[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16537-16538]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  ON THE INTRODUCTION OF THE WHALING CONVENTION AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 24, 2008

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Madam Speaker, today I am introducing, along 
with Alaska's Senators, legislation to authorize the Secretary of 
Commerce to set the bowhead whale quota for the Alaska Eskimo Whaling 
Commission in the event the International Whaling Commission does not 
set an Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling quota for the bowhead whale.
  Madam Speaker, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) is at a 
crossroads. Many observers of the IWC have raised concerns that the 
Commission will either fall apart in the next few years or it will turn 
into a whale protection organization that will allow no take of 
whales--even for subsistence purposes. In either case, without an 
alternative mechanism for authorizing the Alaska subsistence harvest of 
bowhead whales, the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission could find itself 
with no quota authorized by the IWC. In the event that this were to 
occur and the Alaskan hunters tried to fulfill the communities needs 
for whale meat, they could find themselves in violation of the Whaling 
Convention Act of 1949 for attempting to feed their people.
  And even if the IWC remains a viable management entity, the 
Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling quotas have been rejected by the IWC 
several times in recent memory due to political fights between the 
whaling nations and those nations that are opposed to any whaling. 
These fights have used the Alaskan Natives as political footballs and 
left the Native people of Alaska without a quota of whales. This 
happened most recently in 2002 when the IWC rejected the Alaskan quota 
for no other reason than politics. And at this year's IWC meeting, the 
Greenland Natives submitted a request to substitute humpback whales for 
the current quota of fin whales--something the IWC's Scientific 
Committee had already considered and determined that the harvest of 10 
humpback whales would not endanger the stock. Despite the Scientific 
Committee's determination, the IWC did not have

[[Page 16538]]

enough votes to allow this quota. In both of these cases, the IWC did 
not act on Native quotas despite recommendations or determinations by 
the Scientific Committee that the quota was sustainable and would not 
endanger the stocks. In both cases, the Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling 
quotas were rejected because of politics and not science.
  Madam Speaker, it is clear that in the fight to outlaw scientific 
whaling and commercial whaling, many IWC member countries are being 
pressured by animal rights groups to stop all whaling. These animal 
rights groups do not understand the subsistence needs of Native 
people--or they don't care.
  Alaskan Native whalers have already been held hostage during these 
fights over scientific and commercial whaling and that is not right.
  Today, the Alaska delegation is introducing legislation to regulate 
domestic Native subsistence whaling under domestic law in the event 
that the IWC cannot authorize a quota for the Alaska Eskimo Whaling 
Commission's bowhead whale harvest.
  The legislation will allow the Secretary of Commerce to set the 
annual quota for the bowhead harvest in the event that the IWC is 
unable to set the quota. Under the legislation, the Secretary must set 
the quota based on science and the needs of the Alaska Natives.
  The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission's harvest has always been 
sustainable, based on science, based on harvest levels approved by the 
IWC's Scientific Committee, and set at a level that has allowed the 
bowhead whale population to increase to the point where some scientists 
are now calling for the downlisting of the stock.
  The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission has continually had to justify 
their harvest--both their cultural need and their nutritional need. 
They have done this and have also responded to every hurdle that anti-
whaling nations have put in their way. In addition, they probably have 
provided more scientific information to the IWC on the bowhead whale 
than the IWC has on any other whale species. All of this was done to 
justify a harvest that has gone on for centuries.
  The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission has continued to respect the 
IWC, continued to respect the scientific recommendations of the 
Secretary of Commerce and the IWC's Scientific Committee, and continued 
to respect the bowhead whale. But they cannot be used as political 
footballs by the IWC and they cannot have their need for the bowhead 
whale delayed if the IWC fails to renew their quota in a timely manner.
  This legislation will ensure that the AEWC will have their cultural 
and nutritional needs met in the event that the IWC fails to act to 
renew their quota or if the IWC decided to hold their quota hostage for 
political reasons, but does so in a manner that is based on science and 
the needs of the Alaskan Native people as determined by the Secretary 
of Commerce.

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