Christy Ruby stood by a table filled with blue, purple and red sea otter furs in the Ketchikan studio. They are her most popular dyed sea otter. In 2017, the artist has been using dyed fur to create her traditional handmade crafts. Her products are available on the internet and at craft fairs.
“I only use them sparingly since it’s expensive, costing two or triple the amount to dye them the same hue,” she said.
The vibrant hues create her designs distinctive. She is grateful for the ability to hunt for the animals, but she is worried that attempts to improve the management of sea otter populations could hurt her business as well as traditional crafts.
Sea otters are a crucial species, securing crucial kelp beds. However, they also eat crab and clams which form lucrative fishing industries. They are protected under federal law and only specific Alaska Native people can hunt the otters.
Southeast’s otters were forced to near-extinction due to the fur trade during the beginning of the 20th century. However, their numbers have increased dramatically after they were brought back into the wild in the mid-1960s. As the number of otters has increased, so has the need to relax the federal regulations that protect the otters. Some hunters and artists worried.
To be precise the scientists aren’t convinced that otters are in overpopulation within Southeast Alaska. The current population is over 25,000 scattered across the panhandle. A research study found that the ecosystems of the region could be able to support three times the number. But this hasn’t stopped attempts to decrease their numbers.
In Ketchikan’s Borough Assembly recently took the subject to legislators from Washington, D.C., seeking control over the federally-managed species be handed over to state officials, and for the current rules to be changed. Petersburg’s Assembly called for greater harvests in the year 2018. The former Congressman Don Young attempted to facilitate the sell hides that are intact.
The advocates say that an increase in the hunt for sea otter could help increase the value of shellfish fishing.
However, Ruby claims that these changes will not solve the issue — at the very least, at least not without putting her existing work in danger. Ruby says that the state’s control over hunting for otter may result in additional red tape, which could prevent her from pursuing her art.
She’s been frustrated over the years with the way it’s written. Marine Mammal Protection Act -the law that governs the way sea otter populations are managed and protected. She along with nearly 2 dozen other hunters have met representatives from the federal government in the early part of 2010 to clear up ambiguities within the federal law. Ruby says she’s worried that the state’s management could introduce new obstacles.
“The state will receive funding as well as areas that will be closed off to everyone. Natives will not be allowed to hunt in that area due to a shortage of otter populations there. That’s because, as you’ve guessed it’s impossible to find an otter- they are always moving,” Ruby said.
She’s also concerned about allowing hunters from outside the tribe to kill sea Otters. It’s illegal under 1972’s Marine Mammal Protection Act. If the rules are relaxed Ruby stated that she believes hunters will take over markets with hides, and decrease the value of traditional work she produces.
“They’ll make them into coats and everything else they’d like to make and our work will disappear,” she said. “Because we aren’t able to pay the amount for what hunters be able to get for their hide.”
There’s also a fear of the backlash that could result if sea otter pelts are made into the most traded commodity in commercial trade She’s worried this could lead to demands for the hunting industry to be totally banned.
Will Ware, a Lingit artist who lives in Petersburg Also, he is against opening up hunts for sea otters to non-Natives. He says there are more effective solutions that start by implementing that of the Marine Mammal Protection Act itself.
The law obliges hunters to be at minimum one-fourth coastal Alaska Native by blood quantum. The lawmaker says he would like to permit any tribe members to hunt. For instance in Ketchikan the tribe would permit any person who is enrolled in the Ketchikan Indian Community to hunt sea Otters.
“I believe that you will find a lot more Otters being harvested each the year.” Ware said. “That is a low-hanging fruit that could immediately change the landscape.”
Ware believes that the rules should be amended to permit the export of handicrafts and hides tanned to Canada. The latter is not permitted by federal law. He added that Lingit along with Haida individuals have been shipping products through this route for a long time.
“If we could see our congressional delegation begin working with our counterparts from Canada as they were the traditional trade routes for the Lingit along with the Haida inhabitants,” that would be ideal, Ware said.
Jeremiah James, an artist who is based in Yakutat and also has issues with the law of marketing. Certain of his works have been bought for about $1,000, yet he is unable to access a larger market.
“And it’s an entirely different thing to sell it to one another,” James said. “But we’re simply transferring money back and forth and that’s not the way to make wealth.”
He also believes that non-Natives shouldn’t be permitted to kill sea or otter. He suggested that looser regulations could permit businesses to make it easier for Alaska Native artists.
“When people speak about opening it to make it more accessible, the only thing I can see is yet another thing being taken away from my family,” he said.
However, Ware The Petersburg artist, said that he feels for crabbers and divers who claim that increased populations of otter are negative for fishing. Ware said he doesn’t intend to pit fishermen, Native art and hunters against one another.
“We feel the anger,” he said. “Alaska Natives rely on the crab and shrimp as subsistence food, as well as our traditional and customary food for millennia. We don’t want the shrimp or crab disappear as much as anyone else.”
In her brightly lit studio set among fur-draped mannequins as well as antique sewing tools, Ruby, the Ketchikan artist, said she agreed. She believes the answer is in more aggressive support for Native hunter groups, and possibly there is more communication with fishermen and crabbers on how they’re seeing the sea otters’ movements.
“It’s an easy decision when it comes down to actually creating something,” she said. “But we don’t always get the complete cooperation of everyone.”
The most important thing she said is that those who are worried about the impact of otter populations must concentrate their efforts on expanding the capabilities of craftspeople and hunters. She suggested that a Southeast Alaska tannery, for example, which would enable the processing of more hides, and reduce significant shipping costs.
“There’s no tannery , or top-quality tannery,” she said. “We have some tanneries, however, they don’t offer the high-quality products that consumers would like to utilize.”
She also said that crabbers, hunters and divers have the same goals — and they must work together.
