ANIMIDA Task Order 004: Draft Annual Report for 2002

Annual Assessment of Subsistence Bowhead Whaling Near Cross Island

Prepared by:

Michael Galginaitis

Applied Sociocultural Research

608 West Fourth Avenue, Suite 31

Anchorage, Alaska 99501

for

LGL Alaska Research Associates Inc.

1101 East 76th Avenue, Suite B

Anchorage, Alaska 99518

Submitted to:

Minerals Management Service

Alaska OCS Region

United States Department of the Interior

March14, 2003

ANIMIDA Monitoring Indicator Matrix For Decision Making, Task Order 004:

Cross Island Whaling Documentation

MMS Issue

Addressed

Monitoring

Hypotheses

Methods Key Monitoring

Parameter*

Will OCS oil

development

activities at

Northstar

and/or

Liberty

result in

changes to

bowhead

whale

subsistence

hunting or

hunting

success at

Cross

Island?

H1: Subsistence

whaling activity and

behaviors in the

vicinity of Cross

Island are not

significantly changed

by offshore oil

developments at

Northstar and/or

Liberty.

H2: General

subsistence activities

on and near Cross

Island are not

significantly changed

by oil and gas

activities associated

with Northstar and/or

Liberty.

Systematic retrospective (2000, prior

years as possible) and

observational/interview data collection

(2001, 2002) on: (a) number of whales

taken, (b) GPS location of whale strikes

(direction and distance from Cross

Island), (c) number of crews,

composition of crews, total number of

crew, (d) periodic “census” of whaling

participants on Cross Island, (e) duration

of whaling (days of active whaling), (f)

timing of whaling, (g) length of trips and

area searched while whaling (possible

GPS track), (h) “catch per unit effort,"

(i) observations of whaling participants.

Systematic retrospective and

observational/interview data collection

on: (a) non-whaling subsistence

activities on and near Cross Island (who,

what, where, when), (b) observations of

local subsistence users. (Also weather

and industry activity observations).

Annual tabular

information on

harvest and

locations of

subsistence

resources taken

on or near Cross

Island. Annual

tabular summary

of people and

crews involved

in whaling and

other subsistence

activities.

Annual narrative

summary of CI

whaling and

associated

subsistence

activities.

Location Map -- Nuiqsut, Cross Island, and Vicinity

Aerial Photo of Cross Island -- from Carnahan 1979 (NSB)

Cross Island Cabins, 2002 (from the NW)

Slide of SW Point of Cross Island

Cross Island Cabins, 2002

The Oil/Whalers Agreement

Cross Island Infrastructure, 2002

Cross Island Services 1

Cross Island Services 2

Cross Island Services 3 - Other Construction

Ahkiviana Entryway Expansion

Cross Island Services 4 - Industry Logistical Support

Encounter With a Polar Bear

Summary of 2002 Whaling Season

Number of crews, days out whaling, days weather prevented whaling, number of whales taken

and so on -- NOT the detailed table that appears later, but a real summary

Locations of Whale Strikes and Whale Sightings, 2002

Sample Daily Boat Report Forms

Ahkiviana2 9/09 and Nukapigak2 9/13

ANIM IDA Task 4 Data Collection Form Use one form for each

vessel/day

Date: 09/09 /02 Crew: GPS Type: GPS-12

Vessel Type Length HP M otor # crew aboard

Ahkiviana2 f iberglass 18 130 Yamaha 5

Whaling today? Yes If not, why not?

Time departed: 6:38 AM Time returned: 6:35 PM

Waypoints or Coordinates noted

Lat/Long Way Point # Time Notes

N70 35 05.6 W147 39 08.5 023 8:02 AM Small whale near ice – chance for Napageak3

N70 29 33.4 W147 43 12.0 024 4:32 PM Larger whale (45 feet)

N70 32 19.2 W147 46 15.4 025 5:57 PM Larger whale (45 feet) – probably same as 024

N70 39 58 W147 21 46.4 Not marked 10:24 AM Saw many blows in this area

Describe the day 's activity (traveling, hours searching for whales)

Headed NW to where whales had been seen previous days. Saw whales at marked points. Northernmost point

where they turned around as other boats reported chasing whales – went to support them. They were seeing

M ANY blows in this area (N70 39 58 W147 21 46 .4 ), a lthough they did not mark a po int. Point s 24 and 25

probably t he same animal. Water mainly open, BUT ice around waypoint 23, where there were a number of

whales and Napageak3 had the best chance of the day . Boats had reasonably good chances at whale marked

24 /25 as well. Total t rip of about 74 miles.

