Federal Subsistence Board Signs Off On Northwest Alaska Subsistence Caribou Harvest Limit Reduction

After the State of Alaska earlier this year announced a harvest limit reduction for subsistence caribou hunters in Northwest Alaska, the Federal Subsistence Board also determined that conclusion this week. Here’s more from the Anchorage Daily News:

Subsistence hunters in Northwest Alaska and several North Slope communities are now allowed to hunt only 15 caribou a year – a significant decrease from five animals a day. Non-local hunters are prohibited from hunting caribou in the Northwest Arctic until the herd sufficiently rebounds.

To preserve the declining Western Arctic Caribou Herd, the Federal Subsistence Board during the Wildlife Regulatory Meeting this week reduced the hunting of the herd from five animals a day to 15 a year, with only one of which can be a cow. That closure is in effect in the Northwest Arctic and the western part of the North Slope. Regulators also voted to close caribou hunt in the Northwest Arctic to non-federally qualified subsistence users to reduce pressure on the herd.

The reason for the harvest reduction is the continued decline of the herd, which dropped by another 7% this year, and the low survival rate of adult cows.