121 



The lack of any negative impact on marine mammal populations 

 by Native take should come as no surprise. The conservation ethic 

 of Native culture is deeply engrained, and taught to Native 

 children from the time that they are able to understand it. And 

 aside from the importance of learning these rules as a means of 

 continuing traditional Native practices, it obviously is in the 

 interests of Native peoples to ensure that they do not take too 

 many animals, for they want the populations tc remain healthy so 

 that they can serve as a continuing source of food and culture. 



Alaska Natives believe strongly that Native traditions, 

 practices, and culturally-taught rules are sufficient to protect 

 and conserve all marine mammal species used by Native peoples. But 

 Alaska Natives also understand that they live in a very different 

 setting than that in existence prior to western contact. Western 

 culture has made substantial and dramatic inroads on traditional 

 Native beliefs and practices. 



Native uses also must now contend with federal and state law, 

 and the agencies which implement and enforce those laws, as well as 

 with the expectations of interest groups, especially the animal 

 rights groups who, to put it charitably, are very concerned with 

 and often opposed to, Native uses of marine mammals. While they 

 profess an understanding of Native cultural institutions, many of 

 these agencies and organizations demand from Alaska Natives that 

 they show in concrete terms how Alaska Natives in fact work to 

 conserve marine mammal species. 



Faced with the dual demands of protecting and preserving 

 Native cultural practices and of satisfying the desires of others 

 to show concrete examples of Native self-regulation, Alaska Natives 

 have formed a number of marine mammal commissions whose purpose is 

 to provide institutional mechanisms for the protection of both 

 Native culture and marine mammal species. I would like to give you 

 a brief description of the activities of the commissions, and of 

 some efforts under way in some Native villages. (I have attached 

 to my testimony pertinent materials regarding these activities.) 



Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission . 



The organization of the AEWC began in the fall of 1977, after 

 the International Whaling Commission imposed a zero bowhead whale 

 harvest quota on the Eskimo people of northern Alaska. The action 

 was taken without consultation with the people who had hunted the 

 animal for centuries, and despite the universal recognition that 

 the whale's depleted status was not the result of Native 

 subsistence harvests. Though they could not have been faced with 

 a more serious threat to the continued existence of their 

 traditional culture, the Eskimo people did not act rashly, but 

 quickly recognized the need to organize. They formed a Commission 

 which included representatives from all of the harvesting 

 communities, and overcame great odds to become an effective and 

 respected voice in the management of the bowhead whale. Through a 

 memorandum of agreement with NOAA which defines and shares 

 responsibilities and duties regarding research, regulation, and 



