Regulatory Impacts on a Yup'ik Fish Camp in Southwest Alaska

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Regulatory Impacts on a Yup'ik Fish Camp in Southwest Alaska Regulatory Impacts on a Yup’ik Fish Camp in Southwest Alaska by Jory Stariwat B.A., University of Alaska, Anchorage, 2008 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Anthropology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) AUGUST 2016 © Jory Stariwat, 2016 Abstract Yup’ik fishers on the Nushagak River of Southwest Alaska harvest salmon for both subsistence and commercial purposes, however their cultural protocol and formal resource management principles are unrecognized by the State of Alaska. Drawing from two summers of ethnographic research and experience as an Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G) anthropologist, I examine one state regulation preventing drift gillnetting for subsistence purposes. The analysis reveals that the Alaska Department of Fish & Game is currently preventing cultural adaptation on the Nushagak River despite Yup’ik communities maintaining sustainable harvest levels for millennia. Changes in river conditions, namely the location of sandbars and channels, in addition to warming water temperatures, necessitate the application of the traditional harvest method, drift gillnetting, to meet the harvest goals of Yup’ik fishers at the Lewis Point fish camp on the Nushagak River. The Alaska Board of Fisheries has maintained that drifting only be employed in the commercial fishery, not the subsistence fishery, despite policy dictating a subsistence priority over other consumptive uses. While failing to meet the subsistence priority codified in its own policy, the State of Alaska also fails to provide a meaningful role to the tribes in the decision-making domain of resource management. Yup’ik fishing is guided by a cultural ethos known as yuuyaraq, roughly translated to “the real way of life,” which provides a formal management institution that maintains continuity with the past while providing harvest protocol and principles for the present. The incorporation of Yup’ik intellectual traditions and cultural principles is necessary to provide the tribe a “meaningful role” in the natural resource management of Alaska. ii Preface This research required approval from the University of British Columbia’s Behavioral Research Ethics Board. The project received approval on July 18, 2011 under certificate H11- 00790 (Lewis Point fish camp ethnography). The research was conducted in cooperation with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G), Division of Subsistence, under Phase II of an ongoing project entitled Lewis Point fish camp ethnography (2009-2013). Jory Stariwat conducted all research and analysis during Phase II and is the sole author of this thesis. No portion of the thesis has been previously published. A separate report for Phase I is in review for publication in the ADF&G, Division of Subsistence Technical Paper Series. Forthcoming. Stariwat, Jory, Theodore Krieg, and William Simeone. Lewis Point Fish Camp Ethnography. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Subsistence Technical Paper No. XXX, Anchorage, Alaska. iii Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Preface............................................................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... v Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Purpose of the Project ..................................................................................................................... 8 Research Methods ......................................................................................................................... 12 A Yup’ik Cultural Ethos: Yuuyaraq “The Real Way of Life” ...................................................... 19 The Lewis Point Fish Camp (Nunaurluq) ..................................................................................... 26 Subsistence Salmon Fishing at Lewis Point ............................................................................. 29 Participation in the Bristol Bay Commercial Fishery ............................................................... 36 Yuuyaraq and State Management ................................................................................................. 45 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 50 References ..................................................................................................................................... 53 Appendix 1 .................................................................................................................................... 56 Appendix 2 .................................................................................................................................... 57 Appendix 3 .................................................................................................................................... 58 Appendix 4 .................................................................................................................................... 59 Appendix 5 .................................................................................................................................... 60 iv Acknowledgements I am deeply grateful to the people of New Stuyahok for showing me a new way to think about and experience the world, and the unending hospitality my hosts extended to me. My connection to Bristol Bay was galvanized by the warmth of the families at Lewis Point who shared their knowledge, their Native foods, and their way of life with an outsider. I now consider the Nushagak River a second home. I am especially thankful for the guidance and wisdom of Moxie and Anna Andrew, the thoughtful conversation and warm meals from Honeybun and Wassillie Andrew, the inspiring morals and principles of Evan and Dorothy Wonhola, and the lasting lessons from Timothy and Mary Wonhola. My stays in New Stuyahok are always a special treat with the family of Sophie Neketa, where I am always spoiled with my favourite agutak, and other Native foods. I must thank Sophie for her patience while enduring the challenges of trying to teach me Yup’ik. The New Stuyahok Traditional Council and Ted Krieg were instrumental in making research arrangements for this project. I am indebted to them for their openness and efforts. I am also indebted to my former supervisors and colleagues with the Division of Subsistence, ADF&G. The insights of Davin Holen, Ted Krieg, Bill Simeone, and Jim Fall have been an invaluable resource for better understanding subsistence in Alaska. I owe a great deal of thanks to my graduate advisor, Charles Menzies, who helped me to step back and reflect on the systemic and structural conditions of state/indigenous relationships. I pursued a graduate degree in order to better understand my involvement in state management, and it was Charles who aided me in thinking beyond the programmatic work of ADF&G in order to resituate my work within a decolonizing framework. I am very thankful to Pat Moore and Charles for their fast committee work which allowed me to meet impending deadlines. v This research would not have been possible without the financial support of the North Pacific Research Board, Alaska Anthropological Association, and Division of Subsistence, ADF&G. Their generous support allowed me to spend multiple summers on the Nushagak River. It was in my second season of fieldwork that I learned of yuuyaraq and the importance of this Yup’ik cultural ethos in the self-management of the fishery. I am thankful for the opportunity to have spent the necessary time to begin documenting the tacit and less enunciated Yup’ik principles practiced on the water, and to more fully appreciate that Native people are not just Alaska’s first citizens, they are also tribal people with their own forms of governance and management. Lastly, I am grateful for the support (and tolerance) of my family and friends who had to experience my attempt at balancing academic, professional, and adventurous goals. I was spread thin at times to say the least, but as the time-honoured saying goes, “all’s well that ends well.” vi Introduction It was mid-June again. A strong southwest wind had just blown from Nushagak Bay into the low-lying basin where the Nushagak River begins to transition into maritime coast. The peak of the salmon run had arrived at the Lewis Point fish camp. A community leader of New Stuyahok, a Yup’ik community lying 80 miles (129 km) upriver from the fish camp, explained how the strong Pacific winds bring pulses of salmon into the river system and provide a tell-tale for fishermen to gauge run timing and strength. Downriver reports from subsistence fishers in the regional hub of Dillingham confirmed the expectations, with many fishermen capturing 40 salmon—some more—in a single day’s catch with setnets spanning 25 fathoms or less from the shores of Kanakanak Beach. The downriver harvests were another good indicator that the fish were on their
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