East Bering Sea LME

The East Bering Sea Large Marine Ecosystem is bounded by the Bering Strait on the north, by the Alaskan Peninsula and Aleutian island chain on the south, and by the Alaskan coast on the east. The LME is characterized by a wide shelf and by a seasonal ice cover that reaches its maximum extent of 80% coverage in March, with a Sub-Arctic climate. This is an LME characterized by an extreme environment at high latitude, in which temperature, currents and seasonal oscillations influence the productivity. Map. Note that the statistics of many US agencies tend to apply to all of Alaska, which makes a specific statistical breakdown for the East Bering Sea Large Marine Ecosystem difficult to obtain.

Coccolithophorids in the Bering Sea. This clear SeaWiFS (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor) image shows the bright blooms of coccolithophores in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska.

The Bering Sea has low levels of toxic contaminants, but these have been rising over the last 50 years due to increased human activities (mining, fishing, and oil exploration). This increase is linked to the long-range transport of contaminants through the ocean and atmosphere from other regions. Cold region ecosystems such as the Bering Sea are more sensitive to the threat of contaminants than warmer regions because the loss and breakdown of these contaminants are delayed in colder areas. Also, animals high in the food web with relatively large amounts of fat tend to have high concentrations of organic contaminants such as pesticides and PCBs. This causes concerns about human health in the region, particularly for Alaska natives (for instance, the Aleut community) who rely on marine mammals and seabirds as food sources and may show levels of POPs in tissue and breast milk significantly higher than those found in more southerly populations. More.