Western

Initial Summary of Concerns

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Initial Summary of Concerns

Clams: PSP (increased red tides) and Oil Spill

Salmon: deformed salmon, cysts, tape worms in spawned out salmon

Mushy meat of hatchery fish Seal livers and kidneys: Oil Spill Animal fat doesn’t preserve meat as

well (seal, fish, walrus) – Bristol Bay area

concerns

Balding seal, skin elastic, blubber thinner and gristly - Cook Inlet and Bristol Bay

roundworms in halibut, smelt, seals – PWS area

Tapeworms in salmon – Cook Inlet area There are more cancers and heart disease Moose and caribou livers discolored, have

a gray sheen – Bristol Bay area Discolored marrow in caribou - BB

Increased sport hunters/ fishers and guides – there is more waste of the animal and trash left behind and human waste YUCK!!!!!

But certain hunting that is controlled by permits and tags is in check unless they increase the number of permits.

Is the ecosystem changing?

The elders find the weather is less predictable because they have a hard time reading the sky

Sea Lions seem to be more aggressive– They have less food because of fish trawlers and

draggers? – People are feeding them in the harbors

Seals less plentiful and further from Chenega Bay since the oil spill

Used to be able to skate in Cordova in October – snow came later; now cycle reversed

Changes

Weather appears to be going back to the pattern of 40 or 50 years ago in the Kodiak area – more snow, colder

Cordova area hasn’t had….winds (add from Mary’s notes)

Die-off of barnacles and badarki’s (chiton, gumboots) winter of 1999 in the Seldovia and English Bay areas due to unusual cold/freeze

Changes in species

More wolves – Bristol Bay area More bear – PWS, Lower Cook Inlet, Kodiak

and Bristol Bay area- more visible in town and camp areas

More sea otter – PWS, Lower Cook Inlet More rabbits, porcupines and lynx – Port

Graham/Rocky - Windy Bays More sea lions in PWS but disappearing in

Togiak area Incidentally harvesting King crab in herring

nets in Togiak area

Changes

Fewer king crab, dungeness crab, tanner crab and shrimp with warmer waters and over-harvesting – but cooler water temps may lead to increasing shellfish populations (area?)

Fewer and smaller clams – sea otters eat them, contaminants/ oil spill

Increased wolf population in Bristol Bay area – killing moose

Deer died off last year (?1998) due to increased snowfall – Chenega Bay, Kodiak area

Changes

Black bear – bald spots, losing hair – Port Graham area (1989 – after the oil spill

Decrease in seabirds, kittiwakes, ducks, murres, black ducks, puffins, shags (cormorants), mallards, sawbills, scouters in PWS area

Die-off of skimmer birds in Bristol Bay Area (esp. Cape Constantine) Fall 1998

Blooms in water – Fall 1998 Catch and release – fish are showing up with

damaged jaws, swollen mouths

Changes in Plants

After Chernobyl, blackberries smaller, seedier, only 2 or 3 berries in cluster ripen – the whole southwestern coastal area of Bristol Bay

Wild rhubarb mushy, slimy when cooked Can no longer use medicinal plants in steam baths

when they are partially dry because the leaves fall off – must use them when they are green

No salmon berries last summer – Kodiak area Berries don’t freeze as well – have a strange taste

Changes in Plants

Fewer blueberries, cranberries Salmonberries not as big and

abundant – Seldovia Alders more abundant – Seldovia

and Chenega Bay Salmonberries abundant in Bristol

Bay area (but they are tundra variety)

Change in beach grass in Bristol Bay area – less strong, molds when keeping traditional amount damp, grass blades grow unevenly on same plant so you can’t pick all blades at the same time.

Could be in Lower Cook Inlet as well We think that nutrients are different in the

plants. We just notice the ones we eat, use, process, but it could be all the plants

Can no longer braid smelt with grass because it is too brittle. We have to use twine.

Health

Increase in cancers Liver cancer more prevalent in the

Kuskokwim and Bristol Bay coastal area

Bristol Bay coastal villages – more internal cancers

Bristol Bay interior villages – more breast and prostate cancer

Health Port Graham – increase in colon cancer and

diabetes in the late 1980’s after water system installed

Seldovia and Port Graham – adults and young kids in new HUD housing (1983) having more respiratory problems

- paint- mildew from visquene placed on dirt,

mold on walls near floor More varieties of flu TB resurgence

Concerns

Boat harbors are sources of contamination which then travels with the tides

Contamination from commercial boats – destruction of traditional kelp harvesting area in Togiak

Logging

Logging sites – logs in bay, oil wastes, litter left behind.– Jackaloff Bay? And…

Research Process

Researchers – glad to help them if they have an open mind to more than what is written in books

We are making headway in taking action ourselves – e.g. Harbor Seal Commission. We traditionally base what we do on peer review – scientists need to know that, and we have specialties too.

Tourism/Charters

Increased tourism, charters – PWS Shooting halibut on charter boats –

contaminants from bullets, noise Oil spills from fishing boats –

increase in motorcraft