One of the ways to estimate this value is to assign implicit gross dollar values to seabirds, based on what it would cost to replace products derived from them with store-bought items of a similar, or substitutable, nature (this is a gross rather than a net value because it does not include the cost of guns, ammunition, transportation, etc., required to harvest and process the resource).
There have been many occasions in the past when it would have been physically impossible to find substitutes for seabird products. In such cases, and where seabirds may well have meant the difference between life and death, the economic value of the resource could be considered a plus infinity.
There are probably few, if any, places in the world today where people would starve if they could not obtain marine birds. However, there are still many situations where available substitutes are poor, or very expensive. And there are others where, even though the birds are no longer necessary for economic survival, they are still very important in terms of sociocultural traditions. According to Tuck (1960), "Wherever a wild animal is important to the economy of a people, its capture and use become part of the tradition of that people." Thus, while economic values can be measured in terms of substitutable store-bought foods, social and cultural values cannot be. To force complete dependence on a people by flying in foods from "Outside" is often socially intolerable because it tends to remove pride, a sense of worth, and therefore the reasons for living.
Marine birds have served as important sources of food in the Faeroes Islands for centuries, the puffin being unquestionably the most valuable. Williamson (1945) reported that in a good year the total puffin catch may be between 400,000 and 500,000. In addition, as many as 120,000 murres are snared or shot annually by the Faeroese, and at least twice that many eggs are taken and Tuck (1960) stated, "The economic necessity of 'fowling' in the Faeroes has by virtue of long centuries of usage become part of the national life, affecting folklore and customs, and providing outlets for the sporting instinct inherent in the people." A Faeroese guidebook even suggests that its importance to the Faeroese culture has been in no way diminished by the influence of modern civilization. Current Faroese game laws appear to be effective in assuring a sustained yield of marine birds while guaranteeing their long-term survival.
Seabirds and their eggs constitute a small, but still very important, part of the total diet of the Eskimos and Indians living along the Arctic coast of the Northwest Territories and Alaska. In spite of the many changes occurring in the North, there is, even for the wage earner, a strong psychological attachment to the land and sea and the free life it represents. In spring, the release from the long monotonous winter is marked by the rites of ratting, fishing, sealing, whaling, or marine bird hunting and egg gathering, according to village tradition.
For those living off the land in such remote coastal outposts as Sachs Harbor on Banks Island, Holman Island on the Mackenzie Delta, Point Hope and Point Barrow in northern Alaska, Inalik on Diomede Island in the Bering Strait, or Hooper Bay on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, the spring marine bird hunt represents a change of diet and activity. It offers opportunity to renew age-old traditions and continues a cultural bond among those confined to jobs in the settlements—vacationing and absenteeism from jobs and schools are always highest during late May and early June.
Marine birds yield between a few grams and 2 kg of meat, depending on the species. Usually the birds are either consumed soon after they are taken or stored in an icehouse for use throughout the summer. Most often the meat is cooked into a soup or stew with rice, noodles, and onions. A few birds may be dried or salted so that they can be used for special holiday feasts during the winter. Sometimes feathers are saved for the manufacture of parkas, ceremonial fans, and masks. In some areas of the Yukon Delta, goose and duck down is still saved and used in quilts that can be found in nearly every home. In the spring 1975 issue of the catalog of a Seattle, Washington, outfitter, down quilts for single beds were listed at $95. Thus, there is a substantial cash savings by home manufacture of such items.
The Yukon Delta in western Alaska is the area where the use of marine birds is most extensive and significant. Klein (1966) provided harvest data by village for the entire area and showed that, in general, geese were more important than ducks, representing about two thirds of the take in both the spring and the fall. The average numbers of ducks (mostly pintails, Anas acutus) and geese (primarily white-fronted geese, Anser albifrons); emperor geese, Philacta canagica; cackling Canada geese, Branta canadensis minima; and black brant, Branta nigricans, taken per household were 77 by the Yukon River villages, 69 by the Kuskokwim River and tundra villages, and 94 by the Bering Sea coastal villages. Although eggs gathered by Yukon River villagers averaged less than a dozen per household, Kuskokwim people took about 3 dozen and coastal people about 6.5 dozen on the average. Eggs of black brant and cackling Canada geese were especially favored, but even those of small passerines were acceptable. The average size of households for all areas was believed to be between 5.5 and 6.5 persons.
A 1968 survey of waterfowl taken in the Mackenzie Delta region, made by the Canadian Wildlife Service, showed an average take per household of about 70 birds, a figure comparable to that for the Yukon Delta. In the Mackenzie region, however, ducks were more important than geese, representing about 60% of the harvest.
More recent data on Alaska waterfowl harvest per household is available for other coastal regions. Data provided by two regional native corporations for the Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission for Alaska in 1973 showed an average per-household waterfowl harvest of 33 ducks and geese for Kotzebue area villages, 68 for Norton Sound villages, 24 for northwest Seward Peninsula villages, and 37 for St. Lawrence, Diomede, and King Island villages.