Alaska Native
Harbor Seal Commission
Welcome to the Alaska Native
Harbor Seal Commission website...
ABOUT US
Our Mission Statement:

"To ensure that harbor seals remain an essential
cultural,spiritual,and nutritional element of our
traditional way of life, and to promote the health of
harbor seals in order to carry forward the cultural,
spiritual, and nutritional traditions of Alaska Natives."
The Alaska Native Harbor Seal Commission

Organized in 1995 as a nonprofit tribal consortium comprised of Alaska Native communities
within the harbor seal habitat  range. The overall goal of the commission is to strengthen and
increase the role of Alaska Natives in resource management and decisions affecting the
harbor seals and their uses.  The Commission helps foster this through our co-management
agreement for data analysis, population monitoring and harvest assessment.


The Alaska Native Harbor Seal Commission also educates the public on Alaska Natives and
their traditional way of life. Alaska  Natives are concerned about the stewardship of their
wildlife resources as well as, preserving their traditional way of life. The Alaska Native Harbor
Seal Commission also educates the public on traditional use of marine mammals including
non-wasteful hunting practices.  If you would like to assist us in our efforts to conserve our
natural resources and preserve our cultural heritage through our education and outreach
efforts you can make a secure online donation by clicking on the link below.
ANHSC Celebrates 10 years 1995-2005
The ANHSC family would like to extend our deepest
sympathies to the Family Of Don Kompkoff . Don was an
important part of our ANHSC family. His wisdom and
guidance lives on in the many lives he touched with his
love of our traditional way of life and language. Don will
be missed. Our Prayers for strength and blessings go
out to Gail and all the family.........


The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) Harbor Seal Program would
like to encourage all seal hunters to contact ADF&G or ANHSC if they harvest a
harbor seal that has plastic identification tags attached to its hind flippers.  All
seals captured and released by ADF&G for research purposes have a colored
tag with a number on it attached to each hind flipper.

Letting us know the color and number of each tag and which flipper (right or
left) it is attached to provides us with important data on harbor seal movements
and gives us the opportunity to share information with the hunter about when
and where the seal was captured , and most importantly, if the seal is safe to
consume.  We administer sedatives and pain-relieving drugs to many of the
seals that we capture before we collect biological samples to assess their
health, diet, and body condition. Because there is no research on how quickly
seals can eliminate these drugs from their system, the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) recommends not consuming seal products within 45 days
of the capture date, if drugs were administered.  
Please contact Christine Schmale (ADF&G) 907-465-5027, Shawna Karpovich
(ADF&G) 907-459-7239, Gail Blundell (ADF&G) 907-465-4345 or Joni Bryant
(ANHSC) 907-345-0555 to report harvested seals with flipper tags.  We look
forward to hearing from you.



Identification tags attached to harbor seal flippers.  Every captured seal has a
tag attached to each hind flipper.  The two tags will be different colors, and
may or may not have the same number.