Sea Lion Study

A couple weeks ago (I know I'm terribly behind) we got to watch as they did a sea lion study on the beach.  Alaska Fish and Game has created the Steller Sea Lion Research Project to collect data to aid to help the recovery of sea lion populations in Alaska.  Since sea lions are protected animals and typically cannot be hunted this can be difficult to do.  Alaska Natives, though, can hunt sea lions and other protected animals for a couple reasons.  First, there are many areas in Alaska that are so remote survival can depend on the hunting of protected animals.  It is also an important part of maintaining their cultural traditions.  Since members of the community can hunt sea lions, they work with the Research Project which enables the organization to gather information it otherwise wouldn't be able to get.  A couple weeks ago, a researcher from the Research Project was in the community, so one of the community members brought in a sea lion for her to collect data.  For each sea lion they take basic body measurements and then tissue samples to examine for evidence of environmental contaminants that could affect the animal's health.