what factor has contributed to growing lobster populations in the region despite large harvests?

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Urban harvests: food security and local fish and shellfish in Southcentral Alaska

Agriculture & Food Security volume 5, Article number:16 (2016) Cite this article

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An Erratum to this article was published on xxx September 2016

Abstract

Background

Alaska is known for its many fisheries, which back up an extensive global marketplace, a thriving tourism industry, and also contribute much to diets of many Alaskans. Yet, some research has suggested that Alaska's food security has been impacted negatively past the evolution of export-oriented commercial fisheries and tourism-oriented sport fisheries. In this paper, we discuss two sets of interviews that nosotros completed with participants in two nutrient fisheries in the Kenai Peninsula region of Southcentral Alaska: sockeye dipnet fishing and razor mollusk digging.

Results

We encountered a corking deal of cultural and socioeconomic diversity among the participants of each, though a far greater proportion of the clam fishery were Alaska Native than in the salmon fishery. In both fisheries, people report participating both as a matter of food security and family unit tradition. Besides, participants in both fisheries reported a corking deal of experience with and knowledge of the fisheries. Many clam diggers worried that the fishery was being overharvested, despite the apparent abundance of clams that twelvemonth, and this proved prescient to the fishery's closure two years after. In the salmon fishery, some people were similarly concerned about the sustainability of the fisheries.

Conclusions

Ultimately, our newspaper provides a descriptive business relationship of participants in these two fisheries and sheds light on how of import wild food harvests can be to the food security of Alaska's urban residents. Nosotros recommend that future resources management policies continue to support the role of fisheries in local nutrient security.

Background

Alaska is known for its many fisheries, which support an all-encompassing global marketplace, a thriving tourism industry, and contribute much to diets and food security of Alaskans [1–3]. These fisheries take a widespread reputation for sustainability, and while in many cases this reputation is well deserved [4], contempo declines in regional fish populations and inequities in how the benefits of these fisheries are distributed (both in terms of turn a profit and food) have brought into question how this sustainability is being evaluated [5].

Among the primary issues of concern to Alaskans regarding their fisheries is food security, and the part that fisheries currently play, and could be playing, in ensuring food security for people in both urban and rural parts of the land [one, 6, seven]. In rural Alaska, which is characterized past small, remote communities not connected to a state-wide road arrangement and peopled primarily by Alaska Natives, wild fish and game are an essential component of people's diets and household economies [ii], and then it is non surprising that disruptions in fisheries could take significant consequences. In urban centers such as Anchorage, Fairbanks, and their surrounding areas, wild fish and game play a smaller part [2], though exactly how much fish and game urban residents swallow is not well known [3]. More often than not speaking, commercially defenseless seafood is not widely marketed in the land and is instead marketed "outside" the state, in Asia and the "lower-48" states of the USA. This has improved some in recent years, for case through community-based fisheries programs, inclusion in local school luncheon programs, and direct marketing to restaurants and farmers' markets [8]; withal, nearly Alaskans who utilize wild foods in urban areas obtain it through barter, trade, or most commonly, by harvesting information technology themselves [ane, 9].

Research in Alaska and elsewhere on the function of wild foods in food security and culture has generally emphasized rural communities [six, ten–xiii]. Increasingly, yet, the importance of wild foods in urban communities is being explored [2, xiv]. A recent publication by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) lists urban residents equally harvesting roughly a 3rd as much fish and game as rural residents in the country [2], which is noteworthy given that more than Alaska Natives now live in the state's urban areas than rural villages. In Alaska and elsewhere, information technology is also documented that many low-income urban families rely on food sharing from friends and family still living in rural areas [ix, 12, 14]. Likewise, research in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula shows that food security outcomes for low-income residents are improved by admission to local seafood [one]. Finally, the importance of subsistence harvests of food and medicines in urban ecosystems, for example from the forested spaces of Seattle, has also been documented [15]. Given the challenges that urban low-income residents often confront in terms of access to good for you and affordable store-bought foods (e.m., food deserts) [16, 17], it is imperative that food security research continues to explore the role of wild food harvests in achieving more healthful and sustainable outcomes for urban families.

In this study, we discuss 2 wild seafood harvests that are popular amid residents of the largest urban and peri-urban region of Alaska: dipnet fishing for salmon on the Kenai River and mollusk digging on the beaches of the Kenai Peninsula. Our goal is twofold: to provide descriptive information on these understudied aspects of the food arrangement and to as well contribute to the broader give-and-take of wild food harvests in the lives and experiences of urban residents, where the issues of people's connections with nature, tradition and self-determination, sustainability, and social and ecology justice all arguably converge.

Melt Inlet and personal use fisheries

As noted above, wild-caught seafood plays an important function in the lives and livelihoods of Alaskans, rural and urban akin, and this is certainly the example for residents of Alaska's largest urban expanse, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and Cook Inlet watershed, located in the Southcentral region of the state. Cook Inlet is a stretch of the Pacific Body of water that reaches 180 miles along the west coast of the Kenai Peninsula, from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage, Alaska's largest urban center (Fig. one). The Melt Inlet watershed spans approximately 100,000 kmⁱⁱ, with major rivers including the Susitna, Kenai, Matanuska, and the Kasilof. The watershed, and most notably the Kenai River, is home to all five species of N America'south Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.), every bit well equally over one-half of Alaska'south total population—more than than 400,000 people. The majority of these residents live in the city of Anchorage (pop. 291,826 in 2010) and the surrounding area, including the Matanuska-Susitna Civic (ordinarily known as the Mat-Su, pop. 88,995 in 2010). The Kenai Peninsula itself hosts a population of approximately 55,000 people, living primarily in small-scale communities of under 5000 people along the road system.

