Athapaskan First Nations of the Yukon and Kuskokwim River basins, Koyukon, Ingalik and Southwest Alaskan Yupik are known to have eaten Alaska blackfish [1-4].

The Koyukon and Ingalik caught Alaska blackfish in winter, the latter also harvested the fish in spring and fall [1, 2]. The Koyukon are known to have used inverted traps placed in lakes [1]. In winter, the Ingalik placed fish traps below the ice at the end of a weir or in a pothole in the ice where the fish came to respire. They visited the traps at the end of weirs daily and moved them to new locations to optimize the catch. In spring, they set them in tiny channels of lake outlets [2]. Yupik used gill nets for Alaska black fish in tundra lakes near the lower Kuskokwim [3].

Yupik of Southwestern Alaska are also known to eat Alaska blackfish. They are reported to have harvested them in spring and fall by placing traps made of willow roots in the water [5].

References

1.         McFadyen Clark A: Koyukon. In: Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 6: Subarctic. edn. Edited by Helm J. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution; 1981: 582-590.

2.         Snow JH: Ingalik. In: Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 6: Subarctic. edn. Edited by Helm J. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution; 1981: 602-607.

3.         Vanstone JW: Mainland Southwest Alaskan Eskimo. In: Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 5: Arctic. edn. Edited by Damas D. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.; 1984: 225-234.

4.         Vanstone JW: Athapaskan Adaptations: Hunters and Fishermen of the Subarctic Forests. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company; 1974.

5.         Wadsworth G: The Arctic Eskimo: I. The Eskimos and their Origins. In: The Diet and Health of Isolated Populations. edn. Boca: CRC Press; 1984: 83-95.