Federal regulations largely put an end to the luxury trade in seal pelts decades ago, but a reopened tannery in Alaska has created a new market for sealskin garments made by Alaska Natives.

Solomon Atkinson’s casket in 2019, commemorating both his Tsimshian heritage as an Alaska Native and his 22-year career as a Navy SEAL and plankholder for SEAL Team 1. (Laddie Shaw/courtesy photo).

Seal, walrus and whale are important proteins in many traditional Alaska Native diets. Nutrient-rich seal oil is rendered from the cold-water animal’s fat, which liquefies at room temperature.

Even among Navy SEALs, Atkinson’s accomplishments stand out: He was one of the Navy’s first 60 SEALs, and a “plank holder” for SEAL Team 1.

Born in 1930, Atkinson was the first Alaska Native to join the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT), the precursor to the Sea-Air-Land (SEAL) Teams that comprise the Navy’s elite special warfare ...

Future Navajo-class Towing, Salvage and Rescue ship will bear the name USNS Solomon Atkinson (T-ATS-12), in honor of the Alaskan native and Navy SEAL, the Navy announced Monday. Secretary of the ...

(THE CONVERSATION) Five hundred years ago, in a mountain-rimmed ocean fjord in southeast Alaska, Tlingit hunters armed with bone-tipped harpoons eased their canoes through chunks of floating ice ...

Native clothing and regalia have always reflected this. As Alaska Native designers send more of their work down runways, Jackinsky-Sethi wants it to be viewed through an Indigenous, not Western, lens.

Alaska Native Tannery Is Bringing Seal Back. Sealskin used to be a luxury item across the U.S. and Europe, a midcentury status symbol featured in ritzy fashion shows.

For decades, fur merchants would trade cash for full pelts, buying stacks of them at a time from Alaska Native hunters. Then in 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act put an end to that.

For decades, fur merchants would trade cash for full pelts, buying stacks of them at a time from Alaska Native hunters. Then in 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act put an end to that.