Excerpted From Alaska Department of Fish and Game Technical Paper No. 160, November 1987

. . . Overall, there was an increase in fishing time in 1987 for Nelson Island communities. Most notable was 26 more days of fishing in Toksook Bay (Pete and Kreher 1986). The longer time for fishing was most attributable to weather because wind and rough seas prevented sustained fishing early in the season. Further, as soon as herring were on the drying racks and before they developed a "tacky" protective coat, a hot, windless, sunny day spoiled a sizable portion of some families' harvests in Toksook Bay. The fish got "cooked" and rancid; some of it separating from or falling off the skin after the first rain. Tununak was not as affected by this hot weather because the majority of herring had been on the racks long enough to develop the protective dry layer. Also, the northern side of the island was slightly cooler with an occasional breeze throughout that day. Toksook Bay families replaced some of this loss by fishing again late in the season. This is reflected in the increased fishing time relative to last year.

Concomitant with more fishing days was a higher number of households providing harvesters in 1987 compared to 1986 (Pete and Kreher 1986). There was a "turnover" in fishing personnel, particularly for families who fished later in the season because some of the usual fishermen were committed to other activities, such as commercial halibut and/or salmon fishing, or being a crewmember in Bristol Bay fishing fleets.

In 1987, there were four production units from Toksook Bay, and three from Nighmute who fished and processed herring at Umkumiut. This is an increase of one production unit from Toksook Bay, and a decrease of two from Nightmute compared to 1986. One of the Nightmute families did not fish for herring at all in1987 due to personal circumstances; the other family transported fish to the village because they wanted the proximity to medical facilities because one in their family had failing health.

Intervillage movement to produce herring occurred also, as it did last year. A woman from Nightmute took her unmarried daughters to her married daughter's home in Tununak to fish for and process herring during the subsistence fishery. This was partly in response to the Tununak Family's inability to process the large amount of herring harvested prompted by inclement weather.

One family from Nightmute and two from Chefornak fished from, and processed herring in Toksook Bay using existing, but unused racks belonging to relatives in Toksook Bay. This apparently is a regular pattern for the Nightmute family. The two Chefornak families who fished from Toksook Bay were cooperating in harvesting and processing. They had also fished from Umkumiut and had more herring on drying racks owned by relatives from Toksook Bay at Umkumiut. There were not enough unused racks in Toksook Bay . . . .

THE PRODUCTION OF HERRING FOR SUBSISTENCE USE

As described in earlier research, the production of herring for subsistence use involves cooperation of kin groups (Fineup-Riordan 1983; Hemming et al. 1978; Pete 1984; Pete and Kreher 1986). Production units are composed of members of a multi-household extended family that is inter- as well as intravillage in scope. Cooperation in the production of subsistence foods is an important mechanism for social integration in Yup'ik society. Data on production units for subsistence herring reflect the high level of community involvement. . . . Production of herring for subsistence use in Kipuk has the same social organization mechanisms as in Nelson Island villages. Production units in 1987 were, for the most part, very similar in details of numbers of people involved either as fishermen or processors . . . (Pete and Kreher 1986). Percentage of households involved again was high ranging from 56 percent in Newtok to 85 percent in Tununak. The "rack managers" or those in charge of production units and their members' activities were essentially the same individuals as last year so their age structure is the same.

In Nelson Island, essentially the same relatives returned to their families of origin from other communities to help with production of subsistence herring. These relatives were from other Nelson Island villages, other communities in the region such as Chefornak, Hooper Bay, Eek, Akiachak, and Bethel; or from places outside the region including Juneau, Fairbanks, and Seward.

In terms of herring production facilities in Nelson Island villages, only minor changes occurred in proportions of racks used because fewer herring were harvested. Two sets of drying racks in Tununak were added, while three were dismantled due to their decrepit state. Several drying racks in Toksook Bay also were rebuilt or modified. New racks were built by two families in Toksook Bay, and one family in Nightmute replaced and old rack with the new one. . . .