![]() It can restrict movement or cause injury as debris cuts into the skin over time, particularly for young animals that continue to grow after becoming entangled. Entanglement greatly reduces a fur seal’s chance of survival. Animals may become entangled either near the islands during breeding season, or during their winter or spring migrations. Due to the islands’ location in the central Bering Sea and local current patterns, a great deal of marine debris accumulates both in the waters surrounding and on the Pribilof Islands. Laaqudan entangled in debris-such as packing bands and fishing net fragments- have been observed in the Pribilofs since the 1930s. One ongoing aspect of their work is the disentanglement of laaqudan from marine debris. The Tribal Government’s Ecosystem Conservation Office is dedicated to the conservation and stewardship of the vital marine resources upon which Unangan culture and subsistence depends. Paul ECO's laaqudan disentanglement crew: Ethan Mandregan, Chelsea Kovalcsik, Dallas Roberts, Paul Melovidov, Aaron Lestenkof. Their deep cultural connection to and subsistence reliance upon laaqudan and other marine mammals, such as qawan (Steller sea lions, “ka-wahn”), has persisted for millennia and remains strong to this day. They were enslaved there for the commercial fur harvest of laaqudan (the Unangam tunuu word for northern fur seals, pronounced “lah-koo-thawn”). Russian fur traders captured their ancestors from the Aleutian Islands and relocated them to the Pribilof Islands in the 1700s. Unangan-which means “The People of the Sea”- live on St. Paul is a small community of about 400 people located in the Pribilof Islands, 300 miles from mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea. ![]() They work independently and in partnership with NOAA through a formal co-management agreement authorized by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Paul Island conducts high-level science and management of their marine resources. The Tribal Government of the Aleut Community of St. For Native American Heritage Month, NOAA Fisheries celebrates the Indigenous scientists who help make our work in marine mammal conservation possible.
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