Beachcombers are drawn to items they find on the shore, and often can’t resist taking home a souvenir.
On Alaska beaches, marine mammal remains are often a prized find but collecting them can be a complicated legal matter unless the person is Alaska Native. Factors to be considered include ethnicity, land ownership, and the animal’s status under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
To make matters easier to understand, Alaska Sea Grant’s Gay Sheffield, based in Nome, compiled a two-page reference guide, Collecting Dead Marine Mammal Parts while Beachcombing, available as a free download.
