Subsistence Study for the North Aleutian Basin

This document serves as the final report for the North Aleutian Basin Subsistence Study on the
people and subsistence activitiesin the villages around the proposed North Aleutian Basin
offshore oil and gas lease sale. The study region encompasses four villages, two Alaska Native
sociocultural groups, hundreds of miles of coastline, and numerous species of wild birds, fish,
and large and small game. This study investigates the role of subsistence and commercial
harvests across the community and at household levels, and explores characteristics of harvesters
and their harvesting behavior, where they harvest, when, what species, how much, and access to
commercial opportunities. All of these data are used to describe household networks of food
distribution, sharing and exchange, and the range of variation in subsistence production and
distribution. These data are used to describe and characterize how, where, and why the people of
Akutan, False Pass, Nelson Lagoon, and Port Heiden use the landscape the way they do. These
data are then used to identify aspects of the communities that could be vulnerable to oil and gas
exploration and development. This report also contains a description of the historical, cultural,
political, and economic aspects of each community, which provides a foundation for the survey
and its analyses