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Native Pathways to Education
Alaska Native Cultural Resources
Indigenous Knowledge Systems
Indigenous Education Worldwide
 

Yup'ik RavenMarshall Cultural Atlas

This collection of student work is from Frank Keim's classes. He has wanted to share these works for others to use as an example of Culturally-based curriculum and documentation. These documents have been OCR-scanned. These are available for educational use only.

 

 

 

 

Cii

The Sheefish in Alaska
(Stenodus Ieucichthyus nelma)
(Cii)

The Sheefish was called inconnu (unknown fish) by the early French explorers, and is found only in arctic and subarctic North America and Siberia. A few are found in the smaller rivers of Norton Sound. It is incredibly abundant at times and nonexistent in the same waters a short time later. Its tremendous size, fighting ability and fine eating qualities make the sheefish one of the most unique trophy fish in North America.

The Sheefish is a member of the whitefish family but is distinguishable from the more common whitefish by its strong extended lower jaw. The color is silvery with a darker color on the dorsal fin. It has a purple sheen when it is taken from the water. The males and females are similar but the females live longer and are a larger size. Sheefish in the Selawik-Kobuk area weigh up to sixty pounds while Interior Alaska fish reach twenty pounds.

Sheefish in Alaska have been separated into five major populations. Upstream migration from the wintering grounds begins during breakup. The migration ranges from a few weeks in the upper Yukon to over four months in the lower Yukon River where sheefish travel one thousand miles upstream to spawn in the Alatna River. A twelve pound spawning female may contain one hundred thousand eggs while a fifty pound female contains up to four hundred thousand eggs. Sheefish do not dig nests for the eggs. The female spawns at the surface of the water with the male swimming underneath fertilizing the eggs. The fertilized eggs then fall to the bottom of the stream in the gravel. Sheefish do not die after spawning and live to spawn again. At six months the eggs start to hatch. When the eggs become fry they travel downstream during the spring and start to feed on plankton. Their diet changes to insect larvae and small fish, and by the second year of life they feed almost entirely on fish. Males mature from age five to nine and females from age seven to eleven. Adults eat any fish available, such as ciscoes, salmon smolts, pike, smelt and other whitefish.

Sheefish is a subsistence food for Natives and their dogs. They can be taken at the mouth of clear water streams of the Yukon River throughout the summer. The best fishing time on the Yukon is the last two weeks of September, and on the Kuskokwim in July.

Tatiana Sergie

 

King Or Chinook salmon

- Lois Moore

Coho or Silver Salmon

- Jonathan Boots

The Chum Salmon

- Willie Paul Fitka

Pink or Humpback Salmon

- Tatiana Sergie

Sockeye or Red Salmon

- Jack George

Burbot

- Lois Moore

Northern Pike

- Mary June Tinker

The Sheefish in Alaska

- Tatiana Sergie

Whitefish

- Jackie Paul George

Pacific Herring

- Cheryl Hunter

The Arctic Grayling

- Rose Lynn Fitka

The Dungeness Crab

- Rose Lynn Fitka

Rainbow Trout

- Willie Paul Fitka

Dolly Varden

- Cheryl Hunter

The Arctic Char

- Charlotte Alstrom

Lake Trout

- Jonathan Boots

The King Crab

- Charlotte Alstrom

 

Fishy Research Student Whoppers Parent Whoppers Elder Whoppers
Staff Whoppers Adventures Under the Sea Global Warming The Crystal Ball--Imagining how it will be

 

Christmastime Tales
Stories real and imaginary about Christmas, Slavik, and the New Year
Winter, 1996
Christmastime Tales II
Stories about Christmas, Slavik, and the New Year
Winter, 1998
Christmastime Tales III
Stories about Christmas, Slavik, and the New Year
Winter, 2000
Summer Time Tails 1992 Summertime Tails II 1993 Summertime Tails III
Summertime Tails IV Fall, 1995 Summertime Tails V Fall, 1996 Summertime Tails VI Fall, 1997
Summertime Tails VII Fall, 1999 Signs of the Times November 1996 Creative Stories From Creative Imaginations
Mustang Mind Manglers - Stories of the Far Out, the Frightening and the Fantastic 1993 Yupik Gourmet - A Book of Recipes  
M&M Monthly    
Happy Moose Hunting! September Edition 1997 Happy Easter! March/April 1998 Merry Christmas December Edition 1997
Happy Valentine’s Day! February Edition 1998 Happy Easter! March/April Edition 2000 Happy Thanksgiving Nov. Edition, 1997
Happy Halloween October 1997 Edition Edible and Useful Plants of Scammon Bay Edible Plants of Hooper Bay 1981
The Flowers of Scammon Bay Alaska Poems of Hooper Bay Scammon Bay (Upward Bound Students)
Family Trees and the Buzzy Lord It takes a Village - A guide for parents May 1997 People in Our Community
Buildings and Personalities of Marshall Marshall Village PROFILE Qigeckalleq Pellullermeng ‘A Glimpse of the Past’
Raven’s Stories Spring 1995 Bird Stories from Scammon Bay The Sea Around Us
Ellamyua - The Great Weather - Stories about the Weather Spring 1996 Moose Fire - Stories and Poems about Moose November, 1998 Bears Bees and Bald Eagles Winter 1992-1993
Fish Fire and Water - Stories about fish, global warming and the future November, 1997 Wolf Fire - Stories and Poems about Wolves Bear Fire - Stories and Poems about Bears Spring, 1992

 

 
 

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Last modified August 22, 2006