Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T21:17:45.572Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and other cooperative marine mammal management organizations in northern Alaska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Henry P. Huntington
Henry P. Huntington
Affiliation:
Box 1414, Barrow, AK 99723, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The formation of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission (AEWC) in 1977 was the first time that Native Alaskans had organized themselves to protect a specific hunting interest. The AEWC's success and prominence has led to the formation of other user-based management regimes for marine mammals in northern Alaska. This paper begins with a description of the creation and development of the AEWC as it fought the ban by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on bowhead whaling and gained management authority for the Eskimo harvest. Then, three other regimes are examined, each of which focuses on a marine mammal species in northern Alaska. These are the Eskimo Walrus Commission, the Alaska and Inuvialuit Beluga Whale Committee, and the Agreement on Polar Bears in the Southern Beaufort Sea between the Inuvialuit Game Council and the North Slope Borough Fish and Game Management Committee. These regimes face the challenge of avoiding a management crisis rather than overcoming one. Without the incentive of a threat to end hunting, these regimes have not had the sense of direction that has enabled the AEWC to achieve its success. However, they have contributed to the management of certain species of wildlife, and are capable of contributing a great deal more.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 28 , Issue 165 , April 1992 , pp. 119 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbott, J. 1980. Eskimo whalers probed. Anchorage Daily News 23 10 1980.Google Scholar
v. Vance, Adams. 1977. 570 Federal Reporter, 2nd Series 950–57. St. Paul, MN, West Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Adams, J. 1982. History and function of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission. In: Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission. Proceedings of the first conference on the biology of the bowhead whale, Balaena mysticetus; population assessment 25–29 January 1982, Anchorage, Alaska. Barrow, AK, Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission: 9–13.Google Scholar
AEWC. 1977. You will not bury our hearts (at Wounded Knee or anywhere else). Statement of the commissioners concerning the banning of the subsistence hunting of the bowhead whale by the International Whaling Commission. 10, 1977.Google Scholar
AIBWC. 1988. Minutes of meeting, 22–23 09 1988, Fairbanks, Alaska. Barrow, AK, Alaska and Inuvialuit Beluga Whale Committee.Google Scholar
AIBWC. 1989a. By-Laws. Barrow, AK, Alaska and Inuvialuit Beluga Whale Committee.Google Scholar
AIBWC. 1989b. Minutes of meeting, 22–23 03 1989, Fairbanks, Alaska. Barrow, AK, Alaska and Inuvialuit Beluga Whale Committee.Google Scholar
Alaska Consultants, Inc. with Stephen R. Braund & Associates. 1984. Subsistence study of Alaska Eskimo whaling villages. Prepared for the U.S. Department of the Interior.Google Scholar
Alaska Department of Fish and Game. 1977. Alaska hunting regulations, 1977–78. No. 18. Juneau, Alaska Department of Fish and Game.Google Scholar
Alaska Department of Fish and Game. 1978. Alaska hunting regulations, 1978–79. No. 19. Juneau, Alaska Department of Fish and Game.Google Scholar
Amstrup, S. C., and DeMaster, D. P. 1988. Polar bear, Ursus maritimus. In: Lentfer, J. W. (editor). Selected marine mammals of Alaska: species accounts with research and management recommendations. Washington, D.C., Marine Mammal Commission: 17–38.Google Scholar
Arctic Coastal Zone Management Newsletter. 1978. Issue 13. Barrow, AK, North Slope Borough.Google Scholar
Arctic Coastal Zone Management Newsletter. 1981. Issue 34. Barrow, AK, North Slope Borough.Google Scholar
Armstrong, T. 1985. White whales trapped in sea ice. Polar Record 22 (140): 552.Google Scholar
Barrow Sun. 1989. The Nusunginya sentencing (transcript excerpts). Barrow Sun 6 (2): 6–8. 17 03 1989.Google Scholar
Blewett, M. 1980. Washington calls shots. Anchorage Times 29 10 1980.Google Scholar
Bockstoce, J. R. 1980. Battle of the bowheads. Natural History 89 (5): 52–61.Google Scholar
Bockstoce, J. R. 1986. Whales, ice, and men. Seattle, University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Braund, S. R., Stoker, S., and Kruse, J. 1988. Quantification of subsistence and cultural need for bowhead whales by Alaska Eskimos. Anchorage, Stephen R. Braund & Associates.Google Scholar
Donovan, G. P. (editor). 1982. Aboriginal/subsistence whaling (with special reference to the Alaska and Greenland fisheries). Reports of the International Whaling Commission, Special Issue 4.Google Scholar
Freeman, M. M. R. 1989. The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission: successful co-management under extreme conditions. In: Pinkerton, E. (editor). Cooperative management of local fisheries. Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press.Google Scholar
