WP18–27 Executive Summary
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
WP18–27 Executive Summary General Description Proposal WP18–27 requests the Federal Subsistence Board (Board) to recognize the customary and traditional uses of muskoxen on Nunivak Island by the residents of Nunivak Island. Submitted by: Yukon- Kuskokwim Delta Subsistence Regional Advisory Council. Customary and Traditional Use Determination—Muskoxen Proposed Regulation Unit 18—Nunivak Island Residents of Nunivak Island. Unit 18—Remainder No Federal subsistence priority. OSM Preliminary Conclusion Support Southeast Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Council Recommendation Southcentral Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Council Recommendation Kodiak/Aleutians Subsistence Regional Advisory Council Recommendation Bristol Bay Subsistence Regional Advisory Council Recommendation Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Subsistence Regional Advisory Council Recommendation Western Interior Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Council WP18–27 Executive Summary Recommendation Seward Peninsula Subsistence Regional Advisory Council Recommendation Northwest Arctic Subsistence Regional Advisory Council Recommendation Eastern Interior Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Council Recommendation North Slope Subsistence Regional Advisory Council Recommendation Interagency Staff Committee Comments ADF&G Comments Written Public Comments None 2 DRAFT STAFF ANALYSIS WP18-27 ISSUES Proposal WP18-27, submitted by the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Subsistence Regional Advisory Council (Council), requests the Federal Subsistence Board (Board) to recognize the customary and traditional uses of muskoxen on Nunivak Island in Unit 18 by residents of Nunivak Island. DISCUSSION The proponent states that residents of Nunivak Island have interacted with muskoxen since they were reintroduced and have hunted them under State regulations. The proponent continues that Nunivak Island consists of predominantly Federal public lands within the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge and residents of the rural community of Mekoryuk on Nunivak Island would like to be recognized by the Board for their customary and traditional uses of muskoxen. Only Nunivak Island residents’ customary and traditional uses of muskoxen on Nunivak Island are described below; when a proposal requests adding a community or residents of an area to an existing customary and traditional use determination, only the customary and traditional uses in the area indicated in the proposal by that community are analyzed. Existing Federal Regulation Customary and Traditional Use Determination —Muskoxen Unit 18 No Federal subsistence priority. Proposed Federal Regulation Customary and Traditional Use Determination—Muskoxen Unit 18—Nunivak Island Residents of Nunivak Island. Unit 18—Remainder No Federal subsistence priority. Extent of Federal Public Lands Federal public lands comprise approximately 90% of Nunivak Island in Unit 18 and consist of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service managed lands. These Federal public lands are within the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge (see Unit 18 Map). 3 Regulatory History At the beginning of the Federal Subsistence Management Program in Alaska in 1992, most existing State customary and traditional use determinations were adopted into permanent Federal regulations (72 Fed. Reg. 22961. [May 29, 1992]). The State did not recognize customary and traditional uses of muskoxen on Nunivak Island and the Board adopted a determination of “no subsistence priority.” In January 2014, the Alaska Board of Game (BOG) considered but did not adopt a customary and traditional use determination for muskoxen in Units 18 and 19 (Proposal 5). The proposal, submitted by the Association of Village Council Presidents, requested muskox “subsistence” hunts in Units 18 and 19. The Board of Game took no action (ADF&G 2014:1). The BOG determined that it will consider separate customary and traditional use determinations for each of three areas of Unit 18: Nunivak Island, Nelson Island, and the remainder of Unit 18. The BOG does not recognize customary and traditional uses of muskoxen in Unit 18. Therefore, only sport hunting regulations apply. Because of this, ADF&G can limit the number of registration permits as well as limit the number of drawing permits available to hunters for the harvest of muskoxen on Nunivak Island. For Nunivak Island muskoxen, the BOG has established registration hunts for cows only (RX060 and 061). Most registration permits are distributed in Mekoryuk, and in most years a few are distributed at Bethel. Before 2014, bull hunts were only by drawing permit (DX001 and 003). Beginning in 2010 and continuing through 2014, the population of muskoxen on Nunivak Island dropped below the level