Subsistence News-1/20/95

To   Subsistence 2

From:      Larry Roberts:R10F02A

Postmark:  Jan 19,95  1:18 PM          Delivered: Jan 20,95  9:59 AM

Status:    Previously read

Subject: Subsistence News-1/20/95

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Message:

*The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from plaintiffs to let the Alaska State courts decide remaining cases in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Alaska Natives had sought to pursue claims that the oil spill caused adverse impacts to their traditional culture.

*The Federal Subsistence Board (FSB) has approved a winter subsistence caribou hunt for 14 interior villages along the Yukon River. The season will run from Feb.1 to Mar.31. Each rural resident will be eligible to harvest one caribou from the Western Arctic herd.

*The FSB has banned subsistence hunting of moose on federal public lands along a stretch of the Yukon River. The restriction prohibits hunting within a mile of the river in Game Management Unit (GMU) 21E during the winter season, Feb.1-10. The ruling affects the communities of Paimiut, Anvik, Holy Cross, and Grayling. The closure is to prevent over harvest and minimize disturbance to the moose that congregate along the river during the winter.

*A U.S. District Court judge has ruled in what has been termed the “Bold II” lawsuit. The judge ruled that Indians in Washington’s Puget Sound may gather shellfish on private property. Crab, shrimp, sea cucumber, sea urchin, and many other shellfish are included under the ruling, which upholds Treaties signed in 1854 and 1855.