2014 (Representative year)
Title: Chukchi Sea and Norton Sound Observation Network: harvest and use of wild resources in 9 communities in Arctic Alaska, 2012-2014
Authors: N.M. Braem, E.H. Mikow, and M.L. Kostick, editors
Summary: This report summarizes results from a 3-year project, “Chukchi Sea and Norton Sound Observation Network.” Research was conducted in January and February of 2013 in Golovin, Noorvik, and Point Lay for study year 2012; in March and April of 2014 in Stebbins, Diomede, and Deering for study year 2013; and between March and May of 2015 in Point Hope, Shishmaref, and Kotzebue for study year 2014. The comprehensive subsistence survey asked respondents about their harvest, sharing, and use of more than 100 species of fish, land mammals, marine mammals, marine invertebrates, birds, and wild plants and berries. Although the 9 communities have similar resources available and most are inhabited primarily by Iñupiat people (with the exception of Stebbins, which is a Yupik community), their subsistence patterns differ in which species are used. The project also collected information on community demographics, income, food security, and wild food networks. Researchers mapped areas used by community residents for subsistence hunting, fishing, and gathering in a 12-month study period. Through semi-structured key respondent interviews, researchers collected local observations of environmental change, including information about species population dynamics, health, seasonal geographic distribution, and invasive species, particularly as related to the procurement of subsistence foods.