Subsistence Hunting Of The Bowhead Whale
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Subsistence hunting of the bowhead whale is permitted by the
International Whaling Commission The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is a specialised regional fishery management organisation, established under the terms of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) to "provide for the proper conservation ...
, under limited conditions. While
whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...
is banned in most parts of the world, some of the Native peoples of North America, including the
Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...
and
Iñupiat The Inupiat (singular: Iñupiaq), also known as Alaskan Inuit, are a group of Alaska Natives whose traditional territory roughly spans northeast from Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to the northernmost part of the Canada–United States borde ...
peoples in Alaska,Condon, Richard G., Peter Collings, and George Wenzel. 1995. “The Best Part of Life: Subsistence Hunting, Ethnicity, and Economic Adaptation Among Young Adult Inuit Males”. Arctic 48 (1). Arctic Institute of North America: 31–46. continue to hunt the
Bowhead whale The bowhead whale (''Balaena mysticetus''), sometimes called the Greenland right whale, Arctic whale, and polar whale, is a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and is the only living representative of the genus '' Balaena' ...
.
Aboriginal whaling Aboriginal whaling or indigenous whaling is the hunting of whales by indigenous peoples recognised by either IWC (International Whaling Commission) or the hunting is considered as part of indigenous activity by the country. It is permitted unde ...
is valued for its contribution to food stocks (
subsistence economy A subsistence economy is an economy directed to basic subsistence (the provision of food, clothing and shelter) rather than to the market. Definition "Subsistence" is understood as supporting oneself and family at a minimum level. Basic subsiste ...
) and to cultural survival, although the days of commercial
whaling in the United States Commercial whaling in the United States dates to the 17th century in New England. The industry peaked in 1846–1852, and New Bedford, Massachusetts, sent out its last whaler, the ''John R. Mantra'', in 1927. The whaling industry was engaged wi ...
and in Canada are over.


Iñupiat

The bowhead whale is of great cultural significance to the Iñupiat in Utqiagvik, Alaska, who say that one cannot live without the other. According to the Iñupiat, the whale is the center of their diet, culture, and spirit. This makes them dependent on the complex system of sharing and celebrating the whale,Hess, Bill. 1999. Gift of the Whale : The Iñupiaq Bowhead Hunt, a Sacred Tradition. Seattle, Wash., Sasquatch Books. and leads them to pray to any killed bowhead whale in thanks for the life it has given to them. For the Iñupiat, subsistence hunting and fishing are important and viable economic strategies, which provide food and raw materials for the whole group. When hunters bring whales back to the community, about 65–70 people drag the whale onto the ice, where they work all day to harvest the meat. They work non-stop to prevent the whale's body heat from melting the ice too much. Afterwards, the captain and crew of the hunt invite the community to a celebratory meal.ECHO Partners. "Iñupiaq Whale Hunt." YouTube. February 25, 2009. Accessed March 22, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAqEK7K5oCQ Once the captain has taken what he needs, he gives the rest of the whale away to his community and any others who need the food. However, despite its necessity, the interest in subsistence hunting has reduced among the youth in the tribes. Reasons for this decline include a lack of training, a lack of equipment, changing dietary preferences, a lack of interest, an increasing dependence upon wage employment, and interest in other activities (for example,
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
,
hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...
, and
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
). Subsistence hunters take pride in what they do, because they see themselves as strong providers for their family and community. People within the Inuit community describe active hunters as follows "1) active hunters are always sharing meat with other people, 2) active hunters are always ready to go out hunting at a moment's notice, 3) active hunters travel at any time of year and not just during the spring, and 4) active hunters know more about travelling in cold weather and on the sea ice." On the way to the hunt, they travel by snowmobile across the ice until they find a safe campsite, which can sometimes take all day. The campsite must be near landlocked ice, so the hunters can move to the safety of solid ice in an emergency. Once on the hunt, they kill with harpoons and dart guns while sitting in their umiak (made from seal hide and part of a
caribou The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...
). Most nutrition is derived from the whale's meat and organs. According to the Iñupiat people, the whale's '' maktak'', the thick black skin and attached oily blubber, contains body-warming energy and
vitamin C Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits, berries and vegetables. It is also a generic prescription medication and in some countries is sold as a non-prescription di ...
. The whale's bones are used to frame sod ''iglus'' ( igloo), and the elastic
baleen Baleen is a filter feeder, filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by th ...
is woven into baskets. The liver membrane is used for drums.


