Seals and Subsistence: More Than What Words Can Describe

Quyana // Thank You

This article is the first in a three-part collaborative series about subsistence practices in the face of climate change. The first article outlines the connection between the Sugpiaq and Alaska Native people of southcentral Alaska and the land, as seen through the lens of seal subsistence. After reading continue to the second article on ways that climate change is impacting seal populations, and in turn regional subsistence activity surrounding Kenai Fjords National Park. The third article explores projects underway that address some of these climate stressors.

We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to our partner, Chugach Regional Resources Commission for their collaboration on this series and for their vital work in this region. We also want to deeply thank the generations of Elders that have carried and shared their invaluable knowledge and wisdom about their land.

What is Subsistence?

Respected Yup’ik Elder Colette Brantingham of Qutekcak Native Tribe leading a community harbor seal harvest in Seward, AK. Colette carefully removes seal fat, making sure to not damage the hide.

Photo courtesy of Chugach Regional Resources Commission with permission from Qutekcak Native Tribe

Subsistence is a term that mainly describes an Alaska-specific way of life. It revolves around the practice of harvesting, gathering, preparing, and sharing wild foods for personal sustenance. Subsistence brings food security to communities and families, but it is much more than that. Alaska Natives have been practicing “subsistence” long before the word was introduced. As St. Lawrence Island Yup’ik writer and activist Jonella Larson White explains:

“It is an immersion within the natural environment that often begins in one’s formative years. It provides the physical, mental, spiritual, and cultural capacity to understand and survive in the natural world, a world that is respected and shared with plants, animals, and mammals. It is keen awareness of the environment. Among other things, subsistence is a complex and extremely fragile relationship between people and all living beings—it is a consciousness and an action that is difficult to fully understand and articulate in one simple word” (Native Voices Rising).

While Kenai Fjords does not permit subsistence harvesting within the boundaries of the park, the landscape and resources of the park significantly impact the health and character of the regional ecosystem that has sustained Alaska Native people in the area for thousands of years.

Way of Life and Well-Being

Respected Sugpiaq Elder Lars Moonin from the Village of Nanwalek cuts into a harvested harbor seal.

Photo courtesy of respected Elder Nancy Yeaton from the Village of Nanwalek

Kenai Fjords National Park lies on the southcentral coast of what we today call Alaska. This is a land of extremes; glaciers carve steep valleys and massive humpback whales frolic in the bays. In this region of ice and temperate rainforest, every part of the ecosystem is crucially linked. These connections create an environment that is teeming with life and relationships. One of the important relationships in this region is that of Sugpiaq people and the environment. The Sugpiaq (plural Sugpiat, also known as Alutiiq) people are the Alaska Native group that has been thriving off this land and nurturing it in turn since time immemorial. For the Sugpiat, as well as many other Indigenous people, food is central to the understanding of land and culture. In the production of food, there is development of knowledge and relationship. Whether that knowledge is connected to the harvesting, processing, preparing, cooking, or enjoying of food, Traditional foods are necessary for Sugpiaq physical, cultural, and community wellbeing.

Unguacimtun, Ggwi nuryuglaqa qutem seni. Katurqiluanga piliarkamnek tamaa akguam piturkamek. Neqnek nuryukuma, nalluntua naten aquaciqsia. Qutem minarlaraakut. // All my life, I depended on that shoreline. I would go down to the beach to collect anything to make chowder for that night's dinner. If we needed food I knew where to get it. The beach provided for us.

—Elenore McMullen, Elder and past chief, Port Graham, 2004 quoted in Sugt'stun in Imam Cimiucia

From Glacier to Table

The landscape of Kenai Fjords National Park is special, in fact there are only six places on the planet that are similar. The park is home to the Harding Icefield, the largest icefield fully contained within US boundaries. This massive repository of ice is thousands of feet thick, covers over 700 square miles, and connects over 30 distinct glaciers that flow out from it. While the glaciers that we see in the park today are but remnants of their former selves, the evidence that the ancient glaciers left behind is unmistakable. Steep-sided coastal valleys (now filled with sea water) mark the scale and placement of these massive forces of nature. Today, these long finger-like bays are called fjords.

