35 



opinion with Ms. Beattie as to why this thing should be carved a 

 little bit so it looks like it has been fashioned? Is there a disagree- 

 ment with that and why? 



Mr. Pungowiyi. Well, the people that buy them, people who are 

 curious, you know, about the walrus oosick (mostly it is tourists 

 who come up to Alaska). Also the handcrafted ones are the ones 

 where you carve out of ivory either a walrus head or a polar bear 

 head and attach it to one end of the oosick and then on the other 

 end is the flippers or some other ornament, you know, in essence 

 that makes it look attractive. I think that the Fish and Wildlife, 

 if I understand their proposed amendment, indicates that they 

 were more concerned about the sale of male organs and gall- 

 bladders in an unfinished raw form that would be used for 

 aphrodisiacs in the Asian countries. 



Mr. GlLCHREST. Do you have a concern that — do you understand 

 that they want to preserve the walruses? 



Mr. Pungowiyi. That is correct. 



Mr. GlLCHREST. And do you have some concern yourself about 

 those particular body parts as far as somewhere down the line 

 someone abusing, let us say some Asian countries coming in and 

 having a big market for types of body parts. Is that a potential 

 problem? 



Mr. Pungowiyi. If it was something that would come to our at- 

 tention, it would be something that we bring to the attention of 

 Fish and Wildlife. We have worked with them in terms of, if we 

 feel that there is an illegal activity that is of concern to the native 

 community, we will bring it to their attention. And as I mentioned, 

 the Act is very restrictive in terms of how it treats the Alaskan na- 

 tives, and what we can do and how we can do it with the products. 

 And I think that the Fish and Wildlife anticipates or envisions a 

 problem that is nonexistent. And they have not, and we have not — 

 it is my opinion or my knowledge, there has been no activity that 

 has surfaced concerning either the sale of oosicks in an unrefined 

 form or sale of gallbladders to the Asian countries. And, you know, 

 if they were concerned, I would assume that they would approach 

 us and tell us hey, we see this as something that is a potential 

 problem, let us work it out. That has not occurred. This is the first 

 time we heard today that they feel that there is a concern on sale 

 of gallbladders and male reproductive organs. 



Mr. GlLCHREST. Could Ms. Beattie just respond briefly? 



Ms. Beattie. I can respond that we are really trying, once again, 

 to clarify the definition of edible portion in the law as it is now, 

 and trying to stop what we believe is beginning to be a substantial 

 black market in these products for the Asian market. All it does 

 is try to define essentially edible portions as those traditionally 

 consumed by native peoples, and take out this sort of burgeoning 

 interest in gallbladders, which I am sure most of you have been 

 reading about, in the Asian market. 



Mr. GlLCHREST. It seems that the gentleman from Alaska wants 

 to preserve the integrity of his people and their rights, but I am 

 sure he would also agree he wants to work with the Fish and Wild- 

 life to prevent a black market from occurring. 



Ms. Beattie. And we would agree to that too. 



