ACIA Chapter 10 Figure legends (those in bold included below)
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT IN A CHANGING ARCTIC NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL INTERESTS
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INTERESTS
CLIMATE CHANGE
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT & CONSERVATION
Traditional rights
NEWER RESIDENTS INTERESTS
Hunting, trapping
The diversity of interests in the Arctic Urbanization Mining Hydropower Forestry Subsistence Commercial Tourism Agriculture oil/gas logging harvest harvest herding
Figure 10.1. Management and conservation of wildlife in the Arctic is driven by internal and external forces that involve wide-ranging interests and uses. These include traditional harvest and dependency by indigenous peoples, affects on wildlife of resource extraction and associated industrial development, appreciation of wildlife by visitors through tourism, and valuation of wildlife at national and international levels through legal structures and conservation efforts.
Figure 10.2. Harvesting by indigenous people of wild reindeer in the Russian North and caribou in North America was traditionally done at river crossings on migration routes of the herds. This continues to be an efficient method of hunting of reindeer and caribou in some regions that lends itself to managed control of the harvest. (a drawing needs to be drafted similar to the figure below which is from pg. 19 in People and Caribou in the Northwest Territories, 1989. E. Hall [ed.], Dept. of Renewable Resources, Yellowknife, NWT).
Canadian Porcupine Caribou Management Agreement (signed October 26, 1985) Agreement signatories, lead agencies, im plementing organization, dedicated number of representatives, and designated native user communities
Government Of N o rthw es t Territories Renewable Resources (1 rep ) Federal Government CWS, DIAND (1 rep.)
Firs t N ation Council of Y ukon Indians (2 reps.) Old Crow (1 of the 2) Mayo Dawson
Yukon Territorial Government Renewable Res ources (1 rep.) PORCU PIN E CARI BOU MAN AG EMEN T BOA RD
Yukon Res idents at Larg e (1 rep.)
Chairperson and Secretariat
Gw ich’in of N orthw e s t Territories N ation (1 rep.) Fort McPherson Aklavik Tsigehtchic
Inuvialuit Game Council (1 rep.) Aklavik Inuvik Tuktoyaktuk
Figure 10.3. Structure of the Canadian Porcupine Caribou Management Board (PCMB), showing proportional representation on the Board of user groups, biologists, and government agency managers.
(U.K.)
, . Figure 10.4. The co-management process for the Porcupine Herd brings parties of diverse interests together to discuss difficult wildlife management issues. A discussion at a special workshop organized by the PCMB on harvest management policy, held April 2002 in Inuvik NWT, Canada, included Gwich’in hunters from Old Crow, Yukon Territory, Inupiaq hunters from Kaktovik, Alaska, wildlife managers from the Canadian Wildlife Service and Yukon Renewable Resources, and representatives of a Yukon sport hunters organization (G.P. Kofinas photo).
Figure 10.5. Throughout the Arctic, traditional modes of transport (a) are being replaced by mechanized all-terrain vehicles (b) that permit people in many regions of the Arctic to range more widely for subsistence hunting. Whereas this spreads wildlife harvest over greater areas it also requires more extensive survey of the status of wildlife populations as a basis for wildlife management (D.R. Klein photos).
Figure 10.6. Management for sustained harvest and conservation of the large herds of caribou and wild reindeer in North America, Greenland, and Eurasia requires periodic aerial monitoring of the populations. Shown here (a) is a survey flight over the Porcupine Caribou Herd shared by the United States and Canada, involving a photo census over summer concentrations, in conjunction with lower level flights to obtain sex and age composition counts (K. Whitten photo). Placing collars equipped with radio transmitters on some of the animals (b), enables tracking and locating the herds in their seasonal movements, and assessing mortality rates, fidelity to calving grounds, and other indicators of population status (P. Valkenburg photo).
.
Figure 10.7. The increasing frequency of fires and total area burned in the northern forest zones and in the ecotone between forest and tundra, a consequence of climate warming, poses difficult decisions for wildlife managers. Although fire has been a natural feature of the ecology of these plant communities, a reduction in the ratio of older plant communities with high lichen biomass to post-fire early succession stages can be detrimental to caribou and reindeer that feed on the lichens in winter. The shrubs that are characteristic of the post-fire vegetation, however, provide suitable forage for moose. More intensive efforts at fire suppression may benefit caribou and reindeer to the detriment of moose.
