We are not research scientists, but we work closely with the communities and we listen to the hunters and trappers. Often what we see is that you are what you eat. Hunters are seeing different types of fish being replaced by shrimp and the size of the seals is different. They are sinking when they are supposed to be floating when they are hunted.
Connecting with the community and listening to the people who are on the ocean, in the rivers and on the land.... They see the sudden, abrupt changes. They see the changes with climate change. They see the changes in migrations.
We really need to layer that traditional knowledge and that knowledge on the ground equally with research opportunities and infrastructure. It can't be just snapshot research. It has to be a total-ecosystem way of managing. Snapshots are a way of the past. That just doesn't work, so we have to look at that ecosystem as a whole.
The people who live in the north—the communities—are an important part of that ecosystem, just like we all are now. With the seals and the fish, there's balance. We don't see the balance changes, but the people in the north do. Involving true, meaningful programs will create that different focus in research.