The Beaufort Sea Project for Climate Change began as a research project in Canada in 2002. The project was started by Magdalena A.K. Muir and Geographic Information System (GIS) specialists with support from the Fisheries and Joint Management Committee and governmental organizations. The focus of the project from 2002 to 2007 was to study the effects of climate change on marine mammals and fish in the Beaufort Sea. In conjunction, the research studied the effects of using, managing, and allocating marine resources. After 2008, the research has focused on identifying species of marine wildlife that could be at risk in the future due to overfishing and climate change related effects. This research continues to study the effects of climate change on the health of marine species and management of marine resources. The management of these resources includes gaining species knowledge, setting limits on the number of marine mammals and fish that are allowed to be captured and killed per year, and enforcing legislature about managing marine resources. Specifically, researchers are studying the effects of climate change in marine mammal migrations patterns. The specific environmental effects are changes in the fresh water Mackenzie River inputs, sea and land ice, and water circulation. Researchers plan to use these changes to catalogue direct effects of climate change on migration. Sea and land ice changes will be detrimental to ice dependent animals. This research will provide information for scientists, researchers, organizations, charities, and government officials so that appropriate laws and regulations can be established (Muir n.d.).

Source:

Muir, Magdalena A.K. "Beaufort Sea Project for Climate Change." Arctic Institute of North America. Accessed March 05, 2017. http://arctic.ucalgary.ca/beaufort-sea-project-climate-change.