necessary to maintain healthy populations. Consequently, cows were conserved and the distribution of registration permits for the harvest of cows was severely limited compared to previous years. During this same period, the distribution of drawing permits for the harvest of bulls continued at previous levels. Since 2014 the BOG has allowed the distribution of registration permits for the harvest of bulls (RX062), in addition to registration permits for the harvest of cows, if less than 10 registration permits for the harvest of cows are available (Jones 2017, pers. comm.). Perry (2017, pers. comm.) reported that the State is in the process of updating the 1992 Nunivak Island Reindeer and Muskox Management Plan. He said the revised plan will guide the number of muskoxen and reindeer the island will be managed for, and when and where muskox registration permits will be distributed. The State is consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Native Village of Mekoryuk on the revised plan. Community Characteristics Nunivak Island sits about 25 miles from the Alaskan mainland and is located between the mouths of the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers. Nunivak Island is situated within the boundaries of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge that encompasses more than one million acres (Lantis 1984). Yup’ik people self-recognize as belonging to a number of confederations of villages. People living on Nunivak Island are Nuniwarmiut (Drozda 2010). Russian explorer A.K. Etolin reported that there were 16 villages supported by a population totaling 400 on the island in 1821. Nuniwarmiut faced a number of epidemic outbreaks during the early-1900s, and a substantial portion of the island’s population was 4 affected. Population loss led to changes in settlement patterns, and people began concentrating in areas where trade, services, and employment opportunities were available. In 1940, island residents were concentrated in seven winter villages each with less than 20 people. By the 1950s, Mekoryuk was the only permanent village on the island. United States Census records indicate that the total island population in 1980 was 160. In 2010 the population of Mekoryuk was 191 people (ADCCED 2017). Nunivak Islanders rely primarily on marine resources, birds and eggs, and muskoxen for subsistence. Few species of land mammals are present on the island. Additionally, a herd of reindeer has been actively managed on the island since the early 1900s. The herd is locally owned and managed (Caldwell 2016). Nunivak Islanders have participated in local commercial herring and halibut fisheries (Drozda 2010, Pete 1984, Wolfe et al. 2012). Bull hunters on Nunivak Island usually hunt with guides or transporters (Jones 2015a:1-7). According to ADF&G, four Nunivak businesses are currently licensed to guide and/or transport hunters (ADF&G 2017a). Muskoxen were indigenous to Alaska until the 1860s (Lent 1995). In an effort to re-establish muskoxen in Alaska, the U.S. Biological Survey brought 31 muskoxen to Nunivak Island in 1935 and 1936 (Perry 2017, pers. comm.). Nuniwarmiut found muskoxen to be frightening and as such mainly avoided the animals until 1964 when Nunivak men were employed to catch young muskoxen for an experimental farm program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Women began knitting qiviut, fine soft wool from the undercoat of muskoxen, by 1973 (Lantis 1984). Outside hunting was not permitted until fall 1975 when ADF&G established fall and spring hunting seasons (Jones 2015a). In 1975 a few Nunivak Islanders started to commercially guide muskox hunts. Before 1972, they also guided people on walrus hunts. Guiding hunters has been a source of income and jobs to local residents (Perry 2017, pers. comm.). Eight Factors for Determining Customary and Traditional Use A community or area’s customary and traditional use is generally exemplified through the eight factors: (1) a long-term, consistent pattern of use, excluding interruptions beyond the control of the community or area; (2) a pattern of use recurring in specific seasons for many years; (3) a pattern of use consisting of methods and means of harvest which are characterized by efficiency and economy of effort and cost, conditioned by local characteristics; (4) the consistent harvest and use of fish or wildlife as related to past methods and means of taking: near, or reasonably accessible from the community or area; (5) a means of handling, preparing, preserving, and storing fish or wildlife which has been traditionally used by past generations, including consideration of alteration of past practices due to recent technological advances, where appropriate; (6) a pattern of use which includes the handing down of knowledge of fishing and hunting skills, values, and lore from generation to generation; (7) a pattern of use in which the harvest is shared or distributed within a definable