The Digest continues to provide news on whaling research to researchers and libraries in many countries, and we appreciate hearing from researchers regarding the work they are doing in diverse study areas. We aim to publish information on whaling research carried out in the social sciences, history, archeology and law, and in other relevant fields (such as, e.g., the performing and graphic arts). A glance at this issue of the Digest indicates that research on whaling in diverse research fields continues, published and communicated at whaling symposia and workshops, and that whaling and whale cultures continue in various countries and provide opportunities today for those wanting to study in situ whaling. Readers are reminded that the INWR Website, www.ualberta.ca/~inwr/ contains further information on whaling and whaling research, and useful links to other whaling research websites
The first whale of the Alaskan 2005 bowhead season was successfully hunted by Thomas Mendalook Jr. and his crew about two km off Little Diomede Island in the Bering Sea on April 19. The Mendalook crew, consisting of Thomas Jr. and Chuckie Mendalook and Patrick Soolook, hunting in a 5.5 metre skiff, harpooned the 10 metre bowhead at 11 pm after several hours of searching. Most of the 140 islanders assisted in hauling the 10 metre bowhead ashore at a landing site a short distance from the village.
Little Diomede is the smallest Alaskan whaling village, and the last to receive a bowhead quota from the Alaska Eskimo Whaling village a little over a decade ago. In 1999, Thomas Mendalook Jr’s crew successfully hunted the first bowhead taken by the Little Diomede community under the IWC quota system. Prior to 1999, the previous bowhead was landed by Little Diomede hunters in 1937, although a bowhead was struck but not landed in 1953. The interruption in bowhead hunting at Little Diomede variously resulted from the small size of the community (until quite recently, less than 100 residents) and lack of access to the best whaling grounds (in Soviet Union waters) during the Cold War when the international border was closed.
On February 14 2005, the Makah Indian tribe of Washington State filed an application with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) requesting a waiver of the take moratorium under the Marine Mammal Protection Act for a ceremonial and subsistence harvest of up to 20 gray whales in any 5-year period.
The filing of this application is the result of a series of federal court rulings in a lawsuit filed by the Fund for Animals and the Humane Society of the United States on January 10, 2002. The most recent court decision on June 7, 2004 left the Makah with two alternatives: (1) comply with the court decision by (a) preparing a full environmental impact statement (EIS) and (b) seek either a permit or a permit waiver under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) for taking a quota of gray whales; or (2) appeal the court decision to the US Supreme Court. After carefully considering their options, the Makah decided against an appeal before the Supreme Court, because of the risk of an adverse decision that could damage Indian treaty rights in general.
The Makah and the federal government now have two major steps to complete before whaling can recommence. One step is to prepare a full EIS; the federal government has already begun that task. The other step is to seek a waiver under the MMPA, and as mentioned above, this was commenced on February 14, 2005.
In their application for a waiver, the Makah contend that the 1972 MMPA does not abrogate their 1855 treaty right to whale. The request for a waiver appears to be further supported by the fact that the biological criteria for seeking a waiver of the MMPA are satisfied, since the gray whale population has fully recovered and is no longer endangered. However, the public review process for both the EIS and the request for the MMPA waiver are expected to be lengthy and contentious, given the intense opposition by anti-whaling groups to any hunting.
The Inuit community of Repulse Bay, in NW Hudson Bay, Nunavut Territory, has signed an agreement with the Canadian federal government to undertake a bowhead hunt in early August. A local organizing committee will select whaling captains for the hunt. Under the terms of the 1993 Nunavut land claim agreement, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB) "shall establish a total allowable harvest … of at least one bowhead whale… considering the results of the [Inuit Bowhead Knowledge] study… and other information as may be available to it". A 2004 bowhead conservation strategy, required under Canada’s Species at Risk Act, and prepared by the NWMB and WWF-Canada, concluded that a continuing bowhead hunt following the best scientific advice would not compromise the recovery of Eastern Arctic bowhead. Since that report was completed, Fisheries and Oceans Canada have completed population surveys and estimate Eastern Arctic bowhead whale numbers may be ten times larger than has been conventionally accepted since 1982. The NWMB has authorized bowhead hunts in 1996 (Repulse Bay), 1998 (Pangnirtung), 2000 (Coral Harbour), and 2002 (Igloolik/Hall Beach).
At the end of March 2005, Japan’s whale research vessels returned to port after completing the final year of an 18-year research program in the Antarctic.
In 1982, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) adopted the moratorium on commercial whaling on the grounds of insufficient scientific knowledge of whales. In order to remove the scientific uncertainties and pave the way for the resumption of sustainable commercial whaling, Japan began the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Antarctic (JARPA), conducted under Article VIII of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and the IWC moratorium apply only to commercial whaling, and do not affect taking whales for scientific research purposes under permits issued by national governments.
The 18 years of research has provided information on various biological characteristics, including natural mortality and changes in the age of maturity of minke whales, and various factors necessary for whale management under a sustainable commercial whaling regime. Also studied were major baleen whale population changes, including a surprisingly rapid growth in the abundance of fin and humpback whales and a possible slowing rate of growth in the minke whale population.
Results of the research program have been submitted to the Scientific Committee of the IWC every year, and are relevant for establishing a new and improved management system for whales, based on the ecosystem approach, which will allow for conservation, recovery of depleted species and sustainable use of some whale stocks.
Japan’s whale research program has involved non-lethal research, such as sighting surveys and biopsy sampling, as well as research that requires taking minke whales. The IWC’s Scientific Committee, when reviewing the results of the program at its half way point in 1997, commended both the quality and quantity of data. The Committee noted that the program has "provided considerable data for improving the management of Antarctic minke whales." The Committee also noted that using only non-lethal means to obtain this information was unlikely to be successful in the Antarctic. The international whaling convention requires the by-products of the research be processed and not wasted; income from the sale of by-products of the research sampling has help fund the research.
Korea consumes 150 tons of whale meat annually, 80 percent of which is consumed in the city of Ulsan, where the 57th International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting will be held in May 2005. Half of the 50 whale meat restaurants in Korea are located in Ulsan, with a further ten whale meat restaurants located in Busan, ten in North Gyeongsang Province, and five in Seoul. Whale processing has decreased over the past three years, from 84 whales in 2002, 64 in 2003, and 57 in 2004. About 80 percent of whales are taken as by-catch in fishing nets in the East Sea. About fives whales are taken every year, mainly between April and June, in waters close to Ulsan, the main Korea whaling base, which hosts a popular whaling festival each year.
The Annual Whaling History Symposium, formerly organized and hosted by the Kendall Whaling Museum, is now held under the auspices of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The 29th symposium was held October 16-17, 2004 and featured the following speakers and topics: "Hawaiian Crossroads", Mary Malloy (USA) and a related paper on ongoing research on Native Hawaiian involvement in Yankee whaling was provided by Susan Lebo (USA); "Revisiting the Whalemen’s Natural History", D. Graham Burnett (USA); "Whaling in the German Democratic Republic: consumption of whale meat caught by a state-owned fishing fleet behind the Iron Curtain, 1950s to 1980s", Ingo Heidbrink (Germany); "The Whaleman Statue; or a tempest in a trypot", Rudolf Riefstahl (USA); "The Mormon voyage of the whaleship Timoleo: the launching of Latter-Day Saint missionary work in the Pacific", Fred E. Woods (USA); "Standing in Whale Alley", Robert Lloyd Webb (USA). A paper, "Reading history in DNA: genetic diversity and whale abundances in the North Atlantic" by Joseph Roman (USA) was followed by opposing views about this controversial methodology provided by Tim Smith (USA) and Randall R. Reeves (Canada). A personal view on the international regulation of whaling was provided by Ray Gambell (UK), who was the 2004 recipient of the museum’s prestigious L. Byrne Waterman Award.
Further information on the symposium is provided in the Fall 2004 issue of the museum’s newsletter, The Bulletin from Johnny Cake Hill.
The Whaling Museum in Sandefjord, Norway, will hold its Second Symposium on Whaling and History on 8-10 September 2005. The symposium is arranged around four themes: People, Economics, Ecology & Resource Management, and Opposition to Whaling. Speakers and topics include: Bjørn Basberg, "Trends in history research after 1970"; Gunnar Thorvaldsen, "19th century whalers and families according to the North Atlantic Population Project"; Kjell Ivar Berger, "The establishment of three whale factories in Norway 1925-1971, Steinshamn, Hestnes and Skjelnan. Their influence on settlement, economy and family life"; Dag I. Børresen, "The Black Book of 1913 – the use of blacklisting as a method of disciplining whaling employees"; Robert Burton, "Skackelton and Norwegians"; Robert Headland, "Whalers and explorers; logistical assistance provided to people whose work and indeed survival depended on whalers"; J. Guzman-Gutierrez, "The 20 years of the Norwegian-Chilean Station at Deception Island"; Robert Lalla, "Farmers in the Antarctic"; Berit Drejer, "Aukra Hval, Forsøksdrift and the Møre Investigations"; Louwrens Hacquebord, "The impact of three centuries of whaling on the arctic ecosystem of Spitsbergen"; Dorete Bloch, "The traditional Faroese pilot whaling"; Christina Lockyer, "Cetacean feeding, growth and eenergetics in relation to the marine ecosystem – implications for management?"; Arne Bjørge, "Are whales subject to management under the Ecosystem Approach?"; Tim D. Smith, "Estimating 19th century whale catches: a basis for management"; Sigrid Alvestad, "Opposition to whaling in Scotland and North-Ireland"; Klaus Barthelmess, "An international campaign against whaling and sealing before World War One"; Jan Erik Ringstad, "The price he paid – Bjarne Aagaard and his crusade against pelagic whaling in the late 1920s"; Halvard P. Johansen, "The opposition to whaling – arguments and ethics". For more information contact Jan Erik Ringstad jan.erik.ringstad@sandefjord.kommune.no
The Japanese National Museum of Ethnology initiated a research project
focused upon use and management of local marine resources in the Arctic, North
Pacific, Northeast, East, and Southeast Asia and Oceania. This research resulted
in a number of Japanese-language publications (Akimichi and Kishigami 2002;
Kishigami 2001, 2002, in PUBLICATIONS, below). In December 2002 an international
symposium was held in Osaka, and a resulting English-language volume has
recently been published. Included are the following papers dealing with whaling:
J.M. Savelle 2005. The development of indigenous whaling: prehistoric and
historic contexts. pp. 53-58.
M.M.R. Freeman 2005. "Just one more time before I die": securing the
relationship between Inuit and whales in the arctic regions. pp. 59-76.
R.H. Barnes 2005. Indigenous use and management of whales and other marine
resources in East Flores and Lembata, Indonesia. pp. 77-86.
H. Hamaguchi 2005. Use and management of humpback whales in Bequia, St. Vincent
and the Grenadines. pp. 87-100.
M. Iwasaki-Goodman 2005. Resource management for the next generation:
co-management of fishery resources in the Western Canadian Arctic region. pp.
101-120.
N. Kishigami 2005. Co-management of beluga whales in Nunavut (Arctic Quebec),
Canada. pp. 121-144.
K. Ohmagari 2005. Whaling conflicts: the international debate. pp. 145-178.
M. Nuttall 2005. Inuit, marine resources and climate change: risk and resilience
in a changing arctic. pp. 409-426.
Ainana, A.I., S.A. Blokhin, R.G. Borodin, V.M. Yetylin, O.V. Yetylina, E.V
Zdor, G.M. Zelensky, D.N. Litovka, V.V. Melnikov, L.L. Solovenchuk, N.G.
Shevchencho 2002. A feasibility study for the harvest of gray and bowhead whales
to meet the cultural, traditional and nutritional requirements of the indigenous
peoples of Chukotka for the years 2003-2007. Department of Agriculture, Food and
Trade, Chukchi Autonomous Region, Anadyr. 32 pp. [In Russian].
Akimichi, Toyomi and Nobuhiro Kishigami (eds) 2002. Troubled Waters:
Anthropology of Marine Resource Management. Kyoto: Jinbunnshoin (In
Japanese).
Basberg, Bjørn L. 2004. The Shore Whaling Stations at South Georgia. A Study
in Antarctic Industrial Archaeology. Oslo: Novus Forlag, 226 pp.,
illustrated, hardcover. ISBN 82-7099-394-8. NOK 298, 37 Euros. www.novus.no.
Bronshtein, Mikhail M., Irina L. Karakhan & Jury A. Shirokov: Resnaja
kosti Uelenja. Narodnoje iskusstvo chukotki. Bone carving in Uelen. The folk art
of Chukchi Peninsula. Moscow: Svyatigor, 2002. 100 pp., illus., br., A4.
ISBN 5-93189-004-1.
Douma, Annie (ed): De dood voor ogen ziende … dagverhaal vn het
verongelukken van het galjootschip Harlingen in Straat Davis. De tocht van de
equipage met sloepen over en langs het ijs en de overwintering in het noordelijk
gedeelte van Groenland door de commandeur Klaas Hoekstra van Texel. Met een
kaart van Straat Davis. Hertaald door Annie Douma. Harlingen: Flevodruk,
2005. 80 pp., illus., softcover. ISBN 90-70886-00-6.
Drivenes, Einar-Arne, & Harald Dag Jølle (eds.): Norsk polarhistorie,
III: Rikdommene. Oslo: Gyldendal, 2004. 597 pp., illus., hardcover, dj. NOK
595,- {This 3rd volume of the Norwegian Polar History deals with
whaling and sealing]
Corkeron, P.J. 2004. Fishery management and culling. Science 306,
December 10, pp. 1891-1892.
Friesen, T. Max 2004. Kitigaaryuit: A portrait of the Mackenzie Inuit in the
1800s, based on the journals of Isaac O. Stringer. Arctic Anthropology
41(2):222-237.
Furukawa, Kaoru 2004. Thank you whales! Whaling and the Japanese love for
animals. Isana 30:3-6. (In Japanese: Isana 30:1-2).
Gerber, Leah R, K.David Hyerbach and Mark A. Zacharias 2005. Do the largest
protected areas conserve whales or whalers? Science 307(5709):535-526.
Henke, Janice S. 2004. The future of sustainable use in the globalization
environment. Isana 30:18-21 (In Japanese: Isana 30:15-17).
Ishii, Takashi 2004. Thank you whales. I pray for your souls. Isana 30:10-14
(In Japanese: Isana 30:7-9).
Kemper, C. M., A. Flaherty, S.E. Gibbs, M. Hill, M. Long and R. W. Byard 2005.
Cetacean captures, strandings and mortalities in South Australia
1881-2000 with special reference to human interactions. Australian Mammalogy
27(1):37-47.
Kishigami, Nobuhiro, editor. 2002. Indigenous Use and Management of Marine
Resources. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology (In Japanese).
Kishigami, Nobuhiro, editor. 2003. An Anthropological Study of Use and
Management of Marine Resources. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology (In
Japanese).
Kishigami, Nobuhiro and James M. Savelle, editors. 2005. Indigenous Use and
Management of Marine Resources. Senri Ethnological Series No. 67, pp. 1 –
455. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.
Knudsen, S. K. 2005. A review of the criteria used to assess insensibility and
death in hunted whales compared to other species. Veterinary Journal
169(1):42-59.
Komatsu, Masayuki 2005 (translated by Shigeko Misaki). Discovering Whales
around Tokyo Bay. Tokyo: The Japan Times. 110 pp., illus., maps. ISBN
4-7890-1193-3. ¥1800
Koslov, A. 2004. Impact of economic changes on the diet of Chukotka natives. International
Journal of Circumpolar Health 63:235-242
Linnman, Paul: The exploding whale and other remarkable stories from the
Evening News. Portland, OR: WestWind Press, 2003. 224 pp., illus., softcover.
Monks, Gregory G. editor. 2004. The Exploitation and Cultural Importance of
Sea Mammals. Oxford, U.K.: Oxbox Books. 192 pp., illus. Hardcover. ISBN
1842171-267. £40, US$80.
Podgainy, V., G. Vershubsky and M. Kozlova 2001. Marine hunting in the Chukchi
Automous Region in the year 2000. Some results of traditional harvest of marine
mammals. Department of Agriculture, Food and Trade, Chukchi Automonous Region,
Anadyr. 24 pp. [In