Last year in Wainwright, Hopson installed three buoys in late July when the ocean was ice-free. Installation is planned for June, as soon as the hunters are ready, Wisdom said. Communities such as Gambell, Savoonga and Little Diomede are also interested in participating. This year, the project leaders hope to install even more in Utqiagvik and Wainwright, and three in Point Hope and Kaktovik, each. Last year, in Alaska, seven buoys were installed in Utqiagvik, three in Point Hope and three in Wainwright. it’s really about keeping people safe, for them to still be able to do what they need to do.” “Using all of the tools that we can - including Indigenous knowledge, elders’ stories, technology like these wave buoys. “The ocean is where they subsist and where they have for millennia, but the ocean is changing, and so it’s harder for the groups to be safe out there,” Wisdom said. Additionally, in American Samoa, one of the most culturally significant subsistence events occurs each austral spring when villagers across the islands take to the reefs at night to harvest palolo, a delicacy of gametes from a marine worm, Wisdom said. In that region, fishing is the main subsistence activity. The project’s partners In the Pacific Islands area include the Marshall Islands Conservation Society, the National Park of American Samoa, Hawai’i Sea Grant and Conservation International Hawai’i.

In the Pacific Northwest, the app serves boaters and fishermen of the Quileute Tribe and Quinault Indian Nation, who live close to La Push, Washington, and have dealt with increasing storm surges. The Backyard Buoys initiative covers three regions: Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and the Pacific Islands. The project was initially funded by the National Science Foundation for the 2021 to 2024 period, but the Alaska Ocean Observing System plans to continue it for at least three more years, until 2027, using some of the NOAA funds, Wisdom said. In the Backyard Buoys project, subsistence hunters and fishermen collaborate with scientists and developers to install small buoys in locations traditionally used for subsistence and monitor the wave data they gather, said Sheyna Wisdom, director at the Alaska Ocean Observing System, one of the regional systems of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which co-manages the initiative. (Photo by Lloyd Pikok Jr.) Backyard Buoys Michael Quuniq Donovan and sons from Utqiagvik deploying wave buoys in 2022. “We’re looking forward to another successful summer and another successful ocean boating season this year.” include more locations in our hunting areas,” Hopson said. “We just look forward to using the program another year, hoping that we can. Developers will release the live version of the Backyard Buoys app in May for another summer of expanded wave data collection. “It saved us a lot of time and effort and probably kept a lot of people safe, knowing that it’s rougher than what it looks like.”įollowing the initiative’s success, this year the project will include more Alaska communities. “The app has really, really, really, really helped us,” Hopson said.

That real-time data was available to him and other subsistence hunters through a prototype app. Similarly to residents in Point Hope, Utqiagvik and other places, Hopson installed several buoys close to Wainwright to measure wave height. Last summer, Hopson participated in the Backyard Buoys project, which helps Indigenous coastal communities collect and use wave data to support maritime activities. “The ocean might be calmer, it might be rougher, and you just don’t know until you get out there,” he said, “just get out there and find out.” Still, the conditions sometimes surprise the hunters. Before every trip, Hopson studies the horizon and checks weather apps to make sure he and his crew are safe. He leaves the bluff area next to the village and travels farther from shore, where the waves often become rough. To harvest whales, seals or walruses, Wainwright hunter John Hopson goes out at sea. A buoy is deployed near Cape Lisburne near Point Hope in summer 2023.

Subsistence cheating