Fig. one

Map of the Kenai Peninsula. Kenai Peninsula and the surrounding communities involved is this study

Full size image

The Kenai River is especially important in the region with respect to fisheries. The river stretches 82 miles from its source in Kenai Lake in the Kenai Mountains to its oral fissure near the cities of Soldotna and Kenai. The smaller Kasilof River is besides important to local fisheries; it runs 17 miles from Tustumena Lake to where it empties into the inlet due south of the Kenai River near the town of Kasilof. Both rivers are popular sport angling destinations due to their historically abundant salmon runs, presence of highly sought later on rex salmon, and proximity to the route system. The personal use salmon fishery in the Kenai Peninsula, commonly referred to equally dipnetting, takes place on the beaches along the mouths of both rivers, which also act every bit busy corridors for the commercial fishing fleet.

Many Alaskans participate actively in both "sport" and "personal utilise" fisheries, both as a matter of recreation and also to put food in their freezers for the twelvemonth [1]. The former, in management language, mostly designates fisheries that are low catch in nature and done primarily every bit a affair of recreation. Sport fisheries in Alaska may exist accessed by anyone with a sport fishing license. The latter, personal apply, are a special kind of food or subsistence fishery open to all Alaska residents. In improver to a no-fee personal use permit, a sport angling license is besides required to take part in the personal use fishery [18]. Federally managed subsistence fisheries also exist in various places throughout the state, with the priority being apply by rural residents (who, by-and-large, are Alaska Native); the personal utilise designation at the state level reflects a provision in the Land of Alaska'south constitution that requires that natural resources must be developed for the benefit of "all Alaskans."

Nearly the fisheries

The personal use salmon fishery on the Kenai River is open up for 21 days each July, beginning on July 10 and running until July 31. The fishery is typically open between 6 am and 11 pm every day, just those hours may exist extended by ADF&Thou, who are responsible for management of the fishery. Harvest limits are set to a seasonal household limit, a seasonal amount that may be taken in combination from all bachelor personal utilize salmon fisheries in Cook Inlet or entirely from any i personal use salmon fishery. Fishers are required to record their catches on their personal use permit earlier leaving the fishing site. Fishers must too "mark" their personal use-caught fish past clipping the fins—a method intended to forbid the fish from beingness illegally sold. Permits must be submitted to ADF&G subsequently the closure of the flavor then that ADF&G officials may estimate the full personal use take, though compliance with this regulation has been steadily declining since permits were first issued in 1996 [18]. Regulations besides allow for a proxy allow that enables Alaska residents who are over the age of 65, blind, or have significant physical disability, to accept someone fish in their stead, but any fish caught must be given to the actual let holder.

The Kenai River dipnet fishery, on which our study is focused, is extremely popular (Fig. 2); an boilerplate of 426,000 sockeye salmon have been harvested per year from the Kenai River alone by dipnetters since 2010 [18]. Assuming a harvest of 25 fish per person (the private limit), that is roughly 17,000 fishers per year. For all the Kenai Peninsula dipnet fisheries, an average of 34,400 permits accept been issued per twelvemonth since 2010 [18]. Dipnetters typically target sockeye salmon, though other species of Oncorhynchus may too be harvested depending on seasonal restrictions. Fishing is generally done either from shore or from pocket-sized watercraft within the first six river miles of the Kenai, though we witnessed some specially avid fishers in dry out suits floating just off the beach attempting to catch fish in the river channel itself. The areas of beach available for shore-based line-fishing are several hundred yards long and are subject field to ii tidal cycles per day, significantly decreasing the amount of space available for people during the high tides. Similarly, the space bachelor in the river channels where fishers dipnet from a boat is particularly limited during depression tide, which can cause severe gunkhole traffic congestion and "combat" fishing atmospheric condition during peak dipnetting season.

Fig. ii

Dipnet fishing. The Kenai River dipnet fishery is a popular annual event that draws thousands of local Alaskans

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Personal use clam digging (Fig. 3) has also been a historically pop action for residents of the region. The species being harvested are Pacific razor clams, a soft-shelled bivalve that is common on the west coast of Due north America, from California to Alaska, and these have historically been abundant on beaches on both the eastward and due west shores of Cook Inlet. In 1969, an estimated 8600 trips were fabricated to the Melt Inlet beaches, resulting in a harvest of over 250,000 clams [nineteen]. In the mid-1980s, trips to the beaches rose about 31,000 annually, increasing the harvest to upward of ane 1000000 clams [19]. In more contempo years, the fisheries take remained active, but harvests accept steadily declined, to an boilerplate of merely under 400,000 clams for the five years prior to the fishery's closures in 2014 [twenty].

Fig. 3

Clam digging. Families dig for clams on Ninilchik Beach, Alaska

Total size prototype

Clams can be dug twelvemonth-circular in Cook Inlet, though most digging occurs from April through September, and the almost preferable fourth dimension in terms of the quality of the meat happens in early summer earlier the spat (spawn). Virtually people targeting razor clams concentrate on a 50-mile area between the Kasilof and Ballast rivers, with Clam Gulch Embankment and Ninilchik Beach being two of the nigh popular locations on the eastward side of Cook Inlet.

