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Subsistence
and Walrus Hunting
 Subsistence
is a way of life for the Inupiaq and Yupik Eskimos of the Bering
Strait Region and the Seward Peninsula. Hunting, fishing, and gathering
are subsistence activities. These activities are important not only
for food, but as a foundation for native traditions, values and
cultural identity. This way of life has occurred for thousands of
years and continues today. Native Alaskans use both traditional
and modern methods for subsistence harvest. They preserve the strengths
of their traditional culture, while adopting what is useful from
the western world.
The pacific walrus is
a good example of an animal that is harvested yearly. Walrus are
hunted from most Alaska villages near where the animals occur or
migrate through. Most are harvested from villages near the coast
of the Bering Strait and from Saint Lawrence Island, King Island,
and Little Diomede Island. Eskimos in some villages traditionally
base their lifestyle on walrus. Many parts of the walrus are used
for various purposes. Some traditional uses of walrus parts are:
the use of the meat for food, the skins for making boat covers and
house covers, the intestines are eaten and were used for rain coats,
the bones for tools, the stomach for containers and drums, the hide
for clothing and house covers, the meat for dog food, the fresh
hide for the preservation of other foods and the ivory for useful
and decorative implements. Many of these uses still occur today,
for example, they depend on the meat for food, the skins for making
boat covers and rope, the stomach for containers and drums, and
the ivory for artistic carvings that are usually sold.
Some things have been
replaced by modern items. For instance, the walrus intestine raincoats
have been replaced by plastic raincoats. Other clothing made from
the hide and other parts of the walrus have been replaced by store
bought clothing. Homes are now made of wood and tools that were
made from walrus bones are purchased. People utilize what is useful
from the past and today.
A good example from Western
culture of how people use an animal for many different consumptive
and non-consumptive uses is the marketing of cow products. Most
everyone has used some kind of cow product. There are many examples
of how many parts of a cow are used: milk, dairy products, meat
for consumption, hide for clothing, people eat cow stomachs (tripe)
and cow tongues, leftover cow parts are used for dog food, cow manure
is used for fertilizer, and steers are used for entertainment purposes
in rodeos. If you compare how Alaska Native peoples use the walrus
to the way most Americans use cows.
With the Eskimo Walrus
Commission, each village determines how many walrus should be hunted
each year, and creates an ordinance (rule) from that number. The
harvest must not be wasteful: numbers killed should be limited to
what can reasonably be utilized. If the population of walrus declines,
a village may make a new ordinance. A new ordinance would be important
because if the population of walrus declines too much, walrus could
become endangered. Healthy populations of walrus and other wildlife
are important, not only for the arctic environment in general, but
also for native peoples who depend on animals like the walrus for
food.
Additional Reference:
Hunting
and Fishing of Walrus by Alaska Natives, Fact Sheet produced
by the US Fish and Wildlife Service
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