U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director Dan Ashe is visiting Southeast Alaska, at the invitation of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, to discuss sea otter issues related to fishing and Native Alaskan art.
Murkowski said in a press release she called the stakeholder meetings to address friction between Fish and Wildlife enforcement actions toward Alaska Native craftsmen who work with sea otters and other marine mammals.
The meeting in Juneau is planned for Friday at 2 p.m. in the Sealaska boardroom one in Sealaska Plaza. The public is welcome and invited to participate in the question and answer with Fish and Wildlife staff following the meeting.
Sea otters are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. The otter was harvested intensely in the early 1900s, the Southeast population was basically gone by the 1950s. It was then reintroduced to the area in the late 1960s. It is now moving into its traditional territory and preying on its traditional diet of geoduck, clams, urchin and crab – competing with subsistence, sport and commercial fisheries.
The act has provisions to allow Alaska Natives to harvest sea otters, which they use in traditional clothing and artwork. Native artists have come asked for more leeway in the types of otter uses deemed traditional and acceptable under the act.
Director Ashe will meet with stakeholders in Sitka on Saturday.
Comments (8)
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what would or wouldn't coastal management initiative do to help or hinder resolution in this matter
Leave our Sea Otters alone!
Leave our Sea Otters alone!
They are Significantlt Altered When Dead.
Should have hosted this Meeting outside of Juneau and Sitka and Not in the Summer Season. Would of gotten more participation. There are far more Sea Otters along the West Coast of Prince of Wales Island than anywhere else in SE. They do have an impact on our way of life and resources. USFWS should have never introducd them back into SE waters without a Management Plan. Time to take an active approach in solving the problem.
isldandhopper,
the czmp would do nothing unless a federal/state resource permit were required for managing sea otters. If local policies conflict with a resource permit THEN a coastal management board would resolve any conflicts. This would speed up the process which would inevitably be delayed when government policies conflict.
On a more relevant note, sea otters need to be controlled. They're cute, but like beavers, they must be delt with outside the public forum, for that very reason. Same goes for whales, in my opinion. Look how many humpbacks we have around Juneau eating all the herring... they even winter here now, but no one can touch them. Education on this matter outlying the positive and negative influences sea otters have on the environment. Too many of them is a bad thing for everyone.
Ironic
A NMFS agent was commenting on how few Abalone there were and that they probably should be put on the endangered list. Someone pointed out that Sea Otters were the biggest problem for Abalone and NMFS would have to come up with a management plan to control Sea Otters...that was the last that was heard from that agent and I don't see Abalone on the list yet. Hmmm...
History
When the Russians and other fur hunters and traders came to Alaska, they nearly wiped out the sea otters. The ecological balance between sea otters and other maritime species was dramatically changed.
Before that, the Native people of Alaska had hunted, used and traded sea otter pelts. But they didn't always use sea otter pelts to make or line blankets, mittens, robes. They seemed to have been trading the pelts.
Perhaps if one looks at the earliest accounts, the historical record, of what the Native people were doing with sea otter pelts, it might be informative and enlightening. It might also give some insight what can and should be done to find a balance between sea otters and other maritime species which, like sea otter pelts, have become economically important.
My personal opinion is that life on earth is not "either / or" it is a matter of finding a balance.
"Stakeholders": Those whose lineage alone classifies them as
the sole recipient or delineator of art and culture.
Corporations are citizens too.