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Subsistence resources have great nutritional, economical, cultural, and spiritual importance in the lives of rural Alaskans. For many, subsistence defines what it means to be Alaskan—to live in harmony with nature and survive off the resources of the land and sea. Subsistence patterns follow a seasonal cycle of harvestable resources, and young hunters learn—through experience—the skills preserved through countless generations. They accompany experienced hunters to learn by personal observation, all they can about local geography, weather, animal behavior, traditional techniques of traveling, hunting, and living off the land, and how to process and preserve the products they harvest.
Subsistence Facts
- Rural Alaskan residents harvest approximately 44 million pounds of fish and wildlife for food, the replacement value of which is $220,000,000.
- Subsistence is a major source of employment and sustenance for families in rural Alaska; subsistence participants work to feed and clothe their families.
- Wild foods supply 1/3 of the caloric requirements of rural Alaskans.
- The entire subsistence harvest accounts for only 2% of the combined fish and game harvest in Alaska.
- One in every five Alaskans lives in a rural area, about 125,000 people in more than 250 communities.
- Most rural settlements are off the road network and are comprised of fewer than 500 people, the majority made up of Native villages.
- In a state where approximately 15% of the population is Alaska Native, nearly half of all rural Alaskans are Alaska Native.
- Of subsistence foods taken by Alaskans, 60% of the catch is made up of fish, land mammals make up 20%, marine mammals make up 14%, birds, shellfish, plants, and berries make up the remaining 6% of the rural harvest of wild food.
- A 1998 report by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimates that commercial fisheries take roughly 2 billion pounds, or nearly 97% of the total weight of fish and wildlife harvested in Alaska. Sport fishing and hunting account for 1% of the total harvest. Rural subsistence accounts for 45 million pounds, or just 2.2%.
- Some subsistence foods: sockeye and chum salmon, king crab, steelhead, halibut, pike, razor clams, mussels, moose, caribou, deer, dall sheep, arctic hare, berries, grouse, ducks, ptarmigan, walrus, beluga and bowhead whale, harbor seal, etc.
Copyright © 2002 Alaska Federation of Natives.
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