https://alaskapublic.org/2024/...-hunting-sea-otters/


Alaska Native blood quantum clarified for hunting sea otters

By Angela Denning, CoastAlaska -November 19, 2024

For years, the regulations about who could hunt sea otters in Alaska were confusing. Many thought hunters must be at least one-quarter Alaska Native and belong to a coastal tribe. But a recent opinion from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service confirms that any coastal tribal member can hunt sea otters, no matter their blood quantum.

The Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, the regional tribe of Southeast, led a workshop on processing sea otters at the Elders and Youth Conference in Anchorage in October.


At the event, dozens of people gathered around long tables covered in plastic in the Dena’ina Convention Center. Most are youth, but there are elders, too. They’re here to learn how to clean and process sea otter pelts, a fur traditionally prized for its warmth.

“Sea otters have up to a million hairs per square inch,” said Kootink Heather Douville. “They’re the most densely furred mammal on the planet.”

Douville hunts sea otters from her home in Craig on Prince of Wales Island. She sews all kinds of things with the pelts like hats, scarves, purses, and blankets. Several people are waiting at her table, eager to learn how to skin an otter with a knife.

“The word for knife in Lingít is lítaa,” Douville said.

Sea otters are protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. Who can hunt them has long been questioned by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. About a year ago, the Tlingit & Haida asked the federal government for another legal opinion of the law language, focused on one word in the statute.

“There’s actually an ‘or’ in the regulation,” said Gooch Xaay Ralph Wolfe, Tlingit & Haida’s director of Indigenous Stewardship.

He said the law actually allows sea otter hunting by people who live on the coast and are a quarter Native — or are an enrolled member of a coastal tribe.

“There’s people who cannot hunt and haven’t been able to hunt because they don’t have a quarter-blood quantum,” Wolfe said. “And our argument for that is there’s no other people in the world who are justified by blood quantum. There’s horses and dogs, and we are neither.”

Blood quantum requirements have increasingly been scoffed at by tribes who say they know who is and who isn’t a tribal member without needing to prove it with blood. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service clarified the sea otter regulation language in early October in a letter sent to Richard Peterson, the president of Tlingit & Haida. That followed a request by the tribe for co-management – so the tribe and the federal government would share responsibilities for conserving the species.

Scientists agree that Southeast Alaska’s sea otter population has increased, with the region hosting more than 22,000 of the voracious shellfish eaters. Wolfe said the population has dramatically increased in recent years, in part, due to lack of hunting.

“The otters have been devastating populations of resources that we rely on for so long now; in the management that it’s been under is kind of a management of terror, right?” said Wolfe. “Like there’s fear that’s put out there to go out and hunt these things.”

At the sea otter workshop, attendees were from all over the state.

Ten-year-old Leona Richardson is Inupiaq and took a turn with the knife. Her family is from Ambler in northwest Alaska but she lives in Anchorage.

“I just want to know what it feels like cutting an animal,” Richardson said. “And some Native people that I’m friends with, they said, just touching the animal just makes you feel more Indigenous to your culture, and I really liked it.”

Twelve-year-old Alissa Levit also had a go. She’s from Venetie, north of Fairbanks.

“I think it was pretty fun; it was very interesting,” Levit said. “I’ve done skinning with moose and caribou legs before, but this one was more fun than that.”


Although she didn’t go into the implications of the new ruling in her workshop, leader Kootink Heather Douville clearly sees a benefit in sharing sea otter processing with kids from outside her tribe.

“I think youth are sacred, and I’m so glad that so many showed up,” she said.

Douville said youth are the link between past generations and those to come.

“In our culture, and I believe, that our youth are the insurance that we have a bright, healthy future,” Douville said. “And we should invest in our youth, teach them what we know, have them here beside us, watching and working on our traditional foods and materials with us, and it gives them purpose.”

Now, these youth can take their newly learned skills home with them. And maybe one day, they’ll be able to hunt sea otters themselves.

The whole blood quantum thing should be 51% or higher.

If your under that your more non-native than native.

If I understand the article correctly, you no longer have to be native in order to be considered native.

Yeah! It's like if the scenario is a non-native marries a native and the tribe accepts that person into the tribe he can hunt sea otters and maybe all other sea mammals.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Yeah! It's like if the scenario is a non-native marries a native and the tribe accepts that person into the tribe he can hunt sea otters and maybe all other sea mammals.

Mark

I think the best plan would be to make lots of babies with a lady of native decent in a North Slope village with a local population of polar bears and then take all the kids hunting.

Special privilege's for special people.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
Special privilege's for special people.

Oddly enough, the special people getting the special privileges are the white dudes.

Since you no longer have to be native in order to be native, as long as the tribe says it's ok, you get to hunt marine mammal!

yeah who says that?. don't think some white dude is going whaling or shoot seals in Iliamna lake

quote:

Originally posted by bob tracey:
yeah who says that?. don't think some white dude is going whaling or shoot seals in Iliamna lake

If blood quantum doesn't matter, you can be white, identify as native and be native.

In Dillingham there was a time that non natives could be adopted into the tribe and enjoy full native tribal benefits.

in Nondalton where I live and probably other villages you can still be adopted into the tribe

quote:

Originally posted by bob tracey:
in Nondalton where I live and probably other villages you can still be adopted into the tribe

Ok, so that's all I mean.
Non natives can be native and enjoy all native benefits. So thru the process white dudes can actually hunt seals on Iliamna as you mention.

