[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 50, Volume 5] [Revised as of October 1, 2004] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 50CFR92.5] [Page 503-504] TITLE 50--WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR--(Continued) PART 92_MIGRATORY BIRD SUBSISTENCE HARVEST IN ALASKA--Table of Contents Subpart A_General Provisions Sec. 92.5 Who is eligible to participate? If you are a permanent resident of a village within a subsistence harvest area, you will be eligible to harvest migratory birds and their eggs for subsistence purposes in the spring and summer. (a) Included areas. Village areas located within the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Archipelago, the Aleutian Islands, or in areas north and west of the Alaska Range are subsistence harvest areas, except that villages within these areas not meeting the criteria for a subsistence harvest area as identified in paragraph (c) of this section will be excluded from the spring and summer subsistence harvest. (1) Any person may request the Co-management Council to recommend that an otherwise included area be excluded by submitting a petition stating how the area does not meet the criteria identified in paragraph (c) of this section. The Co-management Council will forward petitions to the appropriate regional management body for review and recommendation. The Co-management Council will then consider each petition and will submit to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service any recommendations to exclude areas from the spring and summer subsistence harvest. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will publish any approved recommendations to exclude areas in subpart D of this part. (2) Based on petitions for inclusion recommended by the Co- management Council in 2003, the Service is adding the following communities to the included areas under this part starting in the 2004 harvest season: (i) Upper Copper River Region--Gulkana, Gakona, Tazlina, Copper Center, Mentasta Lake, Chitina, Chistochina. (ii) Gulf of Alaska Region--Chugach Community of Tatitlek, Chugach Community of Chenega, Chugach Community of Port Graham, Chugach Community of Nanwalek. (iii) Cook Inlet Region--Tyonek. (iv) Southeast Alaska Region--Hoonah. (b) Excluded areas. Village areas located in Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna or Fairbanks North Star Boroughs, the Kenai Peninsula roaded [[Page 504]] area, the Gulf of Alaska roaded area, or Southeast Alaska generally do not qualify for a spring or summer harvest. Communities located within one of these areas may petition the Co-management Council through their designated regional management body for designation as a spring and summer subsistence harvest area. The petition must state how the community meets the criteria identified in paragraph (c) of this section. The Co-management Council will consider each petition and will submit to the Service any recommendations to designate a community as a spring and summer subsistence harvest area. The Service will publish any approved new designations of communities as spring and summer subsistence harvest areas in subpart D of this part. All areas outside Alaska are ineligible. (c) Criteria for determining designation as a spring and summer subsistence harvest area. A previously excluded community may be included in the spring/summer harvest regulations if recommended by the Alaska Migratory Bird Co-management Council. The Alaska Migratory Bird Co-management Council will recommend designation of subsistence harvest areas based on a deliberative process using the best available information on nutritional and cultural needs and customary and traditional use. The Alaska Migratory Bird Co-management Council recommendations will accommodate traditional spring and summer harvests without creating new traditions or increasing harvest of migratory birds. Recommendations will be made based on the majority of factors and the weight of the evidence using the following criteria: (1) A pattern of use recurring in the spring and summer of each year prior to 1999, excluding interruptions by circumstances beyond the user's control; (2) The consistent harvest and use of migratory birds on or near the user's permanent residence; (3) A use pattern that includes the handing down of knowledge of hunting skills and values from generation to generation; (4) A use pattern in which migratory birds are shared or distributed among others within a definable community of persons; a community for purposes of subsistence uses may include specific villages or towns, with a historical pattern of subsistence use; and (5) A use pattern that includes reliance for subsistence purposes upon migratory birds or their eggs and that meets nutritional and other essential needs including, but not limited to, cultural, social, and economic elements of the subsistence way of life. (d) Participation by permanent residents of excluded areas. Immediate family members who are permanent residents of excluded areas may participate in the customary spring and summer subsistence harvest in a village's subsistence harvest area with the permission of the village council, where it is appropriate to assist indigenous inhabitants in meeting their nutritional and other essential needs or for the teaching of cultural knowledge to or by their immediate family members. Eligibility for participation will be developed and recommended by the Co-management Council and adopted or amended by regulations published in subpart D of this part. [67 FR 53517, Aug. 16, 2002, as amended at 68 FR 43027, July 21, 2003; 69 FR 17327, Apr. 2, 2004]