As of 2015, beaches on the east side of Cook Inlet were closed to clam earthworks. Despite actualization to be peculiarly arable in the early on 2000s, the razor clam populations are now considered a conservation business concern [21]. When sampled in 2008, Mollusk Gulch Beach held an estimated 3.6 million clams in 4 miles of embankment. Some other 2.v 1000000 clams were estimated for Ninilchik beaches in 2005. By comparison, the surveys of Mollusk Gulch and Ninilchik Beaches in 2010 and 2014, respectively, showed that the average number of mature-size razor clams was 80 % lower in Ninilchik and 89 % lower in Mollusk Gulch than seen in the two prior decades [21]. To our knowledge, no research is ongoing that explores the social impacts of these closures.

Methods

Between July ten and July 31 of 2012, both authors performed 71 interviews with personal use dipnetters fishing on the Kenai River. ^{Footnote 1} Because of the large number of people fishing and the physical and attentive requirements of dipnetting, we were forced to prioritize practicality in recruiting interviewees for this report. We selected candidates based on an informal encounter approach while candidates were angling, cleaning fish, or resting/relaxing on the beaches at the mouth of the Kenai River. Our interview protocol was intentionally short (15–20 min), to minimize disruption to fishing activities. These interviews were spread equally evenly as possible over the duration of the entire dipnet season, on weekdays and weekends, mornings, afternoons, and evenings.

Each individual fisher's participation was considered as as of import and valid for understanding the user's perspective of personal use fishing on the Kenai River, and we attempted to recruit a diverse group of interview participants throughout the interviewing period. Participants were asked the same set of predetermined questions, including why and how long they have participated in the fishery, how they use their harvest, and whether they consider the fishery to be sustainable. With respect to sustainability, a definition was not provided, such that nosotros might arm-twist people's own notions of the concept [22]. Interviews concluded with an opportunity for interviewees to express any additional comments.

The second author performed similar breezy encounter interviews in June of 2009 with clam diggers on Mollusk Gulch Beach and Ninilchik Beach. Both beaches are accessible by road and equally noted to a higher place are among the most pop and heavily harvested. As with the dipnet interviews, interviewees were identified and approached in a quasi-random manner. Clam digging is just applied during minus (especially depression) tides, and the second writer was present for two of the largest minus tides of the calendar month, ane at each embankment. The interview protocol was similarly brusque; questions were asked while people were walking and excavation, or while relaxing over a campfire one time digging had been completed.

Results of clam digging interviews

20-six clam diggers were interviewed in total, 14 on day 1 (Ninilchik Beach) and 12 on twenty-four hours 2 (Clam Gulch Beach). Of the 26, 20 were women, xviii were Alaska Native, and 8 Caucasian. Fifteen lived in a community on the Kenai Peninsula, and the other 11 reported living in Anchorage.

Why do y'all dig?

All 26 reported having dug for clams for many years; an average could not be calculated because some responded with such phrases equally "as long as I can recall" and "all my life." One Alaska Native adult female replied, "we've done this forever," emphasizing the traditional and customary importance of the practice to her people.

When asked about why they dig, all 26 also responded that the clams were for food use. Seven mentioned that the clams are "free" or "cheap" and that this was important to them given the extremely high prices of nutrient and fuel being experienced at that time in Alaska [23]. Iii diggers added a caveat that the clams did not provide a major source of food but were of import for special occasions and for gift giving. Twelve noted that clam digging was something that they savor or observe comfort in. More often than not, clam earthworks in Kenai is a quiet affair; ane person chosen it "meditative," and this contrasts notably with the frenetic atmosphere of dipnetting. Eight of the 18 Alaska Native discussed a family unit tradition of mollusk digging in the early summer, as did ii of the Caucasian respondents.

With respect to family, amid all that were interviewed, but four were excavation lone. The second author witnessed more than than 20 children, varying in age, participating with their family members to some degree or some other. One group earthworks was a drove of graduate students from the University of Alaska, though the individual interviewed hailed from the region and reported having dug with friends and family unit most of his life.

Some groups of diggers brought with them recreational supplies such as chairs, food, children'due south toys, and firewood in addition to the shovels, buckets, and wet gear necessary for earthworks. When the tides rose, at to the lowest degree four groups were observed cooking clams on the beach over campfires. The students had camping ground gear every bit well and reported that they were spending the weekend on the beach.

When asked what people would exercise with the clams, that is, in terms of preservation and storage, 19 people mentioned freezing, six said they would can some or all of the clams, and five people mentioned smoking (note that these do not add to 26 because several people noted more than i).

Sustainability

When asked near the status of the mollusk fishery, eleven expressed business that there were too many people harvesting, half dozen of which also noted that it took them longer than in the past to dig their limit. Another 4, however, felt that clams were larger and more abundant than they had ever seen. The remaining 11 had no stance or felt unable to annotate. Four of these deferred to ADF&G as having "good control."

Nine harvesters also noted concerns almost whether the clams would proceed to be rubber to eat in the future. Many specifically mentioned algal blooms, paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), or "scarlet tide"; 2 mentioned "pollution," and one talked about "climate change." Four people concerned nigh the safety of the shellfish discussed the lack of local monitoring past the State of Alaska.

