Library
Reference Library - Book Review
Inuit, Whaling, and Sustainability
Freeman, Milton, Lyudmila Bogoslovskaya, Richard Caulfield, Ingmar Egede, Igor Krupnik and Marc Stevenson. 1998
Reviewed by David Scrivener, Keele University
Inuit are willing to establish a dialogue with those who, for whatever reason, weaken our culture and our security through attacks upon our use of the animals that provide us with the necessities of life.' Sponsored by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), this book is a fascinating and rousing attempt to further such a dialogue with those opposed to the consumptive utilisation of whales in societies far removed from, and largely ignorant of, social, cultural and environmental conditions in the Arctic regions of Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russian Chukotka. The first half of the book knits together comments from Inuit communities in these areas describing the hunting of belugas, narwhals, gray, bowhead, fin and minke whales and the importance of these centuries-old practices and the food and other materials they provide for their nutrition, economy and culture. The second half offers a critique of the International Whaling Commission from several angles and compares current whaling management regimes in the four countries (most of which involve varying degrees of co-management).
The ultimate purpose of the book seems to be to explain the reasoning behind the Inuit challenge to the legitimacy of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) as the most appropriate body for regulating the utilisation of whale stocks in the Arctic and North Atlantic. The reader is reminded that Canadian Inuit organisations have persistently urged the Canadian government to remain outside the IWC and to become a full member of the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO) established in 1992 by Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Norway and that they hope that this organisation will ultimately take over responsibility for collective management of whale stocks on a regional basis. The book argues trenchantly that the IWC has been de facto taken over by an ideologically animal protectionist majority of states and NGOs and that its original purpose has been undermined. It also highlights the difficulties encountered in asserting a genuinely equal role for indigenous peoples' traditional ecological (and other) knowledge alongside scientific expertise in informing management decisions on marine mammal conservation.
The book contains many interesting photographs of the Inuit hunting of whales and communal distribution of the meat, mattak and oil, as well as a judicious collection of excepts from various policy interventions by Inuit organisations relating to whale management at the national and international levels. It challenges some of the stereotypes prevalent in Southern metropoles concerning the nature of the Inuit-whaling relationship and precisely what the category of aboriginal whaling should consist of, most notably in the debate over the sale of edible whale products. It is a valuable addition to reading lists on the international politics of whaling and a very refreshing read.
Contents:
Foreword by Aqqaluk Lynge, President, Inuit Circumpolar Conference / Introduction: A Book on Inuit Whaling? / The Importance of Inuit Whaling Today / Whaling by Inuit: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow / Human Rights and the International Whaling Commission / A Review of Whaling Management Regimes / Challenges to the Sustainable Use of Whales by Inuit / Securing the Future of Inuit Whaling / Epilogue: Inuit and Whales. 208 pp, photos, map, table, glossary, index.
To order:
AltaMira Press, 1630 North Main St, #367, Walnut Creek, CA 94596, USA. Tel: 805.499.9774; Fax: 805.375.1700; explore@altamira.sagepub.com . ISBN 0-7619-9062-3 (hardcover), 0-7619-9063-1 (paperback). $52 hardcover, $24.95 paperback.