April 26, 2021 — The arrival of the hooligan, at one time, meant the difference between survival and starvation at the end of a long hard winter in Southeast Alaska.
Traditionally, hooligan — also known as eulachon, candlefish or saak — provided not only food for the Chilkat and Chilkoot Tlingit people of the Upper Lynn Canal, but also medical, social and spiritual well-being. Their arrival is often forecasted by the presence of gulls, ducks, seals, sea lions and orca.
Reuben Cash is the environmental coordinator for the Skagway Traditional Council and is working on the Northern Southeast Alaska Eulachon Population Dynamics Monitoring program. The purpose of the program is to learn more about these anadromous fish, their ecology, population dynamics and distribution.
For the last three to four years, the STC has been utilizing a relatively new type of science to study the fish.
“We’ve been using a new methodology using environmental DNA. So every critter has DNA, right, that’s what makes up our, our entire makeup is based on this DNA,” Cash said. “And we’re constantly shedding ourselves. So DNA goes into the environment, so they call it environmental DNA, and you’re able to detect whether or not something is there.”