Results of dipnet interviews

Nosotros conducted interviews with 71 personal use fishers, 22 women and 49 men, over the grade of 21 days. Of those fishers, 56 were from the Anchorage and Mat-Su Valley surface area, nine were from the Kenai Peninsula, and vi were from elsewhere in Alaska. Of the 71, 47 are Caucasian (two of which identified equally Russian), eight are Alaska Native, three are Polynesian, five are Asian American, 4 are African-American, and iv are Hispanic/Latino.

Why exercise you fish?

Though study participants reported a number of reasons for engaging in the personal use salmon fishery on the Kenai River, iii specific themes arose with almost every respondent: bug of food security, time spent with family (and past extension, friends), and fishing as an important recreational activity.

All but a few respondents cited using their harvested fish for food as a primary reason for participating in the fishery. While some prioritized the recreational attribute of fishing commencement, most respondents said they were angling to "fill the freezer" and discussed the various ways by which they preserve salmon, such equally smoking, freezing, and jarring or canning. Respondents indicated some caste of reliance on their fishing activities to supplement their diet through the winter months, ranging from "this is our meat for the wintertime" to "I am on nutrient stamps. This [fish] helps," to "we wouldn't starve [without salmon] but we surely wouldn't be able to afford eating as healthily without these fish." Others confirmed the perceived importance of the nutritional value of salmon. Ane human fishing with his wife said, "We're in graduate schoolhouse so we need inexpensive just skilful food, especially with her [his married woman] beingness pregnant." Others described salmon every bit an important office of their "Alaska diet," indicating they enjoy harvesting their ain nutrient and experience gratification for being self-sufficient in supplying their own meat source for the twelvemonth. Some respondents said that if they were unable to catch their own salmon they would non choose to purchase replacement salmon, preferring or being forced to go without. Some fishers we spoke to were fishing for both themselves as well every bit someone else via proxy permit.

Many fishers prioritized the personal value of dipnetting every bit an opportunity to spend time with friends and family unit. All simply one of our respondents were fishing with either co-workers, friends or family unit members, and many parties included children, ranging in age from infants to teenagers. Several families described fishing as an of import "family fourth dimension" activity and indicated the importance of outdoor activities in educational activity their children of import life lessons, such as respect for the surroundings, hard piece of work, and harvesting their own food. Many groups had designated a "site" on the embankment with varying degrees of elaborate setups. Ane man line-fishing with his wife said that for him, fishing was "a break from work to spend fourth dimension with my wife." Some other 28-year-former man said he had been fishing "all my life" and at present was teaching his own children how to dipnet, indicating the importance he placed on fishing as a traditional action within his family.

To a lesser caste, fishers reported participating in the fishery for recreational purposes. Indeed, the temper on the beach during busy days was sometimes hectic, similar a fairground or street fair. And then well known is this dynamic that nosotros met a party of out-of-country sport fishermen who had come up downwardly to the embankment "only to come across what all the commotion was about." Most parties had a cooler and supplies for gutting and cleaning their fish. Others brought chairs, tents, and other gear. In large groups, we observed that usually simply ane or two members of the party would exist actively line-fishing while others were waiting to clean freshly caught fish or were doing other activities not direct related to the angling (i.east., playing with children, reading, games and sports, cooking, drinking alcohol, talking to other people). Throughout the course of the dipnetting flavor, the beach took on more semipermanent installations as more than and more people came to fish. On the northern beach of the Kenai River, a church group set up a permanent tent where they gave out free hot dogs and warm beverages to fishers. Other groups appeared to set upwardly small kitchens around their tents, probable related to a lengthy stay (past comparison) on the embankment. While only a few respondents claimed recreation as their chief reason for fishing, nearly every interview respondent indicated that the recreational component of fishing was an important factor as to why they came to the personal use fishery on the Kenai River.

Sustainability

When asked if they viewed the Kenai River salmon fisheries every bit sustainable, respondents had mixed responses. We note that we intentionally left this question of sustainability broad in terms of defining sustainability and in determining what factor, precisely, was sustainable. Many respondents indicated that they felt the fishery was sustainable, though nearly every person couched their response in a justification. One man said "Yes, I get the fish I demand and they [ADF&Thousand] have us fill out these cards to report [the grab]," indicating that he assembly reporting and regulations with the sustainability of the resources. Similarly, another fisher said "Yes, there are rules and regulations for a purpose," while another commented that "more data means meliorate direction." Many people commented on the large number of returning salmon equally evidence that the fishery was being managed well, and many people likewise indicated their confidence in the ADF&1000 as an institution. One man said, "Fish and Game [ADF&G] knows what they are doing and in that location are more [fish] here every year even though there are more people line-fishing every year."

Other fishers, nevertheless, were less certain nigh the sustainability. Many respondents were optimistic but uncertain, saying "I promise and so," and "I'chiliad non sure." Others contextualized their uncertainty in their ain behaviors and the behaviors of others. 1 woman said, "I don't know. We try to exist responsible, though." Another human being said, "Information technology should be, simply it depends on whether people can be responsible and not take also many fish." He also noted that he had seen "people taking too many," a concern many respondents shared of not seeing what they considered to exist adequate representations of enforcement (i.e., Alaska Land Troopers, ADF&G) patrolling the fishery. Some other woman said she had, "No idea. This year seems like a slow showtime, though. The outset year nosotros got 35 fish in the first 60 minutes." Her comments indicated a phenomenon we noted throughout our interviews: that fishers having strong expectations for the salmon to "show up" during detail days during the season and relating their own harvest success to by experiences and the activities of other user groups in the fishery (i.east., commercial fleet and sport fishers).

