery participants to better understand the costs and benefits of varied mitigation policies; and risk preferences from fisherman, processors, and local policymakers to better understand cooperation and decisions under risk and uncertainty. For a project, overview click here.

On January 11, 2021, the project team provided a summary of the results from the first survey to Bristol Region policymakers, regional organizations, and community residents. A PDF of this presentation is available below.