Weather, sea sta te, ice- conditions

Time 5:20 AM 6:50 AM 7:45 AM 11:20 AM 2:53 PM 5:40 PM

Fog/Clear/Clouds Lit tle foggy Foggy

Wind Speed 6.5 5.2 5.2 12.9 8.4 6.2

Wind Direction ENE ENE ENE NE NE E

Temperature (F) 34.7 35.0 35.2 35.2 35.4 35.6

Rela tive Humidity 94% 92% 92% 91% 95% 94%

Barometric Pressure 29 .61 R 29 .61 R 29 .61 R 29 .58 R 29.58 r 29 .55 S

Water Conditions

Readings every 5 minutes available for 9 /07 2:10 PM – 9/17 8:57 AM (wit h some missing values) – file

“CI_Weather0917.xls”. Remote unit ceased functioning 9/17 for unknown reason.

Engaged in any other subsistence act iv it ies?

If yes, describe

GPS t rack co llected and downloaded? Yes GPS File Name: /2002_TRACK S/AA2_0909.M PS

Notes: Part ia l track – early part overwritten due to memory limita tions

ANIMIDA Task 4 Data Collection Form Use one form for each

vessel/day

Date: 09/13/02 Crew: GPS Type: GPS-12

Vessel Type Length HP Motor # crew aboard

Nukapigak2 fiberglass 20 225 Yamaha 5

Whaling today? Yes If not, why not?

Time departed: 12:52 PM Time returned: 9:37 PM

Waypoints or Coordinates noted

Lat/Long Way Point # Time Notes

N70 28 55.0 W147 10 43.6 033 5:07 PM Whale struck with darting gun

N70 29 16.7 W147 11 59.6 034 6:05 PM Whale struck again – maybe killed

N70 29 16.9 W147 12 00.3 035 6:07 PM Whale killed/tow site

Describe the day's act ivity (traveling, hours searching for whales)

Large gas tank empty. Weather marginal in the morning, better in the afternoon. Went scouting east , first to

check on area where whale sank yesterday (searched area a bit) . Also saw more whales, but did not chase as

many as Nukapigak2. Struck whale at 033, killed and started tow at 034/035. Total of 56 miles.

Weather, sea state, ice-condit ions

Time 6:15 AM 9:20 AM 10:26 AM 11:55 AM 12:49 PM 1:49 PM

Fog/Clear/Clouds

Wind Speed 16.4 11.7 10.4 8.3 6.1 5.3

Wind Direction E E E ESE SE E

Temperature (F) 37.2 38.8 39.5 44.4 43.1 42.2

Relative Humidity 93% 92% 90% 78% 81% 85%

Barometric Pressure 29.23 F 29.20 F 29.20 F 29.20 F 29.20 F 29.23 F

Water Condit ions Very choppy

Readings every 5 minutes available for 9/07 2:10 PM – 9/17 8:57 AM (with some missing values) – f ile

“CI_Weather0917.xls”. Remote unit ceased functioning 9/17 for unknown reason.

2:33 PM weather readings: 42.6 F, rel. hum. 83%, BP 29.23 F, wind 5.1 from the ESE

5:40 PM weather readings: 45.3 F, rel. hum. 79%, BP 29.23 F, wind 4.3 from the E

7:19 PM weather readings: 4.6 F, rel. hum. 77%, BP 29.26 F, wind 3.3 from the ENE

12:10 AM 9/14 weather readings: 40.4 F, rel. hum. 89%, BP 29.29 S, wind 5.2 from the N

Engaged in any other subsistence activities?

If yes, describe

GPS track collected and downloaded? Yes GPS File Name: /2002_TRACKS/NUK2_0913.MPS

/2002_TRACKS/NUK2_0913_M.MPS

Notes:

GPS Track, 9/09 -- Ahkiviana2

GPS Track, 9/13 -- Nukapigak2

Table 3: Summary of Boat Activity, Cross Island Whaling, 2002

Ahkiviana1 Ahkiviana2 Ahkiviana3 Napageak1 Napageak2 Napageak3 Nukapigak1 Nukapigak2 Nukapigak3

Date

Crew Trip Crew Trip Crew Trip Crew Trip Crew Trip Crew Trip Crew Trip Crew Trip Crew Trip

