Michelle Bittner, in her Feb. 9 letter, complained about the Board of Game — at their Jan 29 meeting in Kotzebue — not adopting the Western Arctic Caribou Herd Working Group’s proposal to reduce the subsistence bag limit from “five caribou per day” to “four caribou per year with only one allowed to be a cow” because of the decline in herd size over the past few years.
Bittner made it sound like this meeting was primarily a battle between the WACH Working Group and the BOG, and the BOG chose to adopt a regulation supporting the interest of non-subsistence and nonresident hunters, and ignore the conservation needs of the caribou and the desires of the rural communities of GMUs 23 and 26A.
In actuality, there were dozens of proposals addressing this issue and many statements opposing the WACH Working Group proposal from local villages. Many local subsistence users felt the WAGH Working Group’s proposal was too restrictive and would result in extreme food hardship in many communities.
After listening to all the testimony, including that of Fish and Game biologists managing the herd, the board chose to adopt a middle-ground change in bag limit, “15 caribou per year, only one of which can be a cow.” The board indicated that this should reduce the hunter-kill and still provide for much of the local subsistence need.
Note that even though they recognized that the nonresident harvest of this herd was insignificant (less than 3% of the normal total annual harvest of 14,000 to 16,000 caribou), the board also reduced the nonresident hunt, changing the regulation from “one bull caribou per year” to “one bull by drawing permit, with 300 total permits issued.” Fish and Game estimates that this will reduce the number of nonresident hunters from 500 per year to 250 per year. It was also noted that most nonresident hunters donate most of the meat from their kill to nearby villages.
Lastly, it needs to be pointed out that the hunting of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd is only one of the factors that affect herd size, productivity and seasonal use of home range. Habitat condition, predation and weather can play a major role in this herd’s ecological status.
— Jim Lieb
Palmer
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