| Summary: | Subsistence uses of wild resources are defined as 'noncommercial, customary and traditional uses' for a variety of purposes. These include: direct personal or family consumption as food, shelter, fuel, clothing, tools, or transportation, for the making and selling of handicraft articles out of nonedible by-products of fish and wildlife resources taken for personal or family consumption, and for the customary trade, barter, or sharing for personal or family consumption. Under subsistence statute in Alaska, the Alaska Board of Fisheries must identify fish stocks that support subsistence fisheries and, if there is a harvestable surplus of these stocks, adopt regulations that provide reasonable opportunities for these subsistence uses to take place. Whenever it is necessary to restrict harvests, subsistence fisheries have a preference over other uses of the stock. Subsistence fishing and subsistence hunting are important for the economies and cultures of many families and communities in Alaska. Subsistence uses of wild resources exist alongside other important uses of fish and game in Alaska and are especially important for most rural families, who depend on subsistence hunting and fishing as sources of nutrition and cultural practices. An estimated 36.9 million pounds of wild foods are harvested annually by rural subsistence users. Residents of more populated urban areas harvest about 13.4 million pounds of wild food under subsistence, personal use, and sport regulations. Harvest and community information is given here. Harvest information includes participation in subsistence activities as well as estimates of community, household, and per capita harvest of many different resource categories. Community information includes geographic and population information, and overall community harvest information. These data are also available and updated at https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sb/CSIS/. The version archived here was extracted on 8/14/2017. This dataset includes the extracted file, in addition to 19 figures created by Alaska Department of Game, Subsistence Division analysts that show regional trends in subsistence harvest.
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