Notes

8/30/02 To CI/3 To CI/3 To CI/2 9 people on CI

8/31/02UNK UNK UNK

Still in Nuiqsut Still in Nuiqsut 9 people on CI

Scouting/small whales

9/01/02 UNK UNK UNK Try for CI/4 To CI 5/6 16 people on CI

9/02/02 UNK UNK UNK To CI/3 or 4 UNK 20 people on CI

9/03/02 Weather 20 people on CI

9/04/02

Still in Nuiqsut

Marginal Weather 20 people on CI

9/05/02To CI/4 To CI/4 To CI/3 Probable UNK 10:58 Probable UNK 10:42 UNK 10:30

30 people on CI

1 struck & lost, 1 taken

9/06/023 10:55 3 10:44

2 or

313:45 3 13:50 2 13:07 To NQT 4/3 Butcher

36 people on CI

2 NQT vessels in

9/07/02 6 4:40 5 4:37

Support Vessel

3 5:21 3 4:56 2 4:05 To CI/3 6 4:52 39 people on CI

9/08/02Weather

32 people on CI

2 ves out, 1 ves in, 2 ACS

9/09/02 4 12:07 5 11:57 Support 3 10:42 2 11:07 2 7:12 UNK 12:05 4 or 5 12:10 32 people on CI

9/10/022 1:52 4 5:15 Remodel 2 6:10 West Dock Trip Rest Day

31 people on CI

ACS barge

9/11/02 4 10:29 4 10:24 UNK 10:34 4 10:28

Disabled

5 10:28 4 10:22 31 people on CI

9/12/025 11:34 2 7:28 West Dock Trip 3 12:55 3 11:07 6/5 6:15

Still in

Nuiqsut

32 people on CI

1 whale struck & sunk

To CI/29/13/024 9:32 Disabled Weather

Disabled

UNK 8:12

Unreliable

4 8:44 5 8:452 4:11

34 people on CI

1 whale harvested

9/14/02Butcher West Dock Trip Butcher

37 people on CI

1 NQT vessel in

9/15/02

5 9:59 Weather 3 9:36 3 9:20 5 8:21 ToNQT/2

30 people on CI

whale struck & sunk

I NQT ves out, ACS

9/16/02 Weather Weather West Dock Trip Weather In NQT 29 people on CI

9/17/025 5:12

Disabled

West Dock Trip 3 5:00 3 5:00 5 4:58 To CI/230 people on CI

sunk whale found/towed

9/18/023 4:04 3 4:04 Weather 2 3:55 2 10:53

Unreliable

5 8:03 3 7:0730 people on CI

1st sunk whale found

9/19/02Butchering & waiting for 2

nd “stinker” whale Butcher/waiting

30 people on CI

sunk whale towed/ACS

9/20/02To NQT 3/5 To NQT 3/0 To NQT 3/4 Pack Pack To NQT/2 To NQT/9 To NQT/2

9 people on CI

most boats leave

9/21/02 Tow AA2 from

Oliktok Point

Towed by AA1

from OliktokIn NQT To NQT/? To NQT/? In NQT

Disabled

In NQT In NQT2 people on CI

(polar bear researchers)

Notes on Table 3

See text for discussion of other vessel activity, or qualifications on entries above. SHADED cells: boats potentially whaling

“UNK” indicates that the information is not available. It is not known if whaling took place on 9/01 or 9/02. GPS Track NOT Collected

“Weather” indicates that conditions were deemed by whalers to be too marginal for productive scouting. See discussion in text. GPS Track Collected

Travel days (not primarily devoted to scouting for whales) indicated by “to” or “From” with an indication of the number on board. A slash (“/”) indicates

uncertainty in this number or a change during the trip. For whale scouting days, “Crew” is the number of people that went out on a given boat. “Trip” is the

duration (in hours:minutes) for a daily trip. On days whales are harvested, see individual daily boat reports for duration of scouting versus duration of tow.

Some GPS tracks are partial, some “non-

whaling GPS tracks were collected (see

daily boat report forms)

Figure 1: Cross Island Population, 2002

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Date

Nu

mb

er

(Pe

op

le o

r B

oa

ts)

Cross Island Population Boats Out Whaling Persons in Boats

Ahkiviana Crew boats

Napageak Crew Boats

Nukapigak Crew Boats

Nukapigaks departing Nuiqsut (9/01), Second whale (9/13),

Third whale (9/17), 4th whale towed by ACS (9/19)

Hauling Up Whales1 - 9/17/02

Hauling Up Whales2

Napageak Crew - 9/17/02

Nukapigak Crew - 9/19/02

Butchering 9/13, 9/17, 9/19

9/13 9/17

9/19 9/19

Mechanical Aids to Butchering

Processing Baleen

Crew Shares

Packing Muktuk and Meat for Transport

Preparing to depart Cross Island (9/20)

Some Cross Island Sights

1st Whale as of 9/06 Bonepile

Butchering

Napageak Crew Flag

Nukapigak Crew Flag (Nukapigak2)