The Number of Sea Otters, Walrus, and Polar Bears 



Taken and Presented for Marking and Tagging 



by Alaskan Natives 



Year Sea Otters Walrus Polar Bears 



Pre-rule* 430 945 23 



1988** 52 



*** 

 1989 317 677 144 



* "Pre-rule" refers to stocks of raw, unworked, or tanned 

 marine mammal parts from animals taken between 21 

 December 1972 and 26 October 1988 and still held by 

 Native hunters when the regulations became effective. 



** Figures include only marine mammals taken after 26 

 October 1988. 



*** Figure includes those polar bears taken between 1 July 

 1988 and 30 June 1989. 



implementing the Whaling Convention Act, it is illegal to take 

 whales except in accordance with the Cooperative Agreement. 



On 24 October 1988, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss 

 the charges against him, arguing that: the Cooperative Agreement 

 was not in force when the alleged violations occurred because 

 notice of its extension beyond 31 December 1987 had not been 

 published in the Federal Register ; the Cooperative Agreement 

 impermissibly delegated management and enforcement authority for 

 subsistence whaling to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, a 

 non-governmental body; and the charged offenses are unconsti- 

 tutionally vague. 



A United States Magistrate in the District of Alaska 

 reviewed the defendant's motion to dismiss and, on 15 November 

 1988, recommended that it be denied. In support of that 

 recommendation, the Magistrate found that: when read in concert, 

 the three applicable statutes — the Whaling Convention Act, the 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Endangered Species Act — 

 authorized entry into the Cooperative Agreement; the defendant 

 had actual notice of the applicability of the provisions of the 

 Cooperative Agreement when he allegedly undertook the prohibited 

 activities; under the regulatory scheme, whaling may be conducted 

 only in accordance with the Cooperative Agreement and, if the 

 Cooperative Agreement had lapsed, no whaling would be authorized; 



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