(will post piuctures soon)
Ive met quite a few locals at various stops along the way over the past couple of weeks, and Id have to say that pretty much all of them are very active pareticipants in outdoor activities that involve the local fauna...
Which is to say that they very much enjoy killing it!
Fishing is very popular and there is plenty of fly fishing in lakes and streams for Arctic Graling and Arctic Char as well as trout. But there is also lots of bait and lure fishing too for Halibut in the ocean and salmon in the rivers. The trout guys are out in their droves standing on the river banks and their boats if they have them are small and have low power outboards.)
The guys who do the bait and lure fishing though have bigger boats with big engines and `jet`propulsion systems... lots of sound and splash and speed ... Keeps the boys happy getting too and from their favorite fishing spots.
I was amused but not surprised when some locals at a port town told me that they quite often have to go out and rescue the touring fishermen cos they run out of fuel from time to time, but of those rescued, they have NEVER come across a boat that has run out of both fuel and beer!
I can however see the attraction of fishing in some ways...For one thing, out on the water, there are no bugs... and for me that would be a major incentive to do it :)))
Hunting is also a MAJOR part of the Alaskan way of life.
Just about everyone I have met here in Alaska hunts. They claim that lots of people "depend" on hunting for their meat for the year!... And they mean it sincerely too. They say they (a two person family) get through a bit over two full size Moose in a year and they only have about a three to four week season in which they can hunt for those animals. I only saw a few Cariboo up here (apparently they have gone even further north in the hot weather) but most people I met were here to hunt Cariboo. I saw several cars witrh fresh "racks" on the roof, so I believe most people are after trophy kills, But I was told that the laws here are quite strict, and that if you kill an animal, you MUST pack out the meat from the kill before the skin and the head. Likewise, I was told that if you fly into an area to hunt then you are not allowed to actually hunt till the next day (it limits how close you can get to your target with the aircraft).
I must admit though that having met a couple of hunters who were going to scout an area by aircraft so they could go hunt their two moose for their yearly meat supply, Im a bit scheptical about the "necesity" of the protein source for them... Its gotta cost a fair bit to go scouting out remote Arctic locations by aircraft! Perhaps that money could have been spent in the supermarketr on chicken (just as an example)???
So I think there is probably quite a bit of "self delusion" in it as well, but at least the hunters I met are really using the meat from the animals they kill... And they were nice enough guys and seemed thoughtfull and considerate as well :))
On the same topic, it seems that the Alaskan Fisheries and Wildlife service is quite a pro-active and advanced organization. From reading the papers and talking with people, I believe that they really are quite well developed in the use of science to monitor wildlife populations and they then try to "manage" the populations af the various species.
But, while they may be advanced compared to many other nations/states, I am still rather scheptical about their ability to do a good job since I think the complexity and subtlety of natural systems still far exceeds the current levels of understanding in our biological sciences.
So, while I think its a good thing that they embrace further understanding and also that they try to inteligently "manage" their natural resources; I think we are still a long way from being able to truely manage "Natural" systems... But it sure as eggs is better than just letting people do what they want with it...
We know what happens when people do that... just ask the Dodo!!
Ive met quite a few locals at various stops along the way over the past couple of weeks, and Id have to say that pretty much all of them are very active pareticipants in outdoor activities that involve the local fauna...
Which is to say that they very much enjoy killing it!
Fishing is very popular and there is plenty of fly fishing in lakes and streams for Arctic Graling and Arctic Char as well as trout. But there is also lots of bait and lure fishing too for Halibut in the ocean and salmon in the rivers. The trout guys are out in their droves standing on the river banks and their boats if they have them are small and have low power outboards.)
The guys who do the bait and lure fishing though have bigger boats with big engines and `jet`propulsion systems... lots of sound and splash and speed ... Keeps the boys happy getting too and from their favorite fishing spots.
I was amused but not surprised when some locals at a port town told me that they quite often have to go out and rescue the touring fishermen cos they run out of fuel from time to time, but of those rescued, they have NEVER come across a boat that has run out of both fuel and beer!
I can however see the attraction of fishing in some ways...For one thing, out on the water, there are no bugs... and for me that would be a major incentive to do it :)))
Hunting is also a MAJOR part of the Alaskan way of life.
Just about everyone I have met here in Alaska hunts. They claim that lots of people "depend" on hunting for their meat for the year!... And they mean it sincerely too. They say they (a two person family) get through a bit over two full size Moose in a year and they only have about a three to four week season in which they can hunt for those animals. I only saw a few Cariboo up here (apparently they have gone even further north in the hot weather) but most people I met were here to hunt Cariboo. I saw several cars witrh fresh "racks" on the roof, so I believe most people are after trophy kills, But I was told that the laws here are quite strict, and that if you kill an animal, you MUST pack out the meat from the kill before the skin and the head. Likewise, I was told that if you fly into an area to hunt then you are not allowed to actually hunt till the next day (it limits how close you can get to your target with the aircraft).
I must admit though that having met a couple of hunters who were going to scout an area by aircraft so they could go hunt their two moose for their yearly meat supply, Im a bit scheptical about the "necesity" of the protein source for them... Its gotta cost a fair bit to go scouting out remote Arctic locations by aircraft! Perhaps that money could have been spent in the supermarketr on chicken (just as an example)???
So I think there is probably quite a bit of "self delusion" in it as well, but at least the hunters I met are really using the meat from the animals they kill... And they were nice enough guys and seemed thoughtfull and considerate as well :))
On the same topic, it seems that the Alaskan Fisheries and Wildlife service is quite a pro-active and advanced organization. From reading the papers and talking with people, I believe that they really are quite well developed in the use of science to monitor wildlife populations and they then try to "manage" the populations af the various species.
But, while they may be advanced compared to many other nations/states, I am still rather scheptical about their ability to do a good job since I think the complexity and subtlety of natural systems still far exceeds the current levels of understanding in our biological sciences.
So, while I think its a good thing that they embrace further understanding and also that they try to inteligently "manage" their natural resources; I think we are still a long way from being able to truely manage "Natural" systems... But it sure as eggs is better than just letting people do what they want with it...
We know what happens when people do that... just ask the Dodo!!
