Indigenous Knowledge and Use of Bering Strait Region Ocean Currents Final report to the National Park Service, Shared Beringian Heritage Program for Cooperative Agreement H99111100026 By Julie Raymond-Yakoubianᵃ, Yury Khokhlovᵇ and Anastasiya Yarzutkinaᵇ ᵃ Kawerak, Incorporated, Social Science Program, P.O. Box 948, Nome, Alaska 99762 USA (907) 443-4273, [email protected] ᵇ Chukotka Branch of Pacific Scientific Research Fisheries Center, 56 Otke, Anadyr, Chukotka 689000 Russia FOR COMMUNITY DISTRIBUTION 2014 PREFATORY NOTE This final report consists of two parts. Part One is a report on the work conducted in Alaska, and is authored by Julie Raymond-Yakoubian. Part Two consists of a report on the work conducted in Russia and is authored by Yury Khokhlov and Anastasiya Yarzutkina. Part One Indigenous Knowledge and Use of Bering Strait Region Ocean Currents (Alaska) By Julie Raymond-Yakoubian, Kawerak Inc. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Part One LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF MAPS ........................................................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................. iv ALASKA ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... v INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 1 Background ............................................................................................................................................... 2 The Bering Strait Region ...................................................................................................................... 2 Kawerak Incorporated ........................................................................................................................... 3 Shishmaref ............................................................................................................................................ 3 Wales .................................................................................................................................................... 4 Diomede ................................................................................................................................................ 4 STUDY OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................. 5 METHODS ................................................................................................................................................... 5 Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 5 Semi-Structured Interviews ....................................................................................................................... 6 Study Design ......................................................................................................................................... 6 Data Collection ..................................................................................................................................... 7 Mapping ................................................................................................................................................ 8 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................................ 8 RESULTS ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 Ethnographic Interviews ........................................................................................................................... 9 Ocean Currents ...................................................................................................................................... 9 Animals ............................................................................................................................................... 14 Other Resources .................................................................................................................................. 17 Boats and Travel ................................................................................................................................. 22 Weather, ice and ocean currents ......................................................................................................... 26 Landmarks and Weather Signs ........................................................................................................... 31 Learning about ocean currents ............................................................................................................ 35 Hunting ............................................................................................................................................... 37 i Safety .................................................................................................................................................. 42 Changes ............................................................................................................................................... 48 Traditional and Western Knowledge of Ocean Currents Workshop ................................................... 52 CAPACITY BUILDING ............................................................................................................................ 56 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................... 58 Management Implications ....................................................................................................................... 58 RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................................ 59 LITERATURE CITED ............................................................................................................................... 61 APPENDIX 1 .............................................................................................................................................. 65 APPENDIX 2 .............................................................................................................................................. 66 APPENDIX 3 .............................................................................................................................................. 70 APPENDIX 4 .............................................................................................................................................. 74 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Bering Strait region communities that participated in this project. ............................................... 2 Figure 2. View of Shishmaref in the winter. ................................................................................................. 3 Figure 3. View of Wales in the summer. ...................................................................................................... 4 Figure 4. View of Diomede........................................................................................................................... 5 Figure 5. Shishmaref expert John Sinnok mapping ocean currents during an interview. ............................. 7 Figure 6. Walruses passing between Little and Big Diomede Islands in the current. ................................. 14 Figure 7. Walruses in front of the village of Diomede. .............................................................................. 15 Figure 8. Clams collected on the beach at Wales in September. ................................................................ 17 Figure 9. A sea peach that washed on shore at a Bering Strait community. ............................................... 18 Figure 10. A driftwood pile (qaġitat) on the beach at Wales. ..................................................................... 19 Figure 11. Drying racks constructed of driftwood at Diomede. ................................................................. 20 Figure 12. A Wales storage platform and drying rack constructed of driftwood. ....................................... 21 Figure 13. Diomede boats hauled out onto one of the only boat storage locations on the island. .............. 24 Figure 14. Remains of a skin boat frame (foreground) and a more modern aluminum boat on a rack, Wales. Fairway Rock and the Diomede Islands are visible in the distance. .............................................. 24 Figure 15. The south side of Little Diomede Island where currents are pushing ice up against and around the island (map #3 and 9). .............................................................................................................. 27 Figure 16. Ice conditions at Cape Prince of Wales, January 2014. ............................................................. 28 Figure 17. Ice conditions in the