American Indian Culture and Research Journal

I. INTRODUCTION The island of Kiska lies at the western end of the Aleutian Islands -a chain of islands lying in an almost perfect arc between the northern Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Evidence of ancient communities and more recent conflict can be found here in the form of 8,000 year old stone tools lying next to sunken World War II (WWII) battleships. One thing is certain: the native communities that have inhabited these islands for thousands of years have always relied on marine resources for their survival. Further, for the native villages on Kiska and the many other Aleutian Islands, subsistence fishing practices represent not only their livelihood, but their spirit. Aleutian populations lived in relative isolation from the rest of the world until the 1800’s. Since that time, Aleuts have struggled to maintain their communities though faced with continued exploitation of marine resources and intrusion by Russian and United States governments. In the face of adversity, Aleutian villages have been able to maintain their cultures and communities through, among other things, the practice of subsistence. However, as fish stocks world wide continue to decline and the world’s industrial nations attempt to address the issue through specific fishery management decisions, Aleutian culture and communities may be at risk.