Legal rights to tribes in Alaska

The problem of
food security Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, healthy Human food, food. The availability of food for people of any class, gender, ethnicity, or religion is another element of food protection. Simila ...
creates a need for laws on hunting in Alaska. Under the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Association (FAO), food security is defined as the ability for an individual to "have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life."Theriault, Sophie, Ghislain Otis, Gerard Duhaime, and Christopher Furgal. "The legal protection of subsistence: a prerequisite of food security for the Inuit of Alaska." ''Alaska Law Review'' 22 (2005): 35. Under this definition, Alaskans would be able to hunt the bowhead whale despite conservation efforts, which creates a need for official regulation. Congress enacted the
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed into law by U.S. President, President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971, constituting what is still the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to reso ...
(ANCSA) in 1971, which removed "all aboriginal titles, if any, and claims of aboriginal title in Alaska based on use and occupancy, including submerged land underneath all water areas, both inland and offshore, and including any aboriginal hunting or fishing rights that may exist". The act also titled Natives with "44 million acres of Alaska and extinguished remaining claims with a $1 billion payment."Richardson, J.R. 1992. "Hunting for a balance." National Parks 66, no. 3/4: 34. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 1, 2016). Natives received compensation under this act, but it did not protect subsistence hunting. This led natives to look for exceptions in other laws, such as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA), and the
Endangered Species Act of 1973 The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting and conserving imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of e ...
(ESA). In 1980, The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) was adapted to include subsidence hunting and fishing rights. This act gives up its rights to lands and fishing rights and gives them to Native Americans,
Eskimo ''Eskimo'' () is a controversial Endonym and exonym, exonym that refers to two closely related Indigenous peoples: Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Canadian Inuit, and the Greenlandic Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Sibe ...
s, or
Aleut Aleuts ( ; (west) or (east) ) are the Indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleuts and the islands are politically divided between the US state of Alaska ...
s for subsistence use. "ANILCA provides that Alaska may obtain subsistence jurisdiction of federal lands upon passage of a law providing for a similar subsistence priority for rural residents". The ANILCA also granted permanent protection to 104 million acres of federal land, including more than 40 million acres of parkland. Under ANILCA, Natives are allowed to substance hunt on seven new and expanded parks. ANILCA governs subsistence for "rural residents", on federal lands, whereas state law governs subsistence for "all Alaskans", on state and private lands (including Native-owned ANCSA lands). Since both state and federal governments take care of Alaska's subsistence hunting laws, dual management between state and federal agencies is needed. This is currently guided by an Interim Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).


Natives and hunting licences

Permits are required to practise subsistence hunting in state of Alaska. The above laws allow for any resident of Alaska to apply for these permits. Because of this, many of the laws made for subsistence hunting fall in line with Alaska's normal hunting laws. A person under the age of sixteen must have completed a Basic Hunter Education course or be with someone over the age of sixteen who has. One can also be with an adult born no later than January 1, 1986."Subsistence and Personal Use Fishing Licenses and Permits, Alaska Department of Fish and Game." Subsistence and Personal Use Fishing Licenses and Permits, Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. Permit applications must be submitted between November 1 and December 15 or they will be is discarded. Game for use as food in customary and traditional
Alaska Native Alaska Natives (also known as Native Alaskans, Alaskan Indians, or Indigenous Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of Alaska that encompass a diverse arena of cultural and linguistic groups, including the I ...
religious ceremonies may be hunted out of season and more than the allowed limits. Permits are awarded to those who score highest on the application questions. Each application is scored on five questions, and permits for each hunt are given starting at the highest overall score and working downward until all permits have been given. Hunters may also apply for multiple permits (as separate applications), but can hold only one permit for each species of animal they wish to hunt. Permits cannot be transferred to another person, unless they are "active duty military personnel deployed to a combat zone who are unable to use their Tier II permit homay transfer their permit to a substitute hunter who is a resident of Alaska." While hunting, one must carry the required permits, valid
hunting license A hunting license or hunting permit is a regulation, regulatory or law, legal mechanism to control hunting, both commercial and recreational. A license specifically made for game hunting, recreational hunting is sometimes called a game license ...
s and, if appropriate, big game locking tags. At the end of the season all permits must be returned, regardless of use.


Quotas

The IWC quota for hunting bowheads was 100 in 2020, with 7 for Russia and 93 for the United States. US hunters stuck 69 bowheads, of which they were able to bring 54 to land.


In Arctic Canada

The
Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...
have hunted whales long before European whaling ships showed up in the 1700s from the 1940s they were forced to stop, but resumed in the 1990s. Only a few licenses are available each year. The hunt is monitored and co-managed by Nunavik Marine Regional Wildlife Board, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. In 2024, the
Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...
hunters of Aklavik,
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...
were permitted to hunt and kill one bowhead whale with the
whale meat Whale meat, broadly speaking, may include all cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) and all parts of the animal: muscle (meat), organs (offal), skin (muktuk), and fat (blubber). There is relatively little demand for whale meat, compared to far ...
to be distributed to
Inuvialuit The Inuvialuit (sing. Inuvialuk; ''the real people'') or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska. Their homelan ...
and Gwich'in communities in the region.CBC News: For the first time in nearly 30 years, Aklavik, N.W.T., hunters can harvest a bowhead whale
/ref>


References

{{Hunting topics Whaling in the United States Inupiat culture Whaling in Canada Inuit culture