Alaska Native Harbor
Seal Commission
Harvest Data Assessment Program
In 1998 Alaska Native Harbor Seal Commission entered into a cooperative
agreement with Alaska Department of Fish & Game Subsistence Division to jointly
conduct the harvest assessment project. This data is vital to estimate the annual
mortality rate for the stock assessment reports as required in the MMPA (section
117).
Each year a network of locally trained and hired research assistants perform
household interviews in the coastal communities throughout the Harbor seal range.
Over 1300 Alaska Native households are asked to share the previous year's
harbor seal and steller sea lion subsistence takes. This program has allowed for
strong data to be available to the ANHSC for management and research purposes.
The program involves:
- 43 local/regional subsistence research assistants
- Researchers receive in-person training
- Researchers perform such tasks as updating community list for
household/hunters, administering household surveys, data proofing of
surveys,mailing surveys, and tracking sheets for data entry and
analysis.
Support from local Native Governments include:
- Identifying Native Households
- Referring potential local subsistence researchers
- Identifying expert hunters in the community
- Use of facilities for training/meetings/interviews
Communities Surveyed annually for their subsistence take of harbor seals
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & Quyana!
This project would not have been possible without tremendous local support in every
community where we conducted the survey. We wish to thank each tribal council, city council,
and all of the regional Native organizations that facilitated our work. Heartfelt thanks are
owed to the many elders and local marine mammal experts who allowed us to
interview them at length about their lifelong use and observations of sea lions and harbor
seals. In addition, we are deeply indebted to the many hundreds of hunters who volunteered
to report their subsistence harvests to our staff and to locally-hired research assistants.
The forty local researchers who conducted household interviews deserve to be recognized
individually for their high level of interest and work. We look forward to working with many
again in the near future as the project moves into its thirteenth year:
Randi Amodo, Akhiok
Antone Shelikoff, Akutan
Nina Tinker, Aleknagik and Dillingham
Harriet Silva, Angoon
George Eleshansky,Chenega Bay
Amy Skonberg, Chignik Bay
Laura Stepanoff, Chignik Lagoon
Nailene Lind, Chignik Lake
Frederick Hamilton, Craig
Virgie Alto, Egegik
Diane Stickler, Haines
Harlena Warford, Hoonah
Henry Smith, Kake
Nyna Fleury, Ketchikan and Saxman
Lef Kenezuroff, King Cove
Mary Brown, King Salmon, Naknek and South Naknek
James Rowan, Klawock
Marlene Kenoyer, Larsen Bay
Lillian Elvsaas ,Seldovia
Bud Jansen, Cordova
Rhonda Nick, Manokotak
Nick Tanape Sr,Nanwalek
Andrew R. Lestinkof Jr, Nikolski
Matilda Christiansen, Old Harbor
Victoria Cornwell, Ouzinkie
Andy Shangin, Perryville
Byron Lyons, Petersburg
Dimtre Tanape, Port Graham
Greta Kosbruk, Port Heiden and Pilot Point
Lila Sanders, Sand Point
Min Bartels, Sitka
Keri Kompkoff, Tatitlek
Elizabeth Myas, Togiak and Twin Hills
Anfesia Tutiakoff, Unalaska
Sandra Churchill, Wrangell
Raymond Sensmeier, Yakutat
Please contact Joni Bryant, ANHSC Harvest Data Coordinator,
to be added to our confidential hunter household contact list
email Joni Bryant
907-345-0554
2004 Brief of
Harvest Data Study
Findings click link