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composed of representatives of the Commission, Fish and Wildlife 

 Service and Alaska Department of Fish and Game to discuss walrus 

 related issues, disseminate information among the three agencies, 

 and make recommendations to the EWC. Later, in 1987, EWC, FWS, and 

 ADFG entered into a formal Memorandum of Agreement for the joint 

 management of walrus; under that MOA, the three agencies are 

 proceeding on conservation/management planning for walrus. The EWC 

 also has been quite active in promoting non-wasteful uses of 

 walrus; in pursuit of this goal, it has cooperated with FWS in the 

 prosecution of the few hunters who behave wastefully. 



Polar bears . 



While there is no formal polar bear commission at this time, 

 Alaska Natives have expended considerable efforts in polar bear 

 management. Perhaps the most significant of these is the signing 

 of a cooperative agreement between the North Slope Borough and the 

 Inuvaluit Game Council in Canada regarding the management and 

 harvest of the Beaufort Sea polar bear population. That agreement 

 sets limitations on the harvest of polar bears by Alaska and 

 Canadian Natives, and serves as a vehicle for comprehensive 

 management and protection of that population; it has been very 

 successful in all respects. Alaska Natives who use the Chukchi Sea 

 polar bear population are now in the process of emulating that 

 agreement by working with Russian Natives to develop a joint 

 agreement for the Chukchi Sea population. The intent here is to 

 arrive at both a Native-only agreement, and to work with the U.S. 

 and Russian governments to develop an international, four party 

 agreement respecting the use and management of the Chukchi Sea 

 stock. The Native community is also monitoring FWS' proposed polar 

 bear habitat protection policy. And it is in the process of 

 evaluating whether and how best to develop a formal polar bear 

 commission. 



Village initiatives . 



Many villages in Alaska have come to realize the value of 

 formally promulgated ordinances regulating the take of fish and 

 wildlife for subsistence purposes. Several of these ordinances 

 pertain to marine mammal hunting. For example, the village of 

 Gambell on St. Lawrence Island has a comprehensive marine mammal 

 hunting ordinance, which governs the take of marine mammals by 

 village residents, sets up a mechanism for monitoring take, and 

 contains specific enforcement policies and proceedings. Three 

 other villages in northern Norton Sound are now working 

 cooperatively on a joint regulatory approach for the take of beluga 

 whales, by which each village will promulgate ordinances governing 

 their own members and enter into a cooperative agreement to 

 recognize those ordinances with respect to uses of beluga whales by 

 the members of the other villages. Other villages are working on 

 regulatory approaches of their own, a trend that I believe will 

 increase significantly over the next few years, especially if 

 adequate funding can be found. 



