Number 30 June 2005 ISSN 1192-3539 Editorial MAKAH TRIBE PURSUES RIGHT TO HUNT The Digest continues to provide news on whaling research to On February 14 2005, the Makah Indian tribe of Washington researchers and libraries in many countries, and we appreciate State filed an application with the National Oceanic and hearing from researchers regarding the work they are doing in Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) requesting a waiver of diverse study areas. We aim to publish information on whaling the take moratorium under the Marine Mammal Protection Act research carried out in the social sciences, history, archeology for a ceremonial and subsistence harvest of up to 20 gray and law, and in other relevant fields (such as, e.g., the whales in any 5-year period. performing and graphic arts). A glance at this issue of the Digest indicates that research on whaling in diverse research The filing of this application is the result of a series of federal fields continues, published and communicated at whaling court rulings in a lawsuit filed by the Fund for Animals and the symposia and workshops, and that whaling and whale cultures Humane Society of the United States on January 10, 2002. The continue in various countries and provide opportunities today most recent court decision on June 7, 2004 left the Makah with for those wanting to study in situ whaling. Readers are two alternatives: (1) comply with the court decision by (a) reminded that the INWR Website, www.ualberta.ca/~inwr/ preparing a full environmental impact statement (EIS) and (b) contains further information on whaling and whaling research, seek either a permit or a permit waiver under the Marine and useful links to other whaling research websites Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) for taking a quota of gray whales; or (2) appeal the court decision to the US Supreme LITTLE DIOMEDE ISLANDERS LAND SEASON’S Court. After carefully considering their options, the Makah FIRST BOWHEAD decided against an appeal before the Supreme Court, because The first whale of the Alaskan 2005 bowhead season was of the risk of an adverse decision that could damage Indian successfully hunted by Thomas Mendalook Jr. and his crew treaty rights in general. about two km off Little Diomede Island in the Bering Sea on The Makah and the federal government now have two major April 19. The Mendalook crew, consisting of Thomas Jr. and steps to complete before whaling can recommence. One step is Chuckie Mendalook and Patrick Soolook, hunting in a 5.5 to prepare a full EIS; the federal government has already metre skiff, harpooned the 10 metre bowhead at 11 pm after begun that task. The other step is to seek a waiver under the several hours of searching. Most of the 140 islanders assisted MMPA, and as mentioned above, this was commenced on in hauling the 10 metre bowhead ashore at a landing site a February 14, 2005. short distance from the village. In their application for a waiver, the Makah contend that the Little Diomede is the smallest Alaskan whaling village, and the 1972 MMPA does not abrogate their 1855 treaty right to last to receive a bowhead quota from the Alaska Eskimo whale. The request for a waiver appears to be further Whaling village a little over a decade ago. In 1999, Thomas supported by the fact that the biological criteria for seeking a Mendalook Jr’s crew successfully hunted the first bowhead waiver of the MMPA are satisfied, since the gray whale taken by the Little Diomede community under the IWC quota population has fully recovered and is no longer endangered. system. Prior to 1999, the previous bowhead was landed by However, the public review process for both the EIS and the Little Diomede hunters in 1937, although a bowhead was request for the MMPA waiver are expected to be lengthy and struck but not landed in 1953. The interruption in bowhead contentious, given the intense opposition by anti-whaling hunting at Little Diomede variously resulted from the small groups to any hunting. size of the community (until quite recently, less than 100 residents) and lack of access to the best whaling grounds (in NUNAVUT HUNTERS PREPARE FOR SUMMER Soviet Union waters) during the Cold War when the BOWHEAD HUNT international border was closed. The Inuit community of Repulse Bay, in NW Hudson Bay, Nunavut Territory, has signed an agreement with the Canadian 1 federal government to undertake a bowhead hunt in early quality and quantity of data. The Committee noted that the August. A local organizing committee will select whaling program has “provided considerable data for improving the captains for the hunt. Under the terms of the 1993 Nunavut management of Antarctic minke whales.” The Committee also land claim agreement, the Nunavut Wildlife Management noted that using only non-lethal means to obtain this Board (NWMB) “shall establish a total allowable harvest … of information was unlikely to be successful in the Antarctic. The at least one