Human Impacts On Seals Sea Lions And Sea Otters

For more than ten thousand years, Native Americans from Alaska to southern California relied on aquatic animals such as seals, sea lions, and sea otters for food and raw materials. Archaeological research on the interactions between people and these marine mammals has made great advances recently and provides a unique lens for understanding the human and ecological past. Archaeological research is also emerging as a crucial source of information on contemporary environmental issues as we improve our understanding of the ancient abundance, ecology, and natural history of these species. This groundbreaking interdisciplinary volume brings together archaeologists, biologists, and other scientists to consider how archaeology can inform the conservation and management of pinnipeds and other marine mammals along the Pacific Coast.

Making the List: Mount St. Helens as a Traditional Cultural Property, a Case Study in Tribal/Government Cooperation - Richard H. McClure and Nathaniel D. Reynolds Metal and Prestige in the Greater Lower Columbia River Region, Northwestern North America - H. Kory Cooper, Kenneth M. Ames, Loren G. Davis Archaeological Feature Preservation in Active Fluvial Environments: An Experimental Case Study from the Snoqualmie River, King County, Washington State - J. Tait Elder, Patrick Reed, Alexander E. Stevenson, and M. Shane Sparks Seals and Sea Lions in the Columbia River: An Evaluation and Summary of Research - Deward E. Walker Jr. The 67th Annual Northwest Anthropological Conference Abstracts Journal of Northwest Anthropology List of Reviewers, 2012–2015

During the last two decades, zooarchaeologists have increasingly focused aspects of their work on conservation biology. Zooarchaeological data represent an empirical record of past human-animal interactions, which provides conservation with a deep temporal perspective. There are many challenges that face the archaeologist as conservation biologist, however, that have little to do with deep time, faunal remains, and zooarchaeological method and theory. In this book we use a series of case studies with which each of the authors has relevant personal experience to explore the types of interdisciplinary challenges that zooarchaeologists face when crossing into the world of environmental management and animal conservation. Never has there been a greater need for multi-vocal perspectives in conservation biology. This book shows zooarchaeologists how to use zooarchaeological perspectives to help meet those needs, while crossing traditional academic disciplinary boundaries.

2019 Choice Outstanding Academic Title More than any other nonhuman species, it was the sea otter that defined the world's largest oceanscape prior to the California gold rush. In addition to the more conventional aspects of the sea otter trade, including Russian expansion in Alaska, British and American trading in the Pacific Northwest, and Spanish colonial ventures along the California coast, the global importance of the species can be seen in its impact on the East Asian maritime fur trade. This trade linked Imperial China, Japan, and indigenous Ainu peoples of the Kurile Islands as early as the fifteenth century. In Sea Otters: A History Richard Ravalli synthesizes anew the sea otter's complex history of interaction with humans by drawing on new histories of the species that consider international and global factors beyond the fur trade, including sea mammal conservation, Cold War nuclear testing, and environmental tourism. Examining sea otters in a Pacific World context, Ravalli weaves together the story of imperial ambition, greed, and an iconic sea mammal that left a determinative imprint on the modern world.

This book examines ways of conserving, managing, and interacting with plant and animal resources by Native American cultural groups of the Pacific Coast of North America, from Alaska to California. These practices helped them maintain and restore ecological balance for thousands of years. Building upon the authors’ and others’ previous works, the book brings in perspectives from ethnography and marine evolutionary ecology. The core of the book consists of Native American testimony: myths, tales, speeches, and other texts, which are treated from an ecological viewpoint. The focus on animals and in-depth research on stories, especially early recordings of texts, set this book apart. The book is divided into two parts, covering the Northwest Coast, and California. It then follows the division in lifestyle between groups dependent largely on fish and largely on seed crops. It discusses how the survival of these cultures functions in the contemporary world, as First Nations demand recognition and restoration of their ancestral rights and resource management practices.

Archaeological data now show that relatively intense human adaptations to coastal environments developed much earlier than once believed—more than 125,000 years ago. With our oceans and marine fisheries currently in a state of crisis, coastal archaeological sites contain a wealth of data that can shed light on the history of human exploitation of marine ecosystems. In eleven case studies from the Americas, Pacific Islands, North Sea, Caribbean, Europe, and Africa, leading researchers working in coastal areas around the world cover diverse marine ecosystems, reaching into deep history to discover how humans interacted with and impacted these aquatic environments and shedding new light on our understanding of contemporary environmental problems.

"The purpose of this circular is to present brief descriptions, drawings, and photographs to assist in identifying the seals, sea-lions, walrus and sea otter of the Pacific to Point Barrow and the Hawaiian Islands. For each of the twelve species, the physical characteristics, range, and habits are summarized to provide a convenient source of life-history information."-- page 1.

Sea otters are good indicators of ocean health. In addition, they are a keystone species, offering a stabilizing effect on ecosystem, controlling sea urchin populations that would otherwise inflict damage to kelp forest ecosystems. The kelp forest ecosystem is crucial for marine organisms and contains coastal erosion. With the concerns about the imperiled status of sea otter populations in California, Aleutian Archipelago and coastal areas of Russia and Japan, the last several years have shown growth of interest culturally and politically in the status and preservation of sea otter populations. Sea Otter Conservation brings together the vast knowledge of well-respected leaders in the field, offering insight into the more than 100 years of conservation and research that have resulted in recovery from near extinction. This publication assesses the issues influencing prospects for continued conservation and recovery of the sea otter populations and provides insight into how to handle future global changes. Covers scientific, cultural, economic and political components of sea otter conservation Provides guidance on how to manage threats to the sea otter populations in the face of future global changes Highlights the effects that interactions of coastal animals have with the marine ecosystem