Local and Traditional Knowledge

Experiential knowledge gained over time about one’s place among the waters, winds, tides, plants and animals in a locality is known as “local and traditional knowledge.”

This experience is often passed down through generations and is part of cultural identity. LTK offers much in the context of research in the North Pacific by adding more information and new perspectives for understanding marine ecosystems.

How LTK Contributes to Our Research

NPRB's strategies for incorporating LTK into science planning include but are not limited to:

• Generating research hypotheses | because regional residents both collect and analyze information
• Documenting existing LTK | because knowledge stretches far back in time and is often oral
• Recording observations | because denizens of the North Pacific spend a great deal of time watching the marine environment
• Fostering collaborative analysis | because regional residents are also analysts and can help decipher the most plausible explanations of phenomena
• Collaborating on specific projects | because many NPRB-funded projects could have an LTK component
• Exploratory research | because there is always room for innovation

Featured Project

Pribilof Island Communities Monitor Ocean Conditions

NPRB Project 733 is enhancing local contributions to research in the Bering Sea and helping understand the ecosystem that Pribilof Island communities depend upon for their livelihood.

The Ecosystem Conservation Office of the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island facilitates collaboration between scientific researchers and the community by working with residents to deploy and maintain temperature and salinity sensors in the St. Paul harbor.

Right: Installing sensors (mounted in PVC pipe) on a pier piling.

Regular data summaries of temperature and salinity in the harbor -- as a proxy for surrounding marine waters -- allow residents to evaluate current, historical and intuitive observations of local environmental phenomena that may be related to shifts in water temperature and productivity.

• View a poster summarizing this research (PDF)
• Visit the Ecosystem Conservation Office website