Day 2 of the workshop focused on information - what is there and how to share. It also addressed a window to the future, If Bering Sea information can be accessed on whatever subject, no matter where the information resides, ecosystem-based coordinated research will be made easier. We also identified data gaps and there are many.

The data sources for traditional knowledge (TK) appeared challenging to acquire. Patricia Longley-Cochran stated "When an elder dies, a library burns". This illustrates that much TK is transmitted by oral tradition. The Alaska Native Science Commission has suggested a process of compiling TK: (1) conduct meetings to identify community members who hold knowledge of the land, what is happening to the land, the important issues, and (2) what information is already available. Various agencies have also collaborated with native groups to compile TK. For example, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game maintains such a database, 'Whiskers'.

The data bases of the disciplines of western sciences are extensive. They range from phytoplankton, zooplankton and other lower trophic level information, to fish and fisheries, to seabirds and marine mammals, and chemical contaminants. We also covered the information gathering services of federal agencies like NOAA's National Oceanographic Data Center, Coast Watch, Sea-WIFS, the National Weather Forecast Office, the National Ice Center, the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the National Climatic Data Center, the National Data Buoy Center. Many presentations included the names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and web sites for contacts.

Two presentations demonstrated where the Information Age is headed and how a multi-agency, multi-field range of Bering Sea ecosystem data are already being compiled and made accessible. One described the mission of the Federal Geographic Data Committee of 15 federal agencies to link databases under a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). There currently 50 federal and sate servers linked. The U.S. Geodetic Survey has charge of one node, the Alaska Geospatial Data Clearinghouse. Another presentation described NOAA's Bering Sea Ecosystem Biophysical Metadatabase. This database provides access to data of various Bering Sea projects. They include data of midwater and bottom trawl surveys, primary productivity, ichthyoplankton, groundfish catches and observer sampling, food habits, and predatory prey relationships. The database would become another node of the NSDI.