Eskimo whale quota

Press, 1 July 1978, Page 6

Eskimo whale quota

NZPA-Reuter London

The International Whaling Commission decided yesterday to allow Alaskan Eskimos to kill 18 of the relatively scarce bowhead whales next year, settling an issue which has sharply divided the thirtieth annual meeting of the commission in London.

But the quoto was too late and too little for the 25 Eskimos attending the meeting. They walked out after the I.W.C. technical committee had recommended the even higher quota of 24. The Eskimos, representing nine whaling villages, said in a statement that their own whaling commission “hereby gives notice to the I.W.C. that it obejcts to any

action taken by the I.W.C. concerning bowhead whales.” The Eskimos, for whom the whales provide both protein and religious ritual, said their hunts this northern autumn and next spring would be subject only to Eskimo regulation. Environmentalists fear this attitude might lead to the extinction of the bowhead, which scientists have recommended not be hunted at ah but for which the United States was given a 112-whale quota last year as an “aboriginal exception.” The Eskimos killed only 10 whales last spring. Mr Richard Frank, the leader of the American delegation, warned the commission that if the bowhead

quota were too low there) Iwould be blood on its hands' and it would be the blood of I a lot more whales than it I was talking about. Japan has been lobbying hard for no cuts on quotas especially for sperm whales in the north Pacific, for the scientific committee has been recommending reduction, according to sources in the committee. On the eve of the final meeting the issue had not been resolved. Some 23.000 whales were killed by I.W.C. nations last year, while non-I.W.C. whaling nations such as Chile, North and South Korea. Peru, Portugal, Somalia and Spain killed another 7000.