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Fish
During the summer months, you can easily get fish and other water life from coastal waters, streams, rivers and lakes. The North Atlantic and North Pacific coastal waters are rich in seafood. You can easily find crawfish, snails, clams, oysters and king crab. In areas where there is a great difference between the high and low tide water levels, you can easily find shellfish at low tide. Dig in the sand on the tidal flats. Look in tidal pools and on offshore reefs. In areas where there is a small difference between the high and low tide water levels, storm waves often wash shellfish onto the beaches.
The eggs of the spiny sea urchin that lives in the waters around the Aleutian Islands and southern Alaska are excellent food. Look for the sea urchins in tidal pools. Break the shell by placing it between two stones. The eggs are bright yellow in colour. Most northern fish and fish eggs are edible. Exceptions are the meat of the arctic shark and the eggs of the sculpins.
The bivalves, such as clams and mussels, are usually more palatable than spiral-shelled seafood, such as snails.
WARNING: The black mussel, a common mollusc of the far north, may be poisonous in any season. Toxins sometimes found in the mussel's tissue are as dangerous as strychnine.
The sea cucumber is another edible sea animal. Inside its body are five long, white muscles that taste much like clam meat.
In early summer, smelt spawn in the beach surf. Sometimes you can scoop them up with your hands.
You can often find herring eggs on the seaweed in midsummer. Kelp, the long ribbon-like seaweed, and other smaller seaweed that grow among offshore rocks are also edible.
Sea Ice Animals
You'll find polar bears in practically all arctic coastal regions but rarely inland. Avoid them if possible. They are the most dangerous of all bears. They are tireless, clever hunters with good sight and an extraordinary sense of smell. If you must kill one for food, approach it cautiously. Aim for the brain; a bullet elsewhere will rarely kill one. Always cook polar bear meat before eating it.
CAUTION: Do not eat polar bear liver as it contains a toxic concentration of vitamin A. Earless seal meat is some of the best meat available. You need considerable skill, however, to get close enough to an earless seal to kill it. In spring, seals often bask on the ice beside their breathing holes. They raise their heads about every 30 seconds, however, to look for their enemy, the polar bear.
To approach a seal, do as the Eskimos do — stay downwind from it, cautiously moving closer while it sleeps. If it moves, stop and imitate its movements by lying flat on the ice, raising your head up and down and wriggling your body slightly. Approach the seal with your body sideways to it and your arms close to your body so that you look as much like another seal as possible. The ice at the edge of the breathing hole is usually smooth and at an incline, so the least movement of the seal may cause it to slide into the water. Therefore, try to get within 22 to 45 metres of the seal and kill it instantly (aim for the brain). Try to reach the seal before it slips into the water. In winter, a dead seal will usually float but it is difficult to retrieve from the water.
Keep the seal blubber and skin from coming into contact with any scratch or broken skin you may have. You could get "spekk-finger," that is, a reaction that causes the hands to become badly swollen.
Keep in mind that where there are seals, there are usually polar bears, and polar bears have stalked and killed seal hunters.
You can find porcupines in southern sub-arctic regions where there are trees. Porcupines feed on bark; if you find tree limbs stripped bare, you are likely to find porcupines in the area. Ptarmigans, owls, Canadian jays, grouse and ravens are the only birds that remain in the Arctic during the winter. They are scarce north of the tree line.
Ptarmigans and owls are as good for food as any game bird. Ravens are too thin to be worth the effort it takes to catch them. Ptarmigans, which change colour to blend with their surroundings, are hard to spot.
Rock ptarmigans travel in pairs and you can easily approach them. Willow ptarmigans live among willow clumps in bottomlands. They gather in large flocks and you can easily snare them. During the summer months all arctic birds have a two- to three-week molting period during which they cannot fly and are easy to catch.
Skin and butcher game while it is still warm. If you do not have time to skin the game, at least remove its entrails, musk glands and genitals before storing. If time allows, cut the meat into usable pieces and freeze each separately so that you can use the pieces as needed. Leave the fat on all animals except seals. During the winter, game freezes quickly if left in the open. During the summer, you can store it in underground ice holes.
Plants
Although tundras support a variety of plants during the warm months, all are small when compared to plants in warmer climates. For instance, the arctic willow and birch are shrubs, rather than trees.
As a survivor in an arctic or sub-arctic region, you will face many obstacles. Your location and the time of year will determine the types of obstacles and the inherent dangers. You should —
• Avoid travelling during a blizzard.
• Take care when crossing thin ice. Distribute your weight by lying flat and crawling.
• Cross streams when the water level is lowest. Normal freezing and thawing action may cause a stream level to vary as much as 2 to 2.5m per day. This variance may occur any time during the day, depending on the distance from a glacier, the temperature and the terrain. Consider this variation in water level when selecting a campsite near a stream.
• Consider the clear arctic air. It makes estimating distance difficult. You more frequently underestimate, rather than overestimate, distances.
• Do not travel in "whiteout" conditions. The lack of contrasting colours makes it impossible to judge the nature of the terrain.
• Always cross a snow bridge at right angles to the obstacle it crosses. Find the strongest part of the bridge by poking ahead of you with a pole or ice axe. Distribute your weight by crawling or by wearing snowshoes or skis.
• Make camp early so that you have plenty of time to build a shelter.
• Consider frozen or unfrozen rivers as avenues of travel. However, some rivers that appear frozen may have soft, open areas that make travel very difficult or may not allow walking, skiing or sledding.
• Use snowshoes if you are travelling over snow-covered terrain. Snow 30cm or more deep makes travelling difficult. If you do not have snowshoes, make a pair using willow, strips of cloth, leather or other suitable material.
It is almost impossible to travel in deep snow without snowshoes or skis. Travelling by foot leaves a well-marked trail for any pursuers to follow. If you must travel in deep snow, avoid snow-covered streams. The snow, which acts as an insulator, may have prevented ice from forming over the water.
In hilly terrain, avoid areas where avalanches appear possible. Travel in the early morning in areas where there is danger of avalanches. On ridges, snow gathers on the lee side in overhanging piles called cornices. These often extend far out from the ridge and may break loose if stepped on.
Arctic Food Plants
• Arctic raspberry and blueberry
• Arctic willow
• Bearberry
• Cranberry
• Crowberry
• Dandelion
• Eskimo potato
• Fireweed
• Iceland moss
• Marsh marigold
• Reindeer moss
• Rock tripe
• Spatterdock
