What to Do If you Find an Unusual Fish



Keep a Fish and Animal Observations Log

Writing a Subsistence Observations Log will help you to keep track of different fish and animals you find. Click here for an example. This is a good idea for everyone to do. If you can show an agency or researcher that there is a pattern, you might be able to get funding or help to find out what is happening. Your village will have a record of what is seen and can discuss this to find an answer. Keeping a subsistence observations log will document subsistence changes you are seeing in just your community. The fish observations you post on Nunat will be available for you to view by selecting your community name. But with a log, you can keep additional information that may be private. You may later identify a pattern and then post the observations to Nunat when you want to share this.

If you’ve seen unusual fish or other animals, take these steps:



Write in your observations to Nunat

Why? By sharing information around the state, Villages and researchers may be able to identify diseases or problems, determine their causes, and find a solution more quickly. You can see if other Villages are having similar problems. You will be able to start seeing patterns – for example, maybe a particular observation is seen more and more frequently in northern areas, when it used to be in southern areas. You may be able to identify, or rule out, causes for your fish problems by looking at similar fish problems reported by other villages. If several villages report a similar problem, you can see what observations are in common. For example, if you are worried that beaver dams are causing your fish problem, then you can look up on the database what reports had beaver dams. Or if you think that the problem is warm water, you can see what other fish reports had warm water.

Your observations and followup test results (if you get the fish tested) could also help you and other Villages obtain funding to address the problem. That is because you will be able to use Nunat to prove to a funding agency that there is a problem. Also you can show a funding agency that you are very careful and organized about tracking your observations. This way an agency will know that their money will help all Villages with documented information. Encouraging neighboring villages and regions to use Nunat and also start their own subsistence logs will help all Villages even more. Fish researchers may also be more likely to obtain funding when there is a need shown by villages to identify a problem that is common, but no one knows why.

Send diseased or deformed fish to a lab to have it tested.

If you catch or find an unusual fish that may have a disease or deformity, you might want to send it to a lab to find out what is wrong with it.
Click here for instructions and possible labs.

Have other villages sent in fish to be tested? What are their stories?

Click on the village to read about their experience in testing their fish. If you have a story that will help other villages learn how to test their fish, please contact us or send us the story at nunat@zendergroup.org:

What more can I do?

Research funding is always needed to perform studies that will answer our questions. Contact your local, State, and federal legislators to make them aware of any problems you are finding through your subsistence observations and encourage them to fund projects that will help you protect fish and other subsistence resources. Contact the federal agency tribal liaisons and have your tribe write to the head of agencies that fund scientific work. Federal agencies are obligated to treat your Tribe (not you) as a government. Therefore, any high-level contact will carry much more weight if your Tribe writes a letter or resolution.

Where can I learn more about fish deformities and diseases?

These links provide additional information that may be of interest to you.