Postmark: Dec 29,94 11:47 AM Delivered: Dec 29,94 11:46 AM
Status: Previously read
Subject: Subsistence News-12/30/94
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Message:
*The Federal Subsistence Board (FSB) is accepting applications for membership on the 10 Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Councils (RAC). Application deadline is February 28,1995. Appointees serve a three-year term.
*Conditions for RAC appointment:
individual must be a resident of the region they seek to represent;
knowledge of local and regional subsistence uses and needs;
knowledge of other uses of the regions fish and wildlife;
willing to travel to and attend RAC meetings;
willing to attend FSB meetings, as requested.
*The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council’s 1995 work plan calls for $1.65 million to be spent on subsistence projects as a result of the 1989 oil spill. Projects to be funded include: intergenerational project on the sharing of traditional knowledge of subsistence practices; making use of traditional subsistence knowledge in data gathering; and identifying and surveying customary subsistence harvest areas for evidence of continued oil problems.
*In addition to the above projects, seven grants to the Alaska Dept. of Community and Regional Affairs will deal with a variety of subsistence related concerns expressed by rural residents.
Postmark: Dec 22,94 3:15 PM Delivered: Dec 23,94 10:00 AM
Status: Previously read
Subject: Subsistence News-12/23/94
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Message:
*Willie Hensley, Chairman of the Federal Subsistence Board (FSB) recently accepted appointment as Director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Development under Alaska’s governor, Tony Knowles.
*Spring 1994 flooding along Alaska’s Koyukuk River caused damage estimated as high as $74 million. It displaced entire communities such as Alatna, Allakaket, and parts of Hughes. These subsistence based settlements were virtually without any insurance to cover their personal/community losses.
*Fish and Wildlife Protection Officers recently arrested a 56 year old Copper Center man on 132 counts of commercial and subsistence fishing violations. The defendant is charged with using subsistence fish wheels for personal gain, failure to mark subsistence fish, illegal possession and transportation, etc. Charges are pending against a second defendant.
*The Indigenous People’s Council for Marine Mammals (IPCMM) is an organization composed of Alaska Native groups active in marine mammal management and subsistence issues, such as the Alaska Sea Otter Commission, the Eskimo Walrus Commission, and the Alaska-Inuvialuit Beluga Whale Committee.
Postmark: Dec 16,94 8:04 AM Delivered: Dec 16,94 10:01 AM
Status: Previously read
Subject: Subsistence News-12/16/94
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Message:
*Preliminary research by Brian Bigler and Jack Helle suggest weight measurements from 45 separate runs of King, coho, sockeye, chum, and pink salmon indicate a 10% to 30% weight decline over a 20 year period.
*Favorable weather conditions, better management of wild stocks, and huge increases in hatchery salmon have pushed North Pacific salmon populations to the highest levels in at least 50 years.
*These abundant populations of salmon may be straining the limits of North Pacific grazing areas_mid-ocean pastures where both Asian and Pacific American salmon spend most of their lives foraging on zooplankton and other feed.
*These researchers believe that since the salmon can’t find as much to eat as they used to, they are smaller in size at maturity.
*These smaller fish could mean less successful spawning, fewer eggs and weaker offspring, and perhaps drastically smaller salmon runs.
*What this means to Alaska subsistence is not yet clear. Researchers estimate it will take 10 years to complete their studies. What they hint is that we have reached the carry capacity of the oceans. Obviously, there are those who disagree with their suggested conclusion.
