ALASKA NATIVES COMMISSION
JOINT FEDERAL-STATE COMMISSION
ON
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS AFFECTING
ALASKA NATIVES
4000 Old Seward Highway, Suite 100
Anchorage,
Alaska 99503
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Witness List | PDF
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FATHER ELLIOTT: We appreciate your taking the time to do so. Yes, sir.
TESTIMONY OF THEODORE M. KRIEG
Hello. My name is Ted Krieg. And I live in Dillingham.
FATHER ELLIOTT: Would you spell your last
name?
MR. KRIEG: K-r-i-e-g. I was recently hired as the ANILCA subsistence specialist for the Bristol Bay Native Association, And in that position, since the beginning of February I have traveled to the villages of Perryville, Ivanof Bay, Chignik Lake, Chignik Bay, Chignik Lagoon, Pilot Point, Egegik, and King Salmon.
You know, I guess I -- I'm not a Native, not a Native Alaskan. But I have lived here since 1985. And I guess I -- you know, I don't feel like that I can speak with the passion and the knowledge that some of the local people can speak with, and some of the testimony that I've already heard here. And I guess I basically wanted to echo some of their concerns. And the villages I've been to, I've tried to have -- I've talked to either groups of people or, you know, at least numerous individuals. And basically, the -- many of the things that I've heard here already were, you know, I heard that with a lot of passion.
You know, the redfish and -- in Katmai and the migratory bird treaty which makes it illegal to spring hunt ducks and geese, migratory birds, you know, those types of things put the people in the villages in the position where they're made out to be a criminal if they do that activity. Or, you know, maybe that's the -- it's illegal, and they feel that, and if they go out there, you know, they don't feel good about what they're doing. It's something they've always done, and now all of a sudden it's not supposed to be done.
In fact, I heard one man tell me that, you know, he'd like to take his son out there and teach him how to do it, but yet if he goes out there, he's put in the position where he -- somebody may come along and actually attempt to arrest him. And you know, here he would have his son there, and it's something that it's just -- you know, that they've always done, and he feels it's important for his family to know.
Along that same line, you know, subsistence; as I understand it, is supposed to take priority over all other types of hunting and fishing. And as -- well, that just doesn't seem to be the case. You know, like you heard testimony here today already about, you know, the sport hunting guides coming in. And the regulations seem to be set up to meet their needs more than subsistence. And then there's a conflict. And then also, the confusion of the rules that come about because of these conflicting -- oh, the conflicting purpose, you know, of the law, I guess, as -- affecting subsistence and also sport hunting.
You know, I heard many, many conflicts or not necessarily open conflicts, but people had problems with what they saw going on with sport hunting. Basically they call it headhunting because that's -- you know, people want the head and they want to display it. And then they see the -- that the meat isn't being used and they also say that the hunt is normally set up for the rutting season, and the meat just isn't suitable for eating at that time.
I've also, you know, heard a lot during this testimony that, you know, subsistence, it's supposed to be -- well, for it to have meaning, it has to be stated in economic terms. And, you know, it's -- well, maybe I should start out by saying, one of the requirements of the way it's set up in the various laws between state and federal -- the federal government right now is that it has to be proved that a village and a group of individuals has customary and traditional use. You know, and that, customary and traditional use has nothing to do in my eyes with, you know, economic -- economics.
So, you know, that seems to be kind of a contradiction of terms. And I guess I'll close there, but I do have a question about the transcripts of these tapes. Are they made available to the public, or what normally happens with this information?
MR. IRWIN: Okay. We get a full transcription and individual sets are sent to each of our Commissioners. That -- first of all. We keep the originals in our office in Anchorage and we invite people to come in, if they can get in or -- and want to, they can come in and look at it. We tend -- unless somebody knows specifically which testimony they're interested in, we would rather you give us a call, write us a letter and say, I'd like the transcripts from the second day at Dillingham, so and so, that type of thing, simply because we've -- without counting our last two hearings before the -- Barrow last week and Dillingham this week, we have over 2,000 pages of it. And it just -- somebody just says we want a --
MR. KRIEG: Mm-hm (affirmative).
MR. IRWIN: -- transcript, that would mean that we'd have to copy off 2,000 pages. So if you could get a little more specific about what you'd like, we'd be more than happy to get that to you.
MR. KRIEG: Okay. How about like names of individuals or....
MR. IRWIN: Huh?
MR. KRIEG: If I gave you names --
MR. IRWIN: If you have --
MR. KRIEG: -- testimony that I was interested in.
MR. IRWIN: Yeah, that you would like to see. Now, in the long term, this will all go actually to the Library of Congress, is where it'll be archived, and in its various forms. We have it on tape, we have it on transcript, we will have various reports and catalogs that come out of it. There's a whole number of different things and uses that we plan on having for it in the long run.
MR. KRIEG: Mm-hm (affirmative).
MR. IRWIN: But for now, if you're interested in hearing what other people had to say or having a set of particular testimony yourself, if you could just give us the specific request, we can get that to you,
MR. KRIEG: Okay. Because I just want to say too that the, you know, some of the -- I heard a few of the elders today that spoke and, you know, that's very valuable information and --
MR. IRWIN: Yeah, it is valuable information.
MR. KRIEG: -- you know, it should be preserved --
MR. IRWIN: Yeah.
MR. KRIEG: -- and it -- and not only just preserved, but, you know, it should be taken with, you know, with heart so....
FATHER ELLIOTT: That's our intent.
MR. KRIEG: Good.
FATHER ELLIOTT: Thank you very much.
MR. KRIEG: Thanks. Yeah, thank you.
FATHER ELLIOTT: Off record at 12 minutes after 12.
THE REPORTER: Off record.
(Hearing adjourned at 12:13 p.m.)
*** END OF PROCEEDINGS ***
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