A few respondents reported that they did not remember the fishery was sustainable, with most citing concerns of bycatch, overfishing by the commercial Cook Inlet fleets, and lack of regulatory enforcement as primary drivers for unsustainable conditions in the fishery. Many fishers commented about crowding on the beach, particularly when we were sampling during a high tide (where there was little beach space to utilise) or on a weekend when many fishers from areas off the Kenai Peninsula visit the personal utilize fishery. During these times, the beaches are especially congested and fishers often fished almost shoulder to shoulder, sometimes compounded by large wakes from incoming and outgoing fishing vessels accessing the Kenai River. During these periods, respondents frequently complained most overcrowding and perceived contest for fish between the personal use and commercial angling groups.

Perceptions of others

The majority of our interview respondents reported either an Anchorage or Mat-Su zip code as their place of residence, indicating that nigh of them had traveled a significant distance to harvest fish on the Kenai River (at to the lowest degree two.5 or more hours of driving). We too asked fishers to estimate the corporeality of money they had spent on their trip, and many reported spending several hundred dollars over several days of fishing and travel. This expenditure and expectation of catching fish is likely then related to the complaints we oft heard regarding sharing of the salmon resource with other user groups, primarily the commercial fleet.

The dipnetting area is situated along the mouth of the Kenai River, which means that dipnetters see upwards close (ofttimes separated by only a few dozen yards) the commercial set gillnet and drift gillnet fleets exiting and inbound the river during days when the armada is fishing. The boats in these fleets are big and sometimes produce large wakes, particularly if they are laden with fish and maintaining a high speed to enter the river. Dipnetters frequently complained almost the size of the wake and speed of the boats, as well equally their perception that the commercial fleet was catching "too much" of the available salmon run. Many fishers linked the perceived angling successes of the commercial fleet to their own ability to catch fish, regardless of whether the commercial armada was fishing in areas near the Kenai River or down in the lower reaches of Melt Inlet. Some respondents indicated that they believed that the personal use user group should have priority over the commercial fleet, while others acknowledged the admission of the commercial fleet, proverb "they have to make a living also." However, most respondents who commented on the issue of sharing the resource indicated a strong preference for Alaskans to receive the direct or indirect benefit of harvesting Kenai River salmon, and many stated that they believed those participating in both the sport fishing and commercial line-fishing fleets to be non-Alaskans. Some personal employ fishers stated they believed the commercial fleet to exist "virtually out-of-staters," with 1 man stating that the drift gillnet fleet was "90 % from Washington."

Discussion

Both sets of interviews, while not intended or designed to exist representative of all fishers in either fishery, conspicuously indicate that personal use fisheries on the Kenai Peninsula are of import to urban Alaskans for multiple reasons, including nutrient security, family unit and tradition, and recreation. For some dipnet fishers, store-bought options are merely non considered a sufficient alternative to wild-caught seafood; in some cases, this is because of high prices, but in others it is because Alaska seafood is just not available in grocery stores on the Kenai Peninsula [1]. For some, all the same, their preference is based simply on the fact that they value catching the fish themselves more than than they do having the fish, regardless of where the fish comes from.

Our findings match with those of Poe et al. [xv], highlighting how urban spaces can exist subsistence spaces, and demanding, perhaps, that policy recognize this reality as an important parameter for securing socially but fisheries and food systems. The constitutional requirement in Alaska that underpins these personal use fisheries may be an important instance study of policy in this regard. Yet, not all people in Alaska accept the time, resource, or inclination to fish for themselves, significant that nutrient systems which emphasize direct admission to wild foods through individual harvests may notwithstanding fall short of ensuring equitable outcomes for all (run across also, [24]). Some grade of composite approach to fisheries governance that also promotes affordable access to seafood through local markets is likely important to truly achieving sustainable food security.

This aspect of how many urban residents value the personal apply fisheries—the value they run across in communicable the fish themselves—is important also because information technology reinforces what nosotros know about food security as encompassing more than only mere access to calories and nutrition. It also challenges persistent stereotypes most urban peoples being disconnected from or apathetic to their proximate environments. Specific foods and food procurement traditions, and how these fit into identity, civilization, and social relations have been discussed as important to rural Alaskans [25], and they are clearly important for urban residents too. Many fishers talked almost the importance of time spent harvesting, and one fisher specifically described the action as office of Alaskan civilization. The same was observed for clam earthworks: that people consider the practice important to their food security, despite the fact that the total harvest does not contribute pregnant overall calories or nutrition to their annual diets. The clams are important as gifts, as foods consumed during special occasions, and the digging itself is a valued family and cultural tradition. Given how important people's connections to their environments tin can exist important both for their ain well-existence and also to the likelihood of achieving sustainable practices [26–29], these personal and cultural aspects of the clam and salmon fisheries should not be undervalued.

