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| Bobby Andrew © Bridget Besaw |
Bobby Andrew lives a traditional subsistence lifestyle in Alaska's largely Yup'ik Bristol Bay region. He helps direct the Nushagak-Mulchatna Watershed Council, a Conservancy partner in Southwest Alaska that is concerned with protecting water quality in salmon-bearing waters.
“The Bristol Bay area for over a thousand years has had no major development. Most everyone relies on the salmon resources for subsistence purposes. It’s culturally important for many. They dry, smoke, salt, and can the salmon for winter use in order to supplement the high cost of living.
Many times the traditional knowledge in regards to the ecosystem is not in black and white. We know there’s a salmon cycle, we know when they’re going to be coming in, where they’re going to spawn, and we know they need clean water, but we don’t have anything that’s going to back it up scientifically.
Traditional ecological knowledge and the knowledge of the native community is not written in black and white, though many times traditional ecological knowledge matches what the scientists are saying.
The Nature Conservancy is helping to bridge this gap. They’ve been very, very helpful.”
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