bowhead whale… considering the results of the international whaling convention requires the by-products of [Inuit Bowhead Knowledge] study… and other information as the research be processed and not wasted; income from the may be available to it”. A 2004 bowhead conservation sale of by-products of the research sampling has help fund the strategy, required under Canada’s Species at Risk Act, and research. prepared by the NWMB and WWF-Canada, concluded that a continuing bowhead hunt following the best scientific advice WHALE MEAT CONSUMPTION IN KOREA would not compromise the recovery of Eastern Arctic Korea consumes 150 tons of whale meat annually, 80 percent bowhead. Since that report was completed, Fisheries and of which is consumed in the city of Ulsan, where the 57th Oceans Canada have completed population surveys and International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting will be estimate Eastern Arctic bowhead whale numbers may be ten held in May 2005. Half of the 50 whale meat restaurants in times larger than has been conventionally accepted since 1982. Korea are located in Ulsan, with a further ten whale meat The NWMB has authorized bowhead hunts in 1996 (Repulse restaurants located in Busan, ten in North Gyeongsang Bay), 1998 (Pangnirtung), 2000 (Coral Harbour), and 2002 Province, and five in Seoul. Whale processing has decreased (Igloolik/Hall Beach). over the past three years, from 84 whales in 2002, 64 in 2003, and 57 in 2004. About 80 percent of whales are taken as by- JAPAN COM PLETES 18 YEARS OF ANTARCTIC catch in fishing nets in the East Sea. About fives whales are WHALE RESEARCH taken every year, mainly between April and June, in waters At the end of March 2005, Japan’s whale research vessels close to Ulsan, the main Korea whaling base, which hosts a returned to port after completing the final year of an 18-year popular whaling festival each year. research program in the Antarctic. 29th WHALING HISTORY SYMPOSIUM In 1982, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) The Annual Whaling History Symposium, formerly organized adopted the moratorium on commercial whaling on the and hosted by the Kendall Whaling Museum, is now held grounds of insufficient scientific knowledge of whales. In under the auspices of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, in th order to remove the scientific uncertainties and pave the way New Bedford, Massachusetts. The 29 symposium was held for the resumption of sustainable commercial whaling, Japan October 16-17, 2004 and featured the following speakers and began the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special topics: “Hawaiian Crossroads”, Mary Malloy (USA) and a Permit in the Antarctic (JARPA), conducted under Article VIII related paper on ongoing research on Native Hawaiian of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. involvement in Yankee whaling was provided by Susan Lebo The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and the IWC (USA); “Revisiting the Whalemen’s Natural History”, D. moratorium apply only to commercial whaling, and do not Graham Burnett (USA); “Whaling in the German Democratic affect taking whales for scientific research purposes under Republic: consumption of whale meat caught by a state-owned permits issued by national governments. fishing fleet behind the Iron Curtain, 1950s to 1980s”, Ingo Heidbrink (Germany); “The Whaleman Statue; or a tempest in The 18 years of research has provided information on various a trypot”, Rudolf Riefstahl (USA); “The Mormon voyage of biological characteristics, including natural mortality and the whaleship Timoleo: the launching of Latter-Day Saint changes in the age of maturity of minke whales, and various missionary work in the Pacific”, Fred E. Woods (USA); factors necessary for whale management under a sustainable “Standing in Whale Alley”, Robert Lloyd Webb (USA). A commercial whaling regime. Also studied were major baleen paper, “Reading history in DNA: genetic diversity and whale whale population changes, including a surprisingly rapid abundances in the North Atlantic” by Joseph Roman (USA) growth in the abundance of fin and humpback whales and a was followed by opposing views about this controversial possible slowing rate of growth in the minke whale population. methodology provided by Tim Smith (USA) and Randall R. Reeves (Canada). A personal view on the international Results of the research program have been submitted to the regulation of whaling was provided by Ray Gambell (UK), Scientific Committee of the IWC every year, and are relevant who was the 2004 recipient of the museum’s prestigious L. for establishing a new and improved management system for Byrne Waterman Award. whales, based on the ecosystem approach, which will allow for Further information on the symposium is provided in the Fall conservation, recovery of depleted species and sustainable use 2004 issue of the museum’s newsletter, The Bulletin from of some whale stocks.