Multiple people from both fisheries also expressed concern over the time to come sustainability of the fisheries, and responses to our questions on this topic produced several chief themes. Beginning, many respondents associate the presence of regulations and regulatory enforcement officials equally indicators of a sustainable fishery. This loftier level of trust in the process of management is noteworthy given the rancorous conflicts over fisheries in this region [thirty]. Some respondents interpreted the merely affluence of fish and their opportunity to harvest them as signs of a sustainable fishery. Likewise, many situated sustainability as a matter of individual responsibleness and collective action, but noted too that this can be problematic if others exercise non deed in the aforementioned manner. To that betoken, many dipnetters also indicated that they have limited familiarity with the fishery and admitted that they pay piddling attention to the fishery exterior of the fishing flavour. By comparison, those people with concerns for the clam fishery all had many years of experience digging on these specific beaches, and their concerns regarding overharvesting were ultimately confirmed when the beaches were closed to digging in 2014.

Collectively, these themes evoke the tensions that can exist amidst the benefits of then-called command and control management in the case of a high-demand merely limited engagement fishery [31], and the development of local ecological knowledge through more than intimate, long-term engagements equally an important prerequisite to effective natural resources stewardship [32]. In the instance of the salmon fishery, people willingly admit that they may lack the necessary expertise to make a fair judgment on sustainability, only because they consider the fishery so important to their lives and families, and they lean heavily on expert-based cognition and management. In the case of the mollusk fishery, all the same, in that location may be an opportunity to improve future outcomes by engaging local cognition.

Urban harvest as an emerging fishery

Equally noted earlier, the majority of our interview respondents were from the Anchorage or Mat-Su area. The popularity of the dipnet fishery on the Kenai River has grown significantly since permits have been issued; only 14,576 permits were issued in 1996, whereas 34,315 permits were issued in 2012 (ADF&G permit data, 2016). Similarly, the full harvest of the personal use fishery on the Kenai River has grown from an estimated 107,627 fish (all salmon species) in 1996 to an estimated 535,236 salmon (all species) in 2012. From these growing numbers, it is clear that the fishery has become more than and more popular over the years with many people from around the state taking role. While our sample size is as well small to support conclusions representative of all users accessing the dipnet fisheries, we withal have testify (approximately 79 % of fishers we interviewed were from the local urban area) that this fishery is indeed providing the urban population, ethnic and Euro-American alike, with an opportunity to harvest fish and engage in nature-oriented recreational activities.

As mentioned, personal employ fishers by and large seem to value the admission to food that these fisheries provide higher up any other benefit. Nonetheless, dipnet fishers as well complained of crowds, fish refuse left on the beach, litter, and the struggle of fishing during times of heavy gunkhole traffic on the river, all of which underscore the importance to them of environmental quality and quality of experience. If the dipnet fishery continues to draw such crowds, and then these environmental impacts are likely to persist. Some work has been done regarding fuel pollution in the Kenai River from 2-stroke outboard engines on dipnetting boats [33], and measures such every bit cordoning off admission to ecologically sensitive grassy dunes surrounding the fishing expanse accept been taken to curb the harm washed past heavy human foot traffic during the fishing flavor. However, to our knowledge it appears that little other research has been washed that investigates whether the high human being traffic is having negative touch on on local environmental quality.

Additionally, the personal use fishery has go heavily politicized, as information technology emerges as a significant consumer of Kenai River salmon in the already contentious temper of allocation wars in Upper Cook Inlet fisheries. Other user groups, notably the commercial gillnet fleets in Cook Inlet, view the personal use fishers as a poorly informed yet powerful voting block [30]. Indeed, some personal use respondents did signal strong negative feelings well-nigh the commercial and sport fisheries, though about appear to be willing to share the resources.

The Land of Alaska, for its function, supports the dipnet fishery past providing some regulatory measures (such equally catch reporting cards and ADF&One thousand oversight) also every bit maintaining few barriers to entry (permits, up to now, are complimentary to obtain). Locally, the City of Kenai has taken on the job of providing restroom facilities, local enforcement, parking services, beach cleanup, and a number of other services that are not without price (Personal communication, August 24, 2012). While the City does reap some benefit from the increased traffic to local businesses and some congenital-in fees, the need on city personnel and resources is significant. Despite these burdens, the personal utilize fishery appears to appeal to a sense of independence and entitlement, every bit many people across Melt Inlet user groups indicated that they place the Alaskan "power" to harvest i'due south own local food as paramount to virtually any other utilize of salmon.

This personal apply fishery cannot be fully understood without contextualizing it within the broader social disharmonize over fisheries that has characterized the region for decades [30]; personal utilize fishers represent the largest and fastest growing user grouping in the fishery and this growth has garnered its own attending inside this conflict. While many members of user groups may sympathize and respect people's desire to harvest nutrient and engage in fisheries-based recreation, they concord those values aslope a strong desire for equity and sharing of conservation burdens. Every bit the personal use group represents a big but casual consumer of the Cook Inlet salmon resource compared to the smaller simply professionalized and well-organized commercial and sport fishing user groups, it is possible that confrontation between these competing sectors will increment during years of low abundance [34].

