Aboriginal whaling

Aboriginal whaling is the hunting of whales carried out by aboriginal groups who have a tradition of whaling. (The hunting of smaller cetaceans is covered at Dolphin drive hunting.)

Under the terms of the 1986 moratorium on whaling, the International Whaling Commission allows whaling carried out by aboriginal groups if it occurs on a subsistence basis, known as Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling. Whaling of this type is restricted to native peoples and others working on their behalf, as defined by the International Whaling Commission.

The IWC says that:

In order for a country to carry out a hunt under the aboriginal group clause, the nation must provide the IWC with evidence of "the cultural and subsistence needs of their people." In particular, the hunt is not intended for commercial purposes and the caught meat cannot be exported.

In the United States whaling is carried out by Alaska Natives from nine different communities in Alaska. The whaling programme is managed by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission which reports to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The commission includes eleven whaling communities who inhibit the Arctic Alaska coast: the Gambell, Savoonga, Wales, Little Diomede, Kicalina, Point Hope, Point Lay, Wainwright, Barrow, Nuiqsut, and Kaktovik.

The hunt takes around 75 bowhead whales a year from a population of about 10,000 in Alaskan waters. Anti-whaling groups claim this hunt is not sustainable, though the IWC Scientific Committee, the same group that provided the above population estimate, projects a population growth of 3.2% per year. The hunt also took an average of one or two Gray Whales each year until 1996. The quota was reduced to zero in that year due to concerns about sustainability. The hunts are now allowed to take 744 gray whales between 2013-2018, but the maximum amount in any one year is 140.

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