Save the whales and Natives

Culture at risk

International whaling dispute could affect Alaska NativesThe international commission has long recognized how important the bowhead is to Inupiat and Siberian Yupik culture. The years have proven that Alaska's subsistence harvest doesn't jeopardize whale population survival. Nothing has changed since the commission last renewed Alaska's five-year subsistence whaling quotas.

Nothing has changed with Japan's dubious desire to reopen industrial-scale whaling, either. Even though the species they want to target are not endangered, there are not enough whales to feed a nation of 100 million. Nor is there enough independent, international enforcement to ensure that a commercial harvest won't spin out of control.