Most commercial-caught Cook Inlet salmon is exported out of Alaska, though information technology is clear that there is a local need for affordable, fresh and frozen Cook Inlet salmon. While it is outside the scope of this study, it is possible that improved admission to local-caught seafood in Alaskan food markets would decrease the direct, personal utilize harvest pressure on the Kenai River, or at least provide alternatives to those fishers who are not successful in their harvest efforts. Redirecting commercially defenseless wild seafood toward markets in Alaska may also change the image of commercial fisheries in the minds of some locals, from its electric current land of existence economically focused (as reported by some dipnetters) to that of an important nutrient provider for Alaskans (at least more so than information technology already is). However, improving local access to Alaska seafood through traditional commercial means should non exist seen every bit a panacea to either the contentious nature of Melt Inlet salmon fisheries or the pressures of currently experienced on the Kenai River dipnet fishery. Our results make it articulate that while admission to locally harvest salmon is a driving force behind the fishery's popularity, the recreational, traditional, and culturally values placed on the fishery are of meaning, if not equal, importance to many users.

Clam earthworks and ecology justice

Poe and colleagues clearly show how urban harvests are situated in unique political ecologies, with problems of social justice being at the forefront [fifteen]. Indeed, information technology is e'er possible that when "uses" of landscapes and seascapes are managed by the land, that some uses and users volition become privileged over others within the dominant narrative of resource evolution [35]. Personal use clam fisheries may be a case in point; though long present in the peninsula, they "fly under the radar" so to speak, in terms of their contributions to local people'south food security and civilization. This is despite documented participation by Alaskans in the fishery for 50 years at least and by Alaska Natives for far longer than that [36]. According to harvest survey information collected in 2011, 30 % of Kenai Peninsula residents harvest clams [37], and two-thirds of those are from low to medium income households (Loring and Harrison, unpublished data). While the clam fisheries probable no longer represent a significant contribution to local food systems in terms of calories or nutrition, this research suggests that their contributions are however numerous. The activity of earthworks is a treasured family tradition for many, and the clams appear to be thought of by many harvesters equally something of a local delicacy, considered important for souvenir giving and special occasions.

Indicative that the State does not consider this fishery "mainstream" is that it explicitly recommends against people consuming the clams that they dig (what uses of the clams that they do sanction is unclear) [18]. As well, there is no monitoring by the State of Alaska regarding the safe of these clams, or any shellfish on any beach throughout the state for that matter [38]. Equally mentioned higher up, several diggers were aware that there could be times when the clams are unsafe, nonetheless they accept this risk nonetheless. The Land has chosen to excuse itself from this attribute of public health, transferring responsibility (and ostensibly liability) to the individual, by making facts out the health risks bachelor online. In their words,

• If yous cull to harvest shellfish in Alaska, information technology is important that you know the facts about [paralytic shellfish toxin], know the species you plan to harvest, and know the symptoms of paralytic shellfish poisoning and become aid quickly! [38, emphasis ours].

Whether the state tin alibi itself from this responsibility is a question possibly for some other newspaper [39], merely what is clear for the discussion at hand is that the clam fishery is in a gray area as far equally being a country-sanctioned space for nutrient procurement: ADF&G monitors the clam populations and tolerates harvests as long as they are non a threat to conservation, but fall short of validating this activity as anything more than recreational.

I terminal bespeak of comparison among the two fisheries involves the dramatically different atmospheres they showroom; dipnetting is a chaotic, festive effect, where crowds, noise, bonfires, tents, beer, and a high-intensity atmosphere the norm. By comparing, clam earthworks is a placidity and solitary affair, described by i interviewee as "meditative." The "messiness" of the dipnet fishery has been a target of criticism, with the implication that the apparent "complimentary for all" indicates an inherent unsustainability of the fishery—an highly visible example of the tragedy of the commons, perchance. However, with the caveat that nosotros know of no research exploring the ecological impacts on the beaches themselves, there is no evidence that the dipnet fishery on its own is unsustainable. Further, we know from this written report that the fishery is an important manner that these people interact with the surroundings, and many participants likewise agree sustainability of the fishery every bit a top priority.

While the impact on the ecological environment may be yet completely understood, the issue on the Metropolis of Kenai and pressure on the dipnetting beaches has been more acute and credible. Restroom facilities, waste disposal, beach cleaning services, and significant traffic congestion are new features to narrow streets of Quondam Boondocks Kenai, a popular access point to the Kenai's dipnetting sites. In dissimilarity, the Kasilof River has not experienced such a boom in visitation and accompanying infrastructure, due largely to the smaller and less consistent run of salmon returning to the Kasilof. In by years, the Kenai River Chinook salmon fishery has been open to dipnet fishers (though keeping of these fish was prohibited during the years of our study). The Kasilof River does non permit the keeping of Chinook, perhaps making it less popular for those who are fishing for primarily recreational purposes. The differences between the same fishery on these ii rivers are important to annotation, as a local preference for a quiet and less rowdy line-fishing atmosphere may drive, at least for a time, an increased need for dipnetting opportunities on the Kasilof River.

At play here, mayhap, is a cultural bias that expects local food harvests to embody some bucolic esthetic, a bias common within local nutrient movements and one that may contribute to many failures of these movements to serve more simply the middle and upper class members of order [40]. Urban spaces are densely populated, and it makes little sense to wait that a large-calibration individual access fishery in an urban area will embody a rural feel. Rather, the still young dipnet fishery may be evolving into something more similar, perhaps, to the large-scale, vibrant and decorated street markets common to urban centers in Southeast Asia. Alaska existence a state that is even so generally low in population compared to its vast geography, it is not surprising that many people who are otherwise accepted to low-density line-fishing experiences would observe the atmosphere of the dipnet fishery jarring or troubling; withal, as long every bit the activity does not prove detrimental to environmental wellness and quality, people's expectations may change with this over time as the fishery becomes more institutionalized within urban Alaska culture.

