Delegation introduces bills to protect whaling rights of Alaska Natives

THE SOUNDER STAFF

July 31, 2008 at 1:44PM AKST

The Alaska congressional delegation introduced legislation on July 24 that would protect the whaling rights of Alaska’s Native communities.

Sens. Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski, both R-Alaska, introduced the measure in the U.S. Senate.

Congressman Don Young, R-Alaska, introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“This legislation is crucial to insure that the Alaska Native subsistence bowhead whale quota will continue to be set, even if the International Whaling Commission is unable to adopt a quota,” Murkowski said.

“The allocation will continue to be set within the same biologically sustainable limits we use now, but will allow the United States to set the bowhead quota in the event the IWC process fails. The bowhead hunt is vital to the nutritional, cultural and spiritual needs of Alaskan Natives who subsist on these whales.”

“The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission's harvest has always been sustainable, based on science and based on harvest levels approved by the IWC's Scientific Committee,” Young said.

For 11 coastal villages in Alaska’s Arctic, the bowhead whale is the most vital part of their subsistence resources.

Because of its size and nutritional value, the bowhead is a key food resource and is the central focus of the Inupiats’ ancient subsistence culture in the North Slope and parts of the Northwest Arctic.

The state of Alaska has no authority to regulate Alaska Eskimo subsistence bowhead whaling.

This regulatory authority is vested in the federal government under the Whaling Convention Act of 1949, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act. Federal authority for local management of the Eskimo subsistence bowhead whale hunt and for enforcement of regulations imposed on that hunt is delegated to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission through a cooperative agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The bill would amend the Whaling Convention Act to authorize the Secretary of Commerce to issue bowhead whaling quotas to Alaska Eskimos in the event that the International Whaling Commission is unable to issue that quota.

The current quota does not expire for four more years. The measure is supported by Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission.

Annual catch limits for subsistence whaling by Alaska Natives are set through periodic negotiations of the International Whaling Commission.

“Alaskan communities on the North Slope rely heavily on whale hunting to feed their villages and families. It is clear that in the fight to outlaw scientific whaling and commercial whaling, many IWC member countries are being pressured by animal rights groups to stop all whaling,” Young said.

“These animal rights groups do not understand the subsistence needs of Native people, or worse they just don't care. Neither I, nor the rest of the delegation, will allow these groups to dictate the policies of Alaska.”