SMEA is proud to share a new paper published in Fisheries Research titled Assessing the social-ecological dimensions of Dungeness crab fishery closures in Southeast Alaska from analysis of public records.

The study was led by SMEA alum Rondi Nordal (Class of 2024), with faculty coauthors Anne Beaudreau and Erendira Aceves-Bueno, in collaboration with NOAA colleagues.

Drawing on more than a decade of public meeting records, the research takes a deep look at how decisions about fishery closures are shaped not only by ecological goals, but also by social, cultural, and subsistence needs.

This work highlights how fisheries management in Alaska is inherently complex and interconnected, with policy decisions reflecting both the ecological health of marine resources and the cultural traditions of the communities that depend on them.

Read here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165783625001663#fig0015