Conclusions

As with Poe and colleague's work in Seattle [15], what we see in these 2 personal use fisheries are wild food harvests that "contribute to many urban residents' lives by supporting subsistence, cultural practices, and enhancing quality of life" (p. 410). As with the not-timber forest product harvests discussed in their study, our findings show how important it is to sympathise personal use seafood harvesting as a way in which urban Alaskans, and maybe especially low-income families, assert their rights to wild resources and to engagement with their environments more generally. In this, urban harvesters are perhaps more similar to rural harvesters than they are different (see, e.g., [24, 41]). It is besides important to sympathise these urban fisheries equally more than simply wild nutrient harvest, merely besides as important cultural, social, and, in a mode, traditional activities for Alaskan residents. People engaging in both the personal use salmon and clam fisheries care about the ongoing sustainability of these resource both in terms of a local food source and a resources that is tied to feelings of Alaskan identity and agency. Additionally, fishers engaging in pocket-size nutrient fisheries play an underutilized role in supporting the local economy on the Kenai Peninsula, and on a global scale, are participating in well-regulated, sustainable salmon fisheries instead of purchasing fish harvested in exploited, industrialized fisheries from outside Alaska.

Cook Inlet food fisheries provide excellent opportunities for many directions of future enquiry. Not much is known across the data reported here about the people who participate in these fisheries, the extent of their varied ecological and societal costs and contributions, and a diverseness of other topics. For example, in the sphere of food security, we take previously argued that there is an opportunity to amend both Alaska'southward nutrient security and the sustainability of local fisheries by creating an artisanal marketplace for locally defenseless seafood that is separate from the larger commercial fishery [1, 30]; future market research could be undertaken to determine the willingness of urban harvesters to purchase such artisanal products at the grocery store or docks instead of harvesting information technology themselves.

More by and large, our research contributes to the increasing recognition of the ecological dimensions of urban life, rejecting the notions that urban residents neither have nor want shut personal and cultural relationships with the environs and that there can be no "wild" in the "urban" (or vice versa). Couple this with the emerging movements to expand small-scale urban agriculture, and the distinctions between what is man, wild, urban, cultivated, or otherwise, may brainstorm to go irrelevant and fifty-fifty counterproductive to how we pursue sustainability in urban regions.

Notes

1. While dipnetting does have place on the nearby Kasilof River, it is of import to notation that the interviews in this study were conducted on only the Kenai River dipnet fishery and should not exist construed to potentially represent views from the Kasilof River dipnet fishery, which is different from the Kenai fishery in several meaning ways.

Abbreviations

ADF&G:

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

PSP:

paralytic shellfish poisoning

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Authors' contributions

Both authors contributed as to the research, analysis, and the writing and training of the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the concluding manuscript.

Authors' information

Dr. Philip Loring is an assistant professor of sustainability science at the Academy of Saskatchewan. His inquiry focuses on the sustainability and well-being of coastal communities, including such topics as food security, risk, resilience, and disharmonize. He currently works in communities in Alaska and Western Canada. Hannah Harrison is an IMPRESS Ph.D. fellow with the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Deportment supported by the EU Research and Innovation Programme Horizon 2020. Her research focuses on environmental and resource conflict in fisheries, also as small-scale food fisheries and angling civilisation. She currently works on rivers in Norway, Wales, France, and Germany.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Availability of supporting data

The data for this paper are ethnographic in nature, making information technology impractical to share data in a format other than this published manuscript.

Consent for publication

All participation in this study, including photographs, was given voluntarily or obtained in public places, and the people therein are not research subjects and are non identifiable.

Ethical approval and consent to participate

This research was reviewed and approved every bit "exempt" from review by the Academy of Alaska Fairbanks Institutional Review Board. All participants gave gratuitous and informed consent to participate.

Funding

This research was supported past the Social Vulnerability of Alaska's Coastal Communities to Climate Change Project (NOAA project NA06OAR4600179), the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (NOAA cooperative agreement# NA11OAR4310141), and by the Human being Dimensions Lab at the Water and Environmental Enquiry Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Author data

Affiliations

1. Norwegian Academy of Life Sciences, Institute for Nature, Universitetstunet three, 1430, Ås, Norway

   Hannah 50. Harrison

2. School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan, 117 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7J1X7, Canada

   Philip A. Loring

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hannah L. Harrison.

Additional data

An erratum to this commodity tin can be found at http://dx.doi.org/ten.1186/s40066-016-0070-eight.

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Harrison, H.L., Loring, P.A. Urban harvests: food security and local fish and shellfish in Southcentral Alaska. Agric & Food Secur v, 16 (2016). https://doi.org/x.1186/s40066-016-0065-five

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• Received: 19 Apr 2016

• Accepted: 18 July 2016

• Published: 08 August 2016

• DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-016-0065-5

Keywords

• Alaska
• Seafood
• Shellfish
• Food security
• Urban harvests
• Traditional foods
• Cook Inlet
• Salmon

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