Chapter VIII — Marine Mammals in Alaska 
Table 14. Number of sea otters, walruses, and 
polar bears presented for marking and 
tagging by Alaska Natives, 1988-1992 
Year' Sea Otters Walruses Polar Bears 
Pre-rule” 499 1,467 123 
1988? 55 6 132 
1989 268 736 99 
1990 166 1,458 74 
1991 236 2,143 59 
1992+ 620 12527, _ 
Sea otter and walrus data are provided on a calendar year 
basis. Polar bear data are provided on the basis of the harvest 
year, which runs from 1 July of the year indicated to 30 June 
of the following year. 
“Pre-rule” refers to stocks of raw, unworked, or tanned 
marine mammal from animals taken between 21 Decem- 
ber 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. Figures for polar bears include those animals taken 
between 26 October 1988 and 30 June 1989. 
Preliminary estimates only. Receipt of harvest certificates for 
1992 may not be complete. 
collect information on the harvested animals. The 
authorized taggers include Native village residents 
working under contract to the Service as well as 
Service employees in Anchorage and at National 
Wildlife Refuges. Data obtained from the marking 
and tagging program are maintained by the Service in 
a computerized database. 
In 1991 the Service changed the way in which it 
maintains polar bear data. While data for sea otters 
and walruses are maintained on a calendar year basis, 
polar bear data are recorded by harvest year, which 
runs from 1 July to 30 June. This change was made 
to facilitate comparison of recent polar bear data with 
data from past years. 
Data on the number of marine mammals tagged 
under the Fish and Wildlife Service’s program 
through 1992 are presented in Table 14. Reporting 
for 1992 is not yet complete and data from this year 
should be considered as preliminary. 
161 
To date, the National Marine Fisheries Service has 
not promulgated marking and tagging regulations for 
those species under its jurisdiction that are taken by 
Alaska Natives for subsistence or handicraft purposes. 
Litigation Related to 
Marine Mammals in Alaska 
Katelnikoff Beck et al. v. 
U.S. Department of the Interior 
The Katelnikoff lawsuit was originally filed in 1985 
in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska. 
The Fish and Wildlife Service had confiscated certain 
handicraft items made of sea otter pelts (i.e., teddy 
bears, hats and mittens, fur flowers, and pillows) 
from the plaintiff, an Aleut resident of Kodiak Island, 
because the items were not of a type commonly made 
by Alaska Natives prior to enactment of the Marine 
Mammal Protection Act in 1972. The plaintiff 
challenged the Service’s regulatory definition of 
“authentic native articles of handicrafts and clothing.” 
That definition limited the Act’s Native exemption to 
traditional handicrafts commonly made by Alaska 
Natives on or before the effective date of the Act. 
The plaintiff argued that the Act preserved the right of 
Alaska Natives to take marine mammals for handicraft 
purposes regardless of whether such items had been 
commonly made before the Marine Mammal Protec- 
tion Act took effect. 
On 16 June 1986 another Alaska Native, from 
whom the Service also had confiscated items hand- 
crafted from sea otter pelts, moved to become a 
plaintiff-intervenor in the case. Shortly after the 
motion to intervene was granted, the court issued a 
ruling in favor of the Service. In a 21 July 1986 
opinion, the court held that the language of the Act 
and its legislative history supported establishing 1972 
as a cutoff date in the regulations. In light of that 
ruling, the original plaintiff agreed to dismiss her 
claims. The plaintiff-intervenor, however, filed an 
amended complaint in October 1987, claiming that the 
regulation was unconstitutionally vague because it did 
not provide sufficient guidance to determine what 
handicrafts were or were not commonly produced 
from sea otters before 21 December 1972. 