Figure 10.8. These scenes are from oil fields in the Alaskan Arctic where displacement of caribou from calving grounds, obstruction of their movements, and herd fracturing has occurred (D.R. Klein photos). Assessment of the impacts of oil, gas, and mining developments on Arctic wildlife is rendered more complex because of the difficulty of differentiating the influences of the changing climate, thus the task of planning to minimize effects of proposed new developments on wildlife and their habitats has become equally complex.
.
Russia Seals caught (thousand)
160
Harp seals
140
Hooded seals
120 100 80 60 40 20
1998
1996
1994
1992
1990
1988
1986
1984
1982
1980
1978
1976
1974
1972
1966-70
1956-60
1946-50
0
Year
Figure 10.9. Commercial harvest of harp and hooded seals by Russian vessels (East and West Ice combined).
Harp seals 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0
2001
1999
1997
1995
1993
1991
1989
1987
1985
1983
1981
1979
1977
1975
1973
1971
1961-1965
Hooded seals
1951-1955
Seals caught (thousand)
Canada
Year
Figure 10.10. Commercial catches of harp and hooded seals in Canadian waters.
Norway Harp seals
Seals caught (thousand)
70
Hooded seals
60 50 40 30 20 10
1998
1996
1994
1992
1990
1988
1986
1984
1982
1980
1978
1976
1974
1972
1966-70
1956-60
1946-50
0
Year
Figure 10.11. Commercial catches of harp and hooded seals in the West Ice by Norwegian vessels.
5000
Total whales, Norway
4500
Minke whales, Norway
Whales caught
4000
Total whales, Iceland
3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 2000
1995
1990
1985
1980
1975
1970
1965
1960
1955
1950
1945
1940
1935
0 Year
Figure 10.12. Trends in commercial catches of cetaceans in Norway and Iceland.
Figure 10.13. Harvests of sea birds and some marine mammals for sale in country food markets (shown here at Nuuk, Greenland) may exceed the sustainability of their populations, justifying setting and enforcing harvest quotas and establishment of protected areas (D.R. Klein photos).
Figure 10.14. Recent advances in electronic technology and methodology for handling arctic marine mammals allows for collection of data on movements, seasonal habitat preferences, food chain relationships, and other aspects of their social behavior and ecosystem relationships that were previously unavailable to those responsible for their management and conservation. Here, a): on the sea ice adjacent to Svalbard, an anesthetized polar bear is being weighed and other biological data collected prior to its release by a team of scientists from the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI). In b): a similar team is releasing a beluka whale in the waters adjacent to Svalbard after it had a package glued to its back containing environmental sensing instrumentation, a data logger, and a radio transmitter capable of sending data to receivers in aircraft, ships, and polar-orbiting satellites (photos Kit & Christian NPI).
Figure 10.15. The bowhead whale harvest at Barrow, Alaska is carried out under a regional harvest quota established by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission (Dept. Wildlife Management, North Slope Borough photo).
Figure 10.16. Important Bird Areas (IBA) in the Bering and Chukchi sea regions have been identified and are shown on this map generated through the cooperative efforts of scientists in government agencies and NGO’s, working with indigenous people and other coastal residents in both Russia and the United States. The map is an essential step in the planning for a network of protected areas critical for the conservation of marine birds and their habitats in the Bering-Chukchi region (National Audubon Society map).
RESEARCH, MONITORING, LOCAL KNOWLEDGE HARVEST REGULATION S HARVEST QUOTAS
METHODS OF HARVEST
MEANS OF HARVEST
CLIMATE CHANGE
SEASONS OF HARVEST
BREEDING SEASON CLOSURES
BODY CONDITION
MEAT QUALITY
CRITICAL HABITATS
CALVING GROUNDS
UNIQUE ECOSYSTEM COMPONENTS
SEX & AGE LIMITATIONS ROOKERIES
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES RIGHTS TRADITIONAL, MECHANIZED?
PR0TECTED AREAS & CONSERVATION UNITS
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT & CONSERVATION
SINGLE SPECIES SKINS, IVORY, TROPHIES
MULTIPLE SPECIES Fig. 10.17
Figure 10.17. Effective management of wildlife and its conservation involves accumulation of knowledge of animal population biology and ecological relationships through research, monitoring, and accessing local knowledge. This then provides a basis for defining critical habitats and providing legal protection for them, for establishment of wildlife harvest regulations with local involvement to assure sustainability of wildlife populations with continuing opportunity for their harvest.