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Alaska Wildlife In Trouble?

Posted on 5/15/14 at 7:27 am
Posted by CoastieGM
Member since Aug 2012
3185 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 7:27 am
First, I see people proudly keeping small halibut that we'd have laughed at 25 years ago (since so few large ones are caught these days)....

I see that it's taking multiple days to limit (if you can limit) on salmon for dipnetting (it used to only take no more than a few hours in one day at most).....

Then the King Salmon fishery was closed after the 1st day since there wasn't enough entering the rivers to repopulate.....

My neighbor's caribou hunt was cancelled last fall due to population issues...

now this story?

---------------------------------

No Hunting on North Slope as Moose Numbers Plummet

State wildlife officials have closed nearly all moose hunting north of the Brooks Range because of what they call a drastic decline in the population.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports all moose hunting is closed to non-residents because of a decline of 50 percent to 75 percent since 2011. The only resident hunt will take place in late summer.

Moose surveys conducted last month found the population on the western North Slope declined by 50 percent since 2011. The eastern North Slope decline was 75 percent.

Officials said poor nutrition because of last year's late spring and poor summer conditions are likely to blame. There were few 10-month calves seen, meaning most born last year died. Officials say wolves preying on weakened moose might also be a factor.

---------------------------------

WTF?
Posted by Fusaichi Pegasus
Meh He Co
Member since Oct 2010
14563 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 7:34 am to
Thanks for nothing ROGER
Posted by jimjackandjose
Member since Jun 2011
6496 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 7:38 am to
I thought we watched a video about how the wolves have saved yellowstone wildlife. Now they are preying on meese!
Posted by eng08
Member since Jan 2013
5997 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 8:30 am to
Cold winter?
Posted by 4X4DEMON
NWLA
Member since Dec 2007
11957 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 8:41 am to
quote:

meese!
Posted by DonChowder
Sonoma County
Member since Dec 2012
9249 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 8:49 am to
That all sounds eerily like the CA wiildlife drop offs. Good news is that (at least for salmon)the numbers have jumped back up big time.


btw - what is that in your avi? Been meaning to ask that for a while now.
Posted by Galactic Inquisitor
An Incredibly Distant Star
Member since Dec 2013
15169 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 8:58 am to
My ex had a really good friend who worked at one of the big chum salmon hatcheries in BC. We went and visited her at the hatchery and she gave me the personal tour. Hearing them talk about the salmon populations was kind of alarming. The land mammal issue seems to be more incidental whereas the salmon issues are almost systemic.
Posted by RogerTheShrubber
Juneau, AK
Member since Jan 2009
259875 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 9:53 am to
King salmon numbers are back up in Southeast. I suspect lower numbers of some species can be attributed to subsistence hiring/fishing due to population growing. This happened on Baffin Island in Canada a few years ago. Subsistence is the least monitored activity and the sportsman is the odd man out
Posted by RogerTheShrubber
Juneau, AK
Member since Jan 2009
259875 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 10:56 am to
quote:

Hearing them talk about the salmon populations was kind of alarming. The land mammal issue seems to be more incidental whereas the salmon issues are almost systemic


Salmon runs were almost at historic highs in S.E. last year. We're not having wildlife issues either. There's probably a number of factors contributing to populations dwindling in the rest of the state, and I suspect it has to do with the human population increasing.

I'll never go fishing on the Kenai again. It's ridiculous. Anywhere within 100 miles of Anchorage is about the same.
Posted by CoastieGM
Member since Aug 2012
3185 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 11:02 am to
quote:

btw - what is that in your avi? Been meaning to ask that for a while now.
Crossed cannons. Rating Badge for a Gunner's Mate. Dates back to 1797.

God is good,
God is great,
Even God was a Gunner's Mate!
Posted by RogerTheShrubber
Juneau, AK
Member since Jan 2009
259875 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 11:18 am to
quote:

I thought we watched a video about how the wolves have saved yellowstone wildlife. Now they are preying on meese!



Wolves aren't the problem. Biologists have been thinning bears in the NW arctic, they are more likely part of the problem. The wolf population has actually dwindled which usually happens as the populations they feed on drop.
Posted by jimjackandjose
Member since Jun 2011
6496 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 11:50 am to
I was trolling... Alaskan wolf population isnt anything new that would cause drastic population decrease
Posted by CoastieGM
Member since Aug 2012
3185 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 11:54 am to
quote:

I'll never go fishing on the Kenai again. It's ridiculous. Anywhere within 100 miles of Anchorage is about the same.

Insane is more like it. A million times more crowded than the lower 48.

We quickly learned we'll only go dipnetting, fish out of someone's boat, go clamming, or something else the tourists haven't overrun.
Posted by RogerTheShrubber
Juneau, AK
Member since Jan 2009
259875 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 11:55 am to
quote:


Insane is more like it. A million times more crowded than the lower 48.


Yep. Combat fishing. It's nothing like that in S.E. Benefit to being off the road system.
Posted by Galactic Inquisitor
An Incredibly Distant Star
Member since Dec 2013
15169 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 5:24 pm to
quote:

Salmon runs were almost at historic highs in S.E. last year


This was around 8 years ago that I last went up there. I also learned that picking up a rock and tossing it into the woods can cause a group of adults to duck and cover or run depending on their makeup. I've never lived in bear county.
Posted by QuietTiger
New Orleans
Member since Dec 2003
26256 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 5:32 pm to
quote:

picking up a rock and tossing it into the woods can cause a group of adults to duck and cover


Bears don't play though.
Posted by RogerTheShrubber
Juneau, AK
Member since Jan 2009
259875 posts
Posted on 5/15/14 at 6:27 pm to
quote:

can cause a group of adults to duck and cover or run depending on their makeup. I've never lived in bear county.


I'm gonna say the adults who reacted hadn't either...
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