World Whaling
Introduction / MAP - Aotearoa - Canada - Caribbean - Faroe Islands - Greenland - Iceland - Indonesia - Japan - Norway - Philippines - Russia - USA
United States of America
Although it no longer supports a large-scale whaling industry, the United States remains a whaling nation. In addition to the Makah gray whale hunt, Alaskan Eskimos continue their unbroken tradition of whaling for bowhead, gray and beluga whales, as they have done for millennia.
Neither the Eskimo or Makah hunt represents a threat to the health of any of the whale stocks hunted; indeed, prior to and following the whaling excesses of American and European industries in the past century, gray whale stocks have increased to pre-industrial exploitation levels despite the activities of the Eskimo, Chukchi and Makah hunts. Taken as a whole, the pressures of indigenous whaling from the United States on whale stocks are minimal and, as the abundant and fully recovered gray whale population demonstrates, ecologically sound.
Alaskan whaling is conducted from about fifty traditional whaling communities. Bowhead whales (current quota: 51) are hunted from seven North Alaskan villages and three villages on two islands in the Bering Sea (St. Lawrence Island and Little Diomede Island). An eleventh village is currently (2004) planning to resume bowhead whaling. The bowhead whale is the primary species hunted; this is followed in importance by the beluga, with gray whales and minke whales comprising opportunistic catches; many years, neither of these species is taken. On St. Lawrence Island and in some North Alaskan coastal communities, traditional skin boats are used in the bowhead hunt, and outboard powered skiffs are often used to tow the whale to shore. Due to the bowhead whale's ability to hear motors, the boats are paddled or sailed so as not to alert the whale. Once approached, the whale is taken with a penthrite grenade fired from a hand-held darting gun, or a shoulder gun. The use of penthrite grenades ensures a quick, humane kill.
Archeological records indicate that the Makah people have utilized whales for at least 3,500 years. Throughout this period, whale stocks remained abundant; the harvest was sustainable, and included humpback, gray and right whales. Serious depletion of these whale stocks did not occur until the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the arrival of non-native whaling industries. Witnessing this, the Makah peoples decided to stop whaling until such time as the whale stocks were healthy once again. A long-range traditional conservation plan was agreed to: no Makah would whale until the whale populations that sustained them were once again healthy. The gray whale stock hunted by the Makah recently recovered to exceed its historic level.
Scientific estimates recently placed the population in excess of 26,600 whales, although this number is believed to exceed the carrying capacity of the environment and a smaller "equilibrium" population is now being achieved through natural die-off. The first hunt in 70 years occurred in 1999, ending in the successful harvest of a single gray whale. The Makah have a quota of a maximum of 5 whales per year. This quota, together with the Chukotka quota in Russia, combined represents a fraction of one-percent of the current gray whale population.
The Makah will continue to hunt the gray whale in a traditional manner, in accord with contemporary regulations. An 8-man crew consisting of a harpooner, a rifleman and six paddlers maneuvers a 10m. long cedar dugout canoe alongside a whale, and a harpoon with a line and floats attached is then employed. Following this, in accord with the Makah Management Plan governing the hunt, a specially designed .577 caliber rifle is used to finish the hunt as quickly and humanely as possible. Small boats then tow the whale back to shore where it is butchered and shared among community members.
Both the Makah and the Eskimo people have a long tradition of commerce in whale products, stretching back over thousands of years, and into the present. In each case, whale meat and blubber is traded with other communities for foods and items not readily available on the coast. In both cases, whaling is a community affair, with fundamental socio-cultural relevance. A successful hunt is celebrated with a feast, to which the entire village is invited. Everyone gets a share of the meat and blubber, and essential social ties are renewed and strengthened. Contrary to the non-native industrial whaling of the past century, indigenous whaling in the United States today is small-scale, sustainable, and fulfills a number of important cultural, spiritual and nutritional needs. In this spirit of community and cultural need, the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission (AEWC), a co-management organization for bowhead whalers, assisted the Makah nation in acquiring its gray whale quota from the (IWC). This was made possible through the generosity of the Alaskan Eskimo whalers, who agreed to share their bowhead quota with the Chukotkan whalers, who in turn provided the Makah gray whale quota from their own gray whale quota. Such ties between distant whaling communities may be contemporary in scope, but in spirit they represent the ongoing expression of ancient trade networks and technological exchanges which have existed amongst indigenous peoples for millennia.