FAIRBANKS -- A University of Alaska Fairbanks research team is studying ways to connect fisheries and processors with rural schools.

The Center for Alaska Native Health Research has received a three-year, $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the study, which also will look at opportunities for nutrition education. The study will focus on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region.

Leading the project is UAF nutrition researcher Andrea Bersamin. She is working with UAF colleagues and team members from Portland State University in Oregon and California State University Fresno.

Bersamin says that if the "Fisheries to Schools" project is successful, the idea could be developed for application throughout Alaska.