Alaska to Test Whaling Ban

Eskimo subsistence hunters who depend on bowhead whales won’t be stopped by the International Whaling Commission’s decision to ban the hunts, Alaska’s only member of the House of Representatives said.

Rep. Don Young, a Republican, said North Slope and western Alaska villages will continue hunting whales despite the IWC vote against renewing quotas for subsistence hunting of bowheads.

“The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission will continue their harvest under domestic regulations until this can be corrected by the IWC,” Young said Friday in a statement released by his Anchorage office.

The United States had asked the commission to renew a quota allowing Eskimos to hunt 55 bowhead whales over five years. The request received 32 votes in favor and 11 opposed Friday, the final day of the meeting in Shimonoseki, Japan. That fell short of the required three-fourths majority of the IWC’s 48 members.

The rejection came after the U.S., Britain and other nations blocked Tokyo-led attempts to lift the IWC’s commercial whaling ban. The IWC on Thursday denied a proposal to end the 1986 ban.

Earlier in the week, Japan was denied the right to let four coastal whaling towns catch a total of 50 minke whales from nearby waters.

In Washington, Dave Whaley of the House Resources Committee said the IWC has no power to sanction the U.S. if Alaska whalers ignore the ban. But he acknowledged that U.S. credibility could be questioned by other member nations if Eskimos hunt without a quota.

“Obviously, we don’t want to go that route,” he said. “We want to do things legally.”

The IWC meets once a year. The decision could be reversed in a special meeting or by a mail ballot, Whaley said, and steps are underway to do so.

The quota is in effect through the fall hunt, and whalers would not be affected until spring, Whaley said.

Meanwhile, Mexico announced an accord Friday to protect whales in its waters, making it the world’s largest national sanctuary for the giant mammals, environmental groups said. The office of Mexican President Vicente Fox said the “Area of Refuge” accord would provide added protection in areas such as reproduction, growth and migration to 39 whale species that spend time in Mexican waters.

Alaskans reacted strongly to the ban on Eskimo whaling.

Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska) called the action outrageous and unacceptable.

“This decision was the worst form of petty global politics and is simply intolerable,” Murkowski said. He said he will file a formal protest with the IWC.

“Subsistence whaling certainly is not a threat to the growing number of bowhead whales, but its absence is a threat to a centuries-old lifestyle and to the well-being of Alaska Eskimos,” Murkowski said. “Alaska natives always have protected the whales, always observing sustain-yield principles.”

Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat, said the action was a harpoon aimed at the hearts of indigenous subsistence users of Alaska’s North Slope and Russia’s Chukotsk Peninsula.

George Ahmaogak, a whaling captain and mayor of the North Slope Borough, urged the 10 villages that make up the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission to remain calm.

Ahmaogak, who landed a whale earlier this month, said the commission will work with the Commerce Department to ensure protection of bowhead hunts.

“The 32 countries that voted to support our subsistence quota request support us in our efforts,” Ahmaogak said. “We will work with the U.S. and the whaling communities to take the necessary steps to protect and continue the way of life that our elders have taught us.”

The IWC was formed in 1946. The commission focused on commercial whaling activities for years, but in 1977 voted to ban Alaska Eskimo subsistence harvests of bowhead whales.