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Beach Survival

It could happen to anyone.  A weekend outing turns into a survival situation in which you find yourself stranded on the beach until help arrives. Most people in need of rescue are found within 48 to 72 hours, but some people have been stranded in the wild for weeks.  The two most important essentials for surviving such a situation are to drink plenty of safe, fresh water, and to eat as wide a variety of available foods as possible.

By eating a wide variety of foods you will ensure sufficient intake of essential vitamins and minerals, as well as protein, carbohydrates and fat to provide needed energy.  The easiest proteins to obtain include fish, shellfish, and small game.  Plants are an excellent source of carbohydrates.  Seaweeds are good sources of both carbohydrates and proteins. Fats are the most concentrated source of energy in the diet, providing over twice as much energy as carbohydrates or proteins.  Sources of fats include sea urchins, birds and bird eggs, some fish eggs, and fatty fish like herring and salmon.

Most berries, greens, and seaweeds are good sources of Vitamins C and A.  Vitamin B complex, important for dealing with stress, is found in herring eggs, sea cucumbers, gumboots, crab, trout, black seaweed, bull kelp, fireweed, fern fiddleheads, and wild spinach.  Iron can be found in good supply in seaweeds, gumboots, hooligan, and octopus. Seaweeds and almost all sea animals should be rinsed well in clean fresh water to minimize salt intake.  One exception to this rule is sea urchins, which become mushy in freshwater.  Seaweeds can be eaten raw, boiled, or dried.  Shellfish can be eaten raw, boiled, or placed on rocks near a fire to cook in their own shell.  Fish can be boiled or roasted, but should not be eaten raw.  Edible leaves and berries can be eaten raw or cooked.  Roots are better boiled or roasted.

Alaska has several toxic animals and plants.  All of the bivalves may contain the toxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning, or PSP, and are unsafe to eat in the wilderness.  The starfish, coral, sea anemone, jellyfish, sponge, nudibranch, and sand dollar may have light toxins that they use to catch their prey.  They have little or no nutritional value and should be avoided.  Sculpin or bullhead eggs are poisonous.  One seaweed to avoid is acid kelp, which contains sulfuric acid.  This is a large brown feathery seaweed that turns green when it is taken out of the water. Some toxic plants are baneberry, wild sweet pea, water hemlock, narcissus-flowered anemone, lupine, vetch, false hellebore, and death camas.  Mushrooms should be avoided since several species in Alaska are poisonous.  Although some are a good source of minerals, most have little nutritional value.

If you spend time out of doors in Alaska, you risk getting stranded in the wilderness with no provisions.  Be prepared to survive.  Know several edible plants and animals that can be found in any season, and know how to identify toxic plants and animals.  A little preparation ahead of time could save your life.