Frost, K. J., Lowry, L. F., and Nelson, R. R. 1983. Investigations of belukha whales in coastal waters of western and northern Alaska, 1982–83: marking and tracking of whales in Bristol Bay. In: Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment Program. 1986. Final Reports of Principal Investigators 43: 461–585.Google Scholar
Gambell, R. 1983. Bowhead whales and Alaskan Eskimos: a problem of survival. Polar Record 21 (134): 467–73.Google Scholar
Hazard, K. 1988. Beluga whale, Delphinapterus leucas. In: Lentfer, J. W. (editor). 1988. Selected marine mammals of Alaska: species accounts with research and management recommendations. Washington, DC, Marine Mammal Commission: 195–235.Google Scholar
Kreps, Hopson v.. 1979. 462 Federal Supplement 374–83. St. Paul, MN, West Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Kreps, Hopson v.. 1980. 622 Federal Reporter, 2nd Series 1375–82. St. Paul, MN, West Publishing Co.Google Scholar
IGC-NSB. 1988. Polar bear management in the southern Beaufort Sea: an agreement. 29 01 1988. Inuvik, N.W.T., and Barrow, AK, Inuvialuit Game Council and North Slope Borough.Google Scholar
Ivashin, M. V., and Shevlagin, K. V. 1987. The white whale (Delphinapterus leucas Pallas, 1776): entrapment and escape inthe ice of Senjavin Strait, USSR. Report of the International Whaling Commission 37:357–59.Google Scholar
IWC. 1978. Report of the Scientific Committee. Reports of the International Whaling Commission 28: 66–67.Google Scholar
IWC. 1979a. Chairman's report of the special meeting, Tokyo, December 1978. Reports of the International Whaling Commission 29: 2.Google Scholar
IWC. 1979b. Chairman's report of the thirtieth meeting. Reports of the International Whaling Commission 29: 26.Google Scholar
IWC. 1980. Report of the sub-committee on protected species and aboriginal whaling. Reports of the International Whaling Commission 30: 103–04.Google Scholar
IWC. In press. Report of the Scientific Committee. Reports of the International Whaling Commission.Google Scholar
Langdon, S. J. 1984. Alaska Native subsistence: current regulatory regimes and issues. Alaska Native Review Commission, XIX. Anchorage, Alaska Native Review Commission.Google Scholar
Langdon, S. J. 1989. Prospects for co-management of marine mammals in Alaska. In: Pinkerton, E. (editor). Cooperative management of local fisheries. Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press: 154–69.Google Scholar
Marquette, W. M., and Bockstoce, J. R. 1980. Historical snore-based catch of bowhead whales in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Marine Fisheries Review 42 (9–10): 5–19.Google Scholar
McVay, S. 1979. Another perspective. Orca 1 (1): 13–15.Google Scholar
Mitchell, E., and Reeves, R. R. 1980. The Alaska bowhead problem: a commentary. Arctic 33 (4): 686–723.Google Scholar
Nageak, B.P. 1987. Letter to potential members of beluga whale committee. 16 12 1987. Barrow, AK, North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management.Google Scholar
Nageak, B.P. 1990. Letter to hunter. 18 04 1990. Barrow, AK, North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management.Google Scholar
Neilsen, J.B. 1988. Inupiat whaling and the oil industry in north Alaska. Folk 30: 57–71.Google Scholar
NOAA. 1977. Bowhead whales: taking by Indians, Aleuts, or Eskimos forsubsistence purposes. Federal Register 42 (227): 60149–50.Google Scholar
NOAA. 1988. Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas: coastal and ocean zone strategic assessment data atlas. Washington DC, US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Google Scholar
Northwest Territories Department of Renewable Resources. 1990. Northwest Territories polar bear management plan. Yellowknife, Department of Renewable Resources, Government of the Northwest Territories.Google Scholar
Qausagniq, . 1990. A reminder to hunters. Oausagniq, a new dawn 2 (6): 7. Barrow, AK, North Slope Borough.Google Scholar
Stephen R. Braund & Associates and Institute of Social and Economic Research. 1989. North Slope subsistence study: Barrow, 1988. Technical Report No. 135. Anchorage, U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Office.Google Scholar
Stewart, B. S., Awbrey, F. T., and Evans, W. E. 1983. Belukha whale (Delphinapterus leucas) responses to industrial noise in Nushagak Bay, Alaska: 1983. In: Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment Program. Final Reports of Principal Investigators 43: 587–616.Google Scholar
Tokeinna, J. K. 1987. Letter to hunters. 17 04 1987. Barrow, AK, North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management.Google Scholar
Treseder, L., and Carpenter, A. 1989. Polar bear management in the southern Beaufort Sea. Information North 15 (4).Google Scholar
US Bureau of Indian Affairs. 1977. Gambell, its history, population and economy. Billings, MT, US Bureau of Indian Affairs.Google Scholar
US Fish and Wildlife Service. 1990. Law enforcement plan for 1990 walrus season. Anchorage, US Fish and Wildlife Service.Google Scholar