Part 2: Food fight between SE fishermen and sea otters

Sea otters are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a federal law that prohibits the harvesting of marine mammals. However, this law does allow for some exceptions. Under section 101 of the act, on page 16, it reads that "... the provisions of this Act shall not apply with respect to the taking of any marine mammal by any Indian, Aleut, or Eskimo who resides in Alaska and who dwells on the coast of the North Pacific Ocean or the Arctic Ocean if such taking-(1) is for subsistence purposes; or (2) is done for purposes of creating and selling authentic native articles of handicrafts and clothing ... and (3) in each case, is not accomplished in a wasteful manner." The act also allows for the killing of marine mammals in self defense or under a "good Samaritan" exemption.

Richard Oliver is a board member and past president of the Wrangell Cooperative Association, the island's tribal government. He said that he has harvested some otters himself, but that he does not make a living on it. He's used their hides to make a hat and scarf, and said that he has another hide ready for use. The growing otter population is going to be bad for Wrangell, he said. In his opinion, the only option they have is to encourage increased hunting and crafting amongst the native population.

"More people hunting and making crafts out of them, and it's all we can really do," Oliver said. "I mean, it's our only option for control of the population."

According to Oliver, the Tlingit and Haida Central Council, a tribal governing body based out of Juneau, has encouraged local councils to offer more incentives for otter harvesting. One suggestion, he said, was to build a cleaning station. Oliver added that the WCA discussed the possibility, but it is not on their priority list at this time.

According to the 2014 stock assessment by the Fish and Wildlife Service, between 2006 and 2010, the average subsistence take was 447 otters. The report goes on to say that it would take the death of 1,733 more otters per year via "direct human-caused mortality" to exceed the Potential Biological Removal for the Southeast Alaska stock. The MMPA defines Potential Biological Removal as the maximum number of animals that can be removed from a stock, aside from natural deaths, without affecting the stock's ability to maintain its optimal sustainable population. Fisherman Mike Lockabey said that this is nowhere near enough to level out the otters' rate of population growth, saying that it was less than one percent of their total population. The fishermen interviewed for this article all agreed that the way things are currently going can only spell trouble, and not just for the fishing industry.

"This management isn't any good for those animals either," fisherman Ron Johnson said. "They're going to eat themselves out of house and home. It's really going to make me angry that when somebody comes out when there ain't any more sea otters, and they've ate themselves out of house and home and they've starved to death, I don't want to be the person blamed for why there ain't any."

Julie Decker, executive director of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, said that better population control was key. Like the other fishermen, she said she did not want all of the otters driven out of Southeast Alaska, just better controlled. One of the ways to better control the otter population, she said, was by treating them the same way Alaskans treat other sustainable resources around the state.

"They need to be managed as a sustainable resource just like everything else," she said. "So you use a piece of it that you think will allow usage but still allow sustainable population levels. Alaska has, in our constitution, this sort of maximum sustained yield concept. In other words, allowing people to use things to the maximum they can get while still maintaining a sustainable level of the population. So there's use, but there's still long term sustainability for that critter. State law is, right now, in conflict with federal law because federal law says 'all marine mammals are protected, period.'"

Decker said that one of her ideas to better manage the otter population is to better promote and support the native harvest. The allowed harvest of otters by Alaska Natives is so low because it is such a long and difficult process. Whoever harvests an otter has to go through the entire process of turning the animal into usable products. Decker said it would be a better idea to have the rules altered to allow for more collaboration. One person can hunt them, another tans the hides, another makes the pelts into clothing, and so on. She also said that the state of Alaska could consider petitioning the federal government to manage the species at their own level, or even try suing where state and federal laws conflict on sustainable management.

Lockabey also has an idea for better management. He said that he does not want to see the Marine Mammal Protection Act amended or done away with at all. The act already has everything Alaskans need to control the otter population, he said. According to certain provisions of the MMPA, he said, the otter harvest may not be limited to just Alaska Natives, but could be opened to all rural residents of Southeast Alaska. Letting more people have the opportunity to hunt otters would go a long way in creating a sustainable population, he said.

"Anybody that qualified for subsistence under that auspices would be able to harvest," he said. "The interesting thing about the harvest is they have to have a reason to harvest, you can't just say they're overpopulated, they have to be having an adverse affect on their habitat or prey, and that's in there, too. It defines our argument."

As the days go on, fishermen continue to fish and otters continue to eat. Whatever happens, the growing fight for resources in Southeastern waters is sure to continue for the foreseeable future.

"When people learn that this issue is not about a charismatic animal, but the issue is really about the differing economic challenges people are facing, they are generally sympathetic regardless of their initial opinion about sea otters," filmmaker Kelly Bakos said.

Read part one of this story here.