Eskimos may face hunting curbs due to birds

updated 4:10 p.m. ET April 2, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A diminutive sea duck with a white head and a blue wing could bring restrictions to one of the last virtually unregulated hunting grounds in America.

Inupiat Eskimos on Alaska's northern coast for centuries have welcomed the spring return of waterfowl as a source of fresh meat after eight months of winter. They have been free to take almost whatever they want, whenever they want, without bag limits.

That could change this year. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services has proposed rules for subsistence hunting to protect Steller's eiders, a threatened species whose breeding numbers in the United States have dropped to an estimated 500 birds.

Steller's eiders are not sought by Inupiat hunters for meat, but they flock with the white-fronted geese, black brant and king and common eiders prized by hunters. Despite years of trying to educate hunters, federal officials found 27 dead Steller's eiders last year, including 20 that biologists confirmed had been shot. In one particularly disturbing discovery, a dead female Steller's eider was piled with carcasses of six juveniles outside a hunting blind.

Proposed rules would shorten hunting hours, ban shooting near roads, increase law enforcement presence, and set up a potential draconian measure: The agency's Alaska regional director could close all subsistence hunting to protect Steller's eiders.

The proposals are not sitting well with people who fought in court and Congress to retain rights to their land and the animals living on it.

"Part of subsistence is not just going out and killing your food. It's the freedom of going and getting the food from your land," said Barrett Ristroph, an attorney for the North Slope Borough. "Once someone comes in and says, 'You have to do this, you have to do that,' it kind of takes away what subsistence is all about."

Preserving species, and way of life
The dispute pits people trying to preserve a unique species against people equally passionate about preserving a way of life.

There are four species of eiders on the North Slope. Steller's are the smallest, averaging 17-18 inches long.

The sea ducks were once common on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta but breeding pairs for decades have not been seen anywhere except the Arctic Coastal Plain, with a concentration near Barrow, America's northernmost community. After breeding, Alaska birds and eastern Russia birds migrate to southwest Alaska.

Besides their distinctive plumage, Steller's eiders stand out for their breeding habits: They don't breed every year and appear to assess environmental conditions before deciding whether to lay eggs. Between 1992 and 2008, they nested in roughly half those years, said USFWS biologist Ted Swem, the endangered species branch chief for northern Alaska.

Alaska SeaLife Center via AP These male Steller's eiders are seen in breeding plumage.

The new rules would set hunting hours to a half-hour before sunset until sundown — a seemingly silly requirement in the land of midnight sun, except that some Steller's eiders killed last year were shot in August, a month when the sun finally dips below the horizon. Sticking to daylight hours, federal officials hope, will allow hunters to distinguish between a Steller's eider and other birds.

The rules would also create a no-hunting buffer zone along roads outside Barrow: The buffer would have protected 91 percent of Steller's eiders nests documented in 2008.

Federal law enforcement could inspect hunters' bags for Steller's eiders and could fine them $400 plus $50 per bird.

MORE FROM ENVIRONMENT

Environment Section Front

NYT: China report shows more water pollution Loan guarantees recharge nuclear debate Anti-whalers, Japanese fleet fire water cannons US to commit $78.5M to try to halt Asian carp Whaler, activist ship collide off Antarctica Court battle over household cleaners Declined: Pika won't be protected species   Greening an urban jungle in N.Y.   Majora Carter: 'We have to dream bigger' EU: Hackers broke into cap-and-trade system Environment Section Front   Add Environment headlines to your news reader: