CONTEMPORARY USE OF BELUGA IN COOK INLET

Contemporary Hunters of Cook Inlet Beluga

During the most recent decade, Cook Inlet beluga continue to be taken for subsistence uses. It is convenient to speak of two general groups of hunters taking beluga in the Cook Inlet area. One group of hunters resides year-round in the Cook Inlet area (including Anchorage, Matanuska-Susitna area, Kenai area, and Tyonek) while the other group of hunters resides in Alaskan communities outside the Cook Inlet area ( including Kotzebue Sound, Norton Sound, Seward Peninsula, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Bristol Bay, and Barrow).

The exact number of local and non-local beluga hunters in Cook Inlet is difficult to determine for several reasons. Hunters do not self-report to any agency or non-governmental organization; there are no reporting requiements for hunting beluga. Hunters are organized into many small, independent hunting groups which may see each other occasionally out in Cook Inlet, but who have no regular dealings with one another.

Currently, hunters are not formally organized into a larger network of hunters. At present, the entire set of hunters is not known to any single person. Unlike a small village where the hunting activities of families are visible and publicly known, the large, sprawling area of greater Anchorage affords anonymity to hunters who desire privacy. Some beluga hunters, in fact, seek privacy, so their hunting activities do not offend southcentral residents from other cultural traditions where marine mammals are not part of the family's traditional diet. These hunters prefer not to draw attention to themselves. In addition, there is fluidity to the Cook Inlet beluga hunting pattern. The set of people hunting in Cook Inlet shifts over time. . . The majority of local hunters lives in Anchorage. Other local hunters reside in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, on the Kenai Peninsula, and in Tyonek. Several of the local hunters were former residents of the Coper River Basin. Most of the older hunters had learned to hunt beluga in their community of origin. At some point in their lives, they had moved to the Anchorage area, usually for paid employment. By contrast, some middle-aged hunters had lived in southcentral Alaska most of their lives. These hunters learned to harvest beluga from other local hunters, or learned when they periodically visited relatives in their family's community of origin. The children of local hunters who have grown up in the southcentral area have learned to hunt beluga from families and friends in Cook Inlet. In this manner, the local pattern of use was being taught to children.

Hunters from Tyonek, Knik, and Eklutna are a somewhat different case. The upper Inlet Dena'ina have a long history of hunting Cook Inlet beluga. The intensity of beluga hunting by Dena'ina families at Tyonek has varied over time. . . .

Beluga Hunting Patterns and Methods in Cook Inlet

Beluga hunting in Cook Inlet can occur almost year-round, except for three or four months of cold or inclement weather. There is little documentation of the precise movements of Cook Inlet beluga. In winter, they occupy ice-free areas and, as noted above, they can be found among the ice flows in certain areas, particularly where an abundant supply of food is found. They are commonly seen in Kachemak Bay. Tyonek residents report that beluga arrive near Tyonek during early May (Fall, Foster, and Stanek 1984:166). They remain in upper Cook Inlet throughout summer and fall, and return to lower Cook Inlet during November. While in the upper inlet, beluga feed on salmon, hooligan, and tomcod which are moving into freshwater drainages to spawn.

Most beluga hunting in Cook Inlet occurs between mid April and mid October and takes place in the upper inlet from Beluga River to Anchorage. Favorite hunting locations include the Beluga, Theodore, and Susitna River mouths where beluga are readily found throughout the spring, summer and early fall months. During late fall and early spring, some hunters travel to Kachemak Bay to hunt beluga, as well as harbor seal and sea lion.

The beluga and seal hunting areas used by Tyonek residents extend from the mouth of the Susitna River along the western shoreline of Cook Inlet to Tuxedni Bay. Most hunting by Tyonek residents is around the Beluga and Theodore Rivers, and along the western side of the inlet between the Susitna River and Granite Point (Fall, Foster, and Stanek 1984:168-169).

During the recent decade, Tyonek residents used the following methods to hunt beluga. Beluga were hunted from boats lying in wait along riverbanks (see Fall, Foster, and Stanek 1984:168-169). When beluga entered the river, they were shot with high-powered rifles. When a whale was struck, hunters quickly followed to kill it. The whale was then gaffed or tied by a rope about the tail or the jaw. The whale was taken to shore for butchering, or tied to the side of the boat and towed back to the community.

Other beluga hunters in Cook Inlet used methods similar to those used by Tyonek hunters with a few additional features. Their hunting implements included high-caliber rifles for making the initial strike, harpoons commonly about eight feet long, consisting of a wooden handle, a steel shank foreshaft onto which a brass toggle point was attached with a length of line, and a buoy for securing to a struck beluga. Some hunters used a different harpoon with a fixed point for making the final kill.

Hunting locations included river channels and mudflats; the deep water of the open inlet; and the inlet shoreline. Most commonly, hunters chose to hunt beluga in river channels and mudflats where animals were most concentrated, and where there were fewer escape routes. In a river channel or mudflat, hunters pursued beluga, approaching close enough to shoot. A second method used in river channels or mudflats was for hunters to wait, sitting in their boats anchored along a river channel or standing on the riverbank. Beluga were shot when they passed close by the boat or riverbank. Hunting in deep water areas required pursuing beluga by boat to approach close enough for a rifle shot. Once a shot struck, the beluga was followed until the hunter either could take other shots or use a harpoon to attach a buoy. After the floats were attached, the whale was followed with the skiff and eventually killed. Some hunters in Cook Inlet simply shot at beluga, using no harpoons or floats. A few hunters have been observed using a kayak at the Susitna River.

Depending on the location of the hunt and the amount of time to be spent, hunters might overnight while on a hunt. Some hunting parties used tents at temporary camps; others used hunting cabins; while others spent the night in boats. One well-established beluga camp is located inside the mouth of the Susitna River. It is equipped with drying racks and facilities for wall tents.

Occasionally, a dead or wounded beluga washes up on Cook Inlet beaches which are accessible to people. If the skin and blubber of these animals are in good condition, they are sometimes salvaged. Reports of the salvage of beached whales appear periodically in southcentral newspapers including the salvage of a beached whale near Kenai City in the early 1980s and a beluga in 1991 (Anchorage Daily News:1991). Tyonek residents sometimes find beached beluga on their shores and attempt to salvage edible parts. . . .

Use of Beluga Products and Patterns of Exchange

The skin and fat are the usual items obtained from beluga harvested in Cook Inlet. They are used to produce highly valued subsistence products such as boiled skin with fat and processed beluga oil. Meat and internal organs such as heart and liver are other items obtained from animals more occasionally. Portions of the meat, if used, are striped and dried for about two weeks. The dried strips are cut into convenient lengths and stored, either frozen, unfrozen in a cool dry place, or unfrozen in a container of beluga oil. Some beluga are flensed from the skin, fat, and the meat; skeleton and internal organs are left, commonly to wash back into Cook Inlet. In addition to the meat, skin, and internal organs used for food, teeth and vertebrae are occasionally kept for hand-crafted items such as masks and jewelry.

In Tyonek, skin, fat, and oil were all used. Beluga meat was roasted, boiled, and ground into burger. The blubber was rendered into oil, while strips of skin and fat were boiled. (Fall, Foster, and Stanek 1984:172).

There was a regular order in which beluga were butchered by Tyonek residents, and certain knowledgeable individuals directed the processing activity. The function of beluga leaders during the 1980s is consistent with historic descriptions of beluga leaders among the Dena'ina (Bidyaka'a, a historic figure in Upper Cook Inlet, was "chief of beluga killing," according to Pete 1980:6; 1987:65). A beluga harvested in Tyonek in 1983 was butchered in the following way:

First the flippers and tail were removed and discarded. The skin and blubber were removed by making parallel cuts the length of the carcass about 16 inches apart. As these strips of blubber were flensed from the animal they were cut into blocks approximately 24 inches in length. After the blubber was removed exposing the flesh, the backstraps were cut from the backbone. The ribs with the meant remaining on them were then separated from the backbone, exposing the internal organs. The liver, heart, and inner tenderloins were then removed. The remaining skeleton and internal organs were either used for dog food or returned to the inlet. The blubber and meat were cut into smaller portions and shared throughout the village. [Fall, Foster, and Stanek 1984170-172].

When a beluga was processed at Tyonek, everyone in the community was notified. The elders were provided for first, then everyone was allowed to take what they needed, and portions were delivered throughout the community. This pattern of sharing falls within the type of sharing called "generalized redistribution" in the subsistence literature, in that some products are made available to all community members, regardless of kinship ties to the hunter.

Hunters from communities other than Tyonek typically butcher beluga on beaches near the kill sites. This process is illustrated by the following case example which occurred in May 1988. That year, when the king salmon were running strong, a beluga hunter living in Anchorage and his two adult sons made a trip to hunt beluga between the Susitna and Beluga Rivers. The hunting group killed one whale near the Beluga River. The beluga was pulled ashore on a nearby, hard-packed beach to keep the skin and fat relatively free of mud, thereby, reducing the amount of additional cleaning later at home. The skin was cut into large chunks, placed into washtubs, and covered. Most of the meat was removed and also placed into tubs. The group camped overnight on the beach and caught the flood tide back to Anchorage the next morning. The carcass of the whale was left at the kill site.

Back in town, the skiff was met by several relatives and friends. The three adult members of the hunting party each received equal portions of skin and fat, and meat. Each, in turn, gave portions to other relatives, and some skin and fat was sold to a friend. Two relatives received skin and fat in exchange for helping pay for gasoline and ammunition used on the hunt. Another relative received skin, fat and meat for the favor of helping unload the skiffs and cleaning equipment. The hunting leader and his sons later sent 100 pounds to relatives in Kotzebue. The leader pointed out that he usually hunts with one or two other boats or crews. In that case, other boats get equal portions of the kill.

As shown by the case above, for hunters living in southcentral communities other than Tyonek, beluga products are usually not distributed through "generalized redistribution." Instead, beluga products are distributed through several types of transactions. First, adult hunting partners from different households commonly receive initial shares from the hunt. The products are then commonly shared by each individual with relatives in his or her kinship network. Some beluga products also are given by the hunter to friends who are known to use them, commonly through some reciprocal exchange transactions involving favors, bartered goods, or money. In this way, beluga products from a single whale may circulate widely through networks of kin and friends, linking families in and outside of the southcentral area.

Since the availability of regular air transportation, marine mammals products are known to flow among families in Anchorage and many other parts of the state. Beluga products are among the items shared. Normally, subsistence food items flow from families in rural villages to relatives in urban areas who are less able to procure them. In the case of beluga, some products travel in the other direction, from hunters in the Cook Inlet area to family and friends in villages elsewhere in the state. . . .