Alaska Region - Cyber Salmon

Introduction - Activities - Acknowledgements - Activity Sources

LESSON TWO-ACTIVITY ONE: What is Subsistence Fishing?

Content Objectives: The students will be able to name the four different fisheries of Alaska.
The students will be able to give a basic definition of subsistence fishing.
The students will learn the basics of state and federal subsistence management.

Key Vocabulary: prehistoric, Bering Land Bridge, principal food source, subsistence criteria, co-management

Supplementary Materials:
Promises to Keep-National Park Service pamphlet
Student fisheries notebook/binder

Resources: Alaska Department of Fish and Game Divisions of Commercial, Subsistence and Sport Fish, Alaska Board of Fisheries, Office of Subsistence Management, Pacific Salmon Foundation

Books: Alaska’s Wild Salmon ADFG
Subsistence Management in Alaska Question and Answer Handbook
Subsistence Management Information Program

Website Wandering:
1. ADF&G Subsistence Fisheries Page (related site)
2. Alaska's Prehistoric Past (related site)
3.Modern Alaska (related site)
4. USFWS FederalSubsistence Management Program (related site)

Activity Sequence:
Part One-The History of the Harvest of Salmon
Read aloud with students from Alaska’s Wild Salmon ADFG (Page 36). This will give them a quick summary of the different fisheries in Alaska.

Part Two-KWL Chart of the Four Alaska Salmon Fisheries
As a class make a poster size KWL chart including the four Alaska salmon fisheries. This graphic organizer is effective as it calls on the students’ prior knowledge and helps them organize the concepts they are learning. In addition to doing a poster size version of the chart as a class, have the students do a personal version of the chart in their fisheries notebooks. (Use the example provided as a guide.)

How the KWL chart works: The students should first share what they Know about each individual fishery. Write it in the space provided for what they Know. Next have them share what they Want to know about the four fisheries of Alaska. Write it in the space provided for what they Want to know. (At the end of each activity in Lesson Two you will fill in what they Learned about that activity’s fishery.) Make sure the students keep their KWL charts handy as they will be looked at again during Part B of the unit. (This graphic organizer may also be helpful to students later in the unit when they are doing research.)

Part Three-The First Native Hunters
Read aloud with students from Alaska’s Wild Salmon ADFG (Pages 37-38). Continue to call on the students’ prior knowledge and discuss what they know of the first human migrations into Alaska.

The first humans into Alaska either crossed on the Bering Land Bridge following the migration of the game they were hunting or traveled via the continental ice shelf when ocean water was locked up in ice.

Those Native people probably fished for salmon after arriving in what is now Alaska. It is believed that Yupiit, Inupiat, Athapaskan, Tsimsian, Tlingit and Haida people all relied on salmon for food.

Have students list and sketch in their notebooks the various types of traditional gear anthropologists believe was used by the different prehistoric groups to harvest salmon. Some examples can be found at the Cyber Salmon web site. Has it changed much from what they use today? If so, how? If not, why?

Part Four-Subsistence
Read aloud with students from Alaska’s Wild Salmon ADFG (Page 39).

As a class write a good definition of subsistence fishing. Have the students write the definition in their fisheries notebooks.

Part Five-Subsistence Management Handbook
Use the Subsistence Management in Alaska Question and Answer Handbook to do the following activity.

The handbook is set up as a series of questions concerning subsistence in Alaska. Assign each student a question. (If the class is too small or too large, assign some students more questions or have students double up on questions.)

Have each student read the brief section that answers their subsistence question. Instruct them to write a brief paragraph that summarize the answer to their question. (This is good paraphrasing practice.)

The purpose of this activity is for the students to get a basic knowledge of subsistence. Don’t go into too much detail at this point as subsistence will be looked at more closely during Part B of the unit.

NOTE: The material in the handbook can be somewhat dry. It is important to emphasize that being informed Alaska citizens sometimes requires a person to know the laws and regulations surrounding an important issue. (Consider their attention spans and have the students present their questions and answers to the class over the course of a few days. Address any questions that may arise.)

Part Six-What you Learned
Before wrapping up the lesson have students return to their KWL charts. In the space provided they should list at least three things they Learned about subsistence fishing during the course of the activity.

Wrap-up Discussion:
Discuss with students why subsistence is such a controversial subject in Alaska. What happened in Alaska in 1990 that added to the controversy?

SIOP FEATURES:

Preparation	Scaffolding	Grouping Options
___ Adaptation of Content	___ Modeling	___ Whole class
___ Links to Background	___ Guided practice	___ Small groups
___ Links to Past Learning	___ Independent practice	___ Partners
___ Strategies incorporated	___ Comprehensible input	___ Independent

Integration of Processes	Application	Assessment
___ Reading	___ Hands-on	___ Individual
___ Writing	___ Meaningful	___ Group
___ Speaking	___ Linked to objectives	___ Written
___ Listening	___ Promotes engagement	___ Oral

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Text by Beverly Chmielarczyk
Last modified 20 August, 2009

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