A satellite image of a phytoplankton bloom in the Gulf of Alaska fed by coastal glaciers. Can you spot Kenai Fjords National Park?

NASA Image by Norman Kuring

The fjord estuary ecosystems that exist within the region are biologically vibrant environments bursting with life. That biodiversity would not be possible without the influence of the glaciers and the icefield. Glaciers gather silt and organic material as they flow, ultimately leading to an influx of nutrient-rich fresh water in the estuary, fostering the perfect growing conditions for phytoplankton to bloom. Massive phytoplankton blooms a ripple effect that is seen farther up the food chain. Kenai Fjords is host to a unique array of species, from humpback whales to sunflower sea stars, to puffins and much more. In this way, the Harding Icefield (and all of its outflowing glaciers) contributes to the health of all living beings, including people, in the region.

Qaigyaq: The Seal

Of the large marine mammals that call this region home, one of the most charismatic is the harbor seal. This hearty species has an extensive range and are found in northern temperate coastal habitats of North America, Europe, and Asia. They tend to reside within a 15 to 30-mile radius of where they were born but have been known to travel up to 486 miles for feeding and to give birth. When not hunting for fish, shellfish, or crustaceans, harbor seals haul out (rest) on land or rocks. Access to haul outs is important for harbor seals, especially during mid to late summer when they molt (shed), needing to spend more time out of the water. Hauling out also allows the seals to avoid predators like orcas and raise pups.

Qiagyaq is the word for seal in many dialects of the Sugpiaq language, Sugt’stun.

NPS Photo

At Kenai Fjords, and other areas with tidewater glaciers, harbor seals also haul out on glacial ice that has calved into the water (ice floes). While ice floes are a habitat governed by the whims of wind and water currents, they are less subject to tidal flooding (which limit haul out time) than terrestrial habitats. This is just one of the ways that fjord estuary ecosystems create a favorable habitat for harbor seals. Typically, due to glacially created wind patterns and topographical features that block open-ocean storms, heads of fjords provide milder and drier conditions for seals to haul out (Jansen et al.).

Traditional Nourishment and Lifeways

Raven Cunningham, Tribal Fish & Wildlife Director at CRRC, holding seal ribs.

Photo by Bjorn Olsen, courtesy of Chugach Regional Resources Commission

Harbor seals are an important Traditional subsistence animal for many Alaska Native communities in region and have been since time immemorial. Seals, or qaigyaq in several dialects of Sugt’stun (Sugpiaq language), offer Tribal members nourishment, either physical, social, or spiritual. Seals are to be honored and, in the past, Sugpiaq communities would spend the winter working to encourage the seals to come to them in the spring (Honoring the Seal). Men prepared new weapons because they understood that the seals “appreciated being killed by beautiful weapons.” To protect the hunters and please the seals, women sewed new boots and gut parkas. When asked if seals behave differently today than they did when hunted previously, a marine mammal expert and community member from Chenega Bay replied, “Not really. No. Just like anything else, they’re pretty gun shy. If they see something in your hand, they’re gone. If they don’t see anything in your hand they’ll stay and watch you. I think they (can) smell good. If they smell us, they take off, they’re down…Them seals, they’re not as dumb as people think they are” (Haynes et al.).

Seal meat shared at a gathering.

Photo courtesy of Chugach Regional Resources Commission

Not only is seal meat shared amongst the community for sustenance, but many other parts of the seal are critical to Alaska Native lifeways. Intestines can be stuffed with meats and fats for sausage, and the dried stomach could be used as container to store other foods or as a buoy tethered to a harpoon tip when hunting other seals. Blubber can be rendered into seal oil which could be used to preserve berries, fish eggs, and greens throughout the winter (Traditional Food Recipes). It is also used as an ingredient in akutaq (Native ice cream). The flippers are a delicacy and often given to Elders out of respect. It is also understood that Elders possess both the time and knowledge to prepare them properly, as it is a lengthy process to singe the hair and skin from the flipper before scraping and ultimately baking.

An Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) gut parka from the early 20th century.

Anchorage Museum

Being people of a northern coastal temperate rainforest, warm and waterproof gear has always been important for those in Sugpiaq communities. Seals hides make insulating layers for winter, while guts can be constructed into rainproof parkas. As artist Fran Reed puts it, “By comparison to any of the other garments used for weather protection, the gut parka (raincoat) was and still is the most effective against wet weather…[They are] worn in kayaks, tide pool collecting, dance and celebration...Gut garments can be used for celebration and dancing, for shaman use in curing aliments, or for hunting and gathering in ocean kayaks or along the water’s edge” (Reed)

Joe Tanape's Seal Dance

Joe Tanape of the Sugpiaq village of Nanwalek.

Chugachmiut Heritage Preservation

With such a strong relationship between humans and seals, it’s no surprise that they are celebrated in Sugpiaq stories and rituals. In the village of Nanwalek, the seal dance was created out of respect for the seals that have sustained generations of people. Nancy Yeaton, a respected Nanwalek community member and Elder recounts what it was like to watch the seal dance, saying,

“As Joe danced before me, I envisioned the memories of so long ago, remembering as he and his grandfather traveled in a skin boat qayaq… Little did Joe Tanape know his keen observation, appreciation and respect of the seals would allow him to share his dance to honor the seal and instill a wonderful gift to those who were able to witness such a beautiful performance.”

The Significance of Sharing

Pieces of seal fat harvested by respected Elder, Colette Brantingham of Quetkcak Native Tribe.

Photo courtesy of Chugach Regional Resources Commission with permission from Qutekcak Native Tribe

Harvesting, processing, and sharing a seal can bring a community closer together. According to one community member from Chenega Bay, “If a guy, or hunter takes a seal, he’d bring all the meat, pass the word out to the village that there’s a seal, just go down to the boat. They don’t waste it. They share it” (Haynes et al.) Another Tribal member from Port Graham shared that when he hunts, sharing is the “most important aspect of this activity (of taking seals)”. He often delivers parts of the seal to community members as directed by his mother or by his own discretion. In Nanwalek, “most distribution is along kinship lines…Whatever is left over goes to anyone else…” For that hunter, subsistence harvesting is what ties him to his community and culture. He does not speak Alutiiq, and according to him, “he currently only has subsistence.”

Seal oil harvested by Colette and Qutekcak Native Tribe is shared at a community event in Seward, AK.

Photo courtesy of Chugach Regional Resources Commission with permission from Qutekcak Native Tribe

Seals are used to accentuate and celebrate special community occasions. One community member from Nanwalek shared that, “seals are used a lot during birthdays and name day celebrations (dinners). These meals are of the highest importance, and seals and sea lions are the first to be used” (Haynes et al.) In the past, Sugpiaq people in the region also held a feast in December that was reminiscent of the Inupiaq and Yup’ik bladder festivals that helped people ritualistically return seal bladders under the sea in hopes of a productive hunting season (Honoring the Seal).

Every element of our local and global ecosystem is interlinked. As humans, we are not apart from this web of interdependence; rather, we play active roles in ecological and environmental processes. All human communities depend on the health of our surroundings for physical, spiritual, and cultural well-being, whether we acknowledge it or not. For the Sugpiaq people, the deep connection between humans and the earth has been recognized, studied, respected, and celebrated for countless generations in this area. The relationship between seals and Sugpiaq people has been nurtured over many generations, with both supporting one another. This profound connection highlights the role that all living beings play in maintaining the health of our shared planet for future generations.

Written by Ruby DiCarlo, National Park Service, in collaboration with Robin McKnight and Chugach Regional Resources Commission.

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