Interesting decision. I get it. Not saying it is right or wrong. If someone lives in a small costal community and immerses themself and their family into the local culture it makes sense. A non native guy/gal could marry a local native and have a bunch of kids and the father/mother is the only one who can't hunt the critters.

Still, if there is an over abundance of sea otters (or any other marine animal) just change the rules and allow everyone to hunt them and keep the limit low. Even a permit system could work.

So how long will it be before the tribes start selling temporary 'memberships' lasting, say, 1 hunting season?
This kind of reminds me of the two tribes in northern California (prime wine country) fighting over ownership of 'sacred' ground. They both want to build their own casino on said sacred ground.
C.G.B.

This "tribal" nonsense needs to end.....

They lost! We won! When they won what special rights did they give the tribes they defeated?!?!

We gave them full citizen rights, we didn't exterminate them like tribes they defeated.....be American or be gone!

who is they?

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
This "tribal" nonsense needs to end.....

They lost! We won! When they won what special rights did they give the tribes they defeated?!?!

We gave them full citizen rights, we didn't exterminate them like tribes they defeated.....be American or be gone!

Well,........not so easy.

My maternal grandfather was 100% fresh off the boat Norwegian. Gramps, (as I knew him ,) was a plumbing contractor, father of two, married to my Granny for 70 years and a personal friend of Admiral Nimitz. Gramps made lots of money, hunted and shot a lot, supported his Assembly of God church and proudly flew the Norwegian flag. Gramps spoke Norwegian as his first language, dropped it in his teen years and in his senior years regained it fluently. Gramps personified American success but at the same time loved and respected his Norwegian roots.

Granny fwiw was 100% fresh off the boat Finnish.

So my point is I have experience and history to being tied to or fond of ones roots. I understand the attraction to history and our forefathers. J, I suspect you and I both know people that wish to return to the, " Old Country" and immerse themselves in their history and genealogy.

I'm not sure turning non natives into native is progress for the tribe any more than making Germans or Italians into Norwegians would be .

quote:

Originally posted by bob tracey:
who is they?

Indians.

.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
This "tribal" nonsense needs to end.....

They lost! We won! When they won what special rights did they give the tribes they defeated?!?!

We gave them full citizen rights, we didn't exterminate them like tribes they defeated.....be American or be gone!

Well,........not so easy.

My maternal grandfather was 100% fresh off the boat Norwegian. Gramps, (as I knew him ,) was a plumbing contractor, father of two, married to my Granny for 70 years and a personal friend of Admiral Nimitz. Gramps made lots of money, hunted and shot a lot, supported his Assembly of God church and proudly flew the Norwegian flag. Gramps spoke Norwegian as his first language, dropped it in his teen years and in his senior years regained it fluently. Gramps personified American success but at the same time loved and respected his Norwegian roots.

Granny fwiw was 100% fresh off the boat Finnish.

So my point is I have experience and history to being tied to or fond of ones roots. I understand the attraction to history and our forefathers. J, I suspect you and I both know people that wish to return to the, " Old Country" and immerse themselves in their history and genealogy.

I'm not sure turning non natives into native is progress for the tribe any more than making Germans or Italians into Norwegians would be .

I agree, nothing at all wrong with being proud of your heritage.

Bit it wasn't what I was talking about.

Did your ancestors get any special privileges, did they want any?

I love Indians been married to one for 45 years

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
This "tribal" nonsense needs to end.....

They lost! We won! When they won what special rights did they give the tribes they defeated?!?!

We gave them full citizen rights, we didn't exterminate them like tribes they defeated.....be American or be gone!

Well,........not so easy.

My maternal grandfather was 100% fresh off the boat Norwegian. Gramps, (as I knew him ,) was a plumbing contractor, father of two, married to my Granny for 70 years and a personal friend of Admiral Nimitz. Gramps made lots of money, hunted and shot a lot, supported his Assembly of God church and proudly flew the Norwegian flag. Gramps spoke Norwegian as his first language, dropped it in his teen years and in his senior years regained it fluently. Gramps personified American success but at the same time loved and respected his Norwegian roots.

Granny fwiw was 100% fresh off the boat Finnish.

So my point is I have experience and history to being tied to or fond of ones roots. I understand the attraction to history and our forefathers. J, I suspect you and I both know people that wish to return to the, " Old Country" and immerse themselves in their history and genealogy.

I'm not sure turning non natives into native is progress for the tribe any more than making Germans or Italians into Norwegians would be .

I agree, nothing at all wrong with being proud of your heritage.

Bit it wasn't what I was talking about.

Did your ancestors get any special privileges, did they want any?

The special privilege is it's own topic not necessarily tied to this one. I believe the point, and my point is that non natives are enjoying native benefits or privileges reserved for native Alaskans. It seems odd to me that tribes here are willing to dilute their culture or society or blood to the point of being,......well,......
not indigenous.

Wed think it a little weird to see someone that looks like Conan O'Brien living tribally with the Masai wouldn't we? The Comedienne Sara Silverman used to question Jewish people driving German cars. The singer Beyonce made a Country/Western album I think.

quote:

It seems odd to me that tribes here are willing to dilute their culture or society or blood to the point of being,......well,......
not indigenous.

I was in the office one day looking at a historical book on the early logging days of Wisconsin

Many pictures of logging crews.

A "native" deputy was looking also. The last names of the crew members were very common on the reservations.

The "native" deputy said but they are all white men.

I said what do you think they did in their spare off time.

There wasn't many white women around.

I knew the last called 100% native on the local reservation. He was born about 1900.

Was he 100% I don't know but he would have been the only one out of a couple thousand.

and then

We had a good laugh and went back on patrol.