whale-for-sale

WHALE FOR SALE THE GLOBAL TRADE IN DEAD WHALESThe US government accepted these arguments and despite a storm of controversy, brokered a dealthrough the IWC to allow the Makah to take up to five Eastern North Pacific grey whales each year fora 5-year period. In 1999, tribal members harpooned a grey whale. However, in December 2002, theUS Court of Appeals ruled that the USA’s issuance of a grey whale quota to the Makah tribe withoutfirst preparing an Environmental Impact Statement and receiving a waiver under the Marine MammalProtection Act, violated federal law and declared it illegal for the Makah to hunt further whales. ManyIWC member states agreed, arguing that as the Makah had not hunted for over 70 years, a ‘continuingtradition’ could not be claimed. An illegal hunt in September 2007 resulted in the death of a greywhale and led to federal prison sentences for two Makah tribe members.Alaska: The Iñupiat and Siberian Yupik Eskimos living in northern and western Alaska have huntedbowhead whales for thousands of years. To this day, aboriginal subsistence hunting of bowheadwhales is practised by 11 Alaska Eskimo communities under an IWC quota shared out amongst thesecommunities by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission which jointly manages the hunt with the USgovernment under a cooperative agreement established in 1981. 1Darting and shoulder guns, both of which were introduced by commercial whalers in the 19th century,remain the standard weapons for striking and killing whales. The number of strikes allowed per yearhas increased since the moratorium and in 2012, 69 bowhead whales were killed. The hunt has alsotaken one or two grey whales especially during the late 1980s, the last time being in 1995 when twowhales were killed. The following year, the quota was reduced to zero due to sustainability concerns. 2In October 2013, Iñupiat Eskimos of Barrow, Alaska, landed what they referred to as an ‘Eskimobutterball’ - a 27-foot-long bowhead whale - on the final day of their autumn hunt which saw 22bowheads killed. The meat, fat and skin (muktuk) is sliced into chunks, boxed up and sent tochurches which then distribute the whale products amongst the local community for Thanksgivingand Christmas feasts, where it is often eaten raw and frozen. “The whale is considered public,”declared whaling captain, George Ahmaogak. “It belongs to the community, so every whaling captaindonates to the community.”© Corey Accardo (NOAA){ 42 }