Fisheries, Subsistence, and Habitat
Publications Searchable Database
Search Again| Division: | Division of Subsistence |
| Title: | Subsistence salmon networks in select Bristol Bay and Alaska Peninsula communities, 2016 |
| Author: | Lisa Hutchinson-Scarbrough; Drew Gerkey; Gabriela Halas; Cody Larson; Lauren A. Sill; James M. Van Lanen; Margaret Cunningham |
| Year: | 2020 |
| Report ID: | ADF&G Division of Subsistence, Technical Paper No. 459 |
| Abstract: | The harvest, use, and sharing of salmon and other wild resources by Bristol Bay and Alaska Peninsula communities has been well documented by the Division of Subsistence over the past four decades. Remote Alaska Native communities in these regions remain economically and culturally dependent on their traditional fishing and hunting practices. This report describes the results of a project that documented salmon harvest and use patterns in six Bristol Bay and Alaska Peninsula communities (Chignik Bay, Chignik Lagoon, Chignik Lake, Perryville, Port Heiden, and Egegik) for 2016 in order to illustrate the household and community networks that facilitate the harvesting, processing, sharing, bartering, and trading of subsistence salmon resources within the communities, across the broader region, and throughout Alaska. Systematic household surveys and semi-structured interviews were used to capture detailed representations of harvest, use, and sharing practices in each study community for the 2016 study year. This report illustrates the qualitative and quantitative data collected during this research and situates the results within a broader discussion of resource management. Employing both types of research methods provided a detailed snapshot of sharing practices for the 2016 study year and allowed for comparisons among study communities, as well as a detailed description of the cultural values that shape these practices and the broader social and historical contexts in which they are embedded. The study found that subsistence use of salmon was almost universal in the study communities in 2016 and that most households were engaged in the exchange of salmon. In all study communities combined, 96% of households used salmon, 80% of households received salmon from other households, and 56% of all households gave salmon to others. The average per capita harvest of salmon in 2016 in the study communities combined was 118 lb. Sockeye salmon was the main salmon species harvested, composing more than one-half of the salmon harvest, by numbers of fish, in each community. The sharing network analysis revealed that each study community’s networks (local and non-local) have unique structural features and that sharing plays a critical role in community cohesion and overall social wellbeing in all the study communities. Salmon harvested by these communities were shared throughout Alaska and elsewhere, but the research documented very few instances of barter or customary trade. The project demonstrated how vastly important salmon resources are not only to the residents of these communities, but also to the extensive network of people living elsewhere. |
| Keywords: | subsistence, salmon, sockeye, Chinook, coho, pink, chum, spawning, caribou, moose, brown bear, sharing, networks, subsistence economies, distribution, exchange, traditional ecological knowledge, TEK, wild resources, Bristol Bay, Alaska Peninsula, Alaska Peninsula Management Area, Bristol Bay Management Area, Chignik Management Area, fishing, gillnet, seine, rod and reel, home pack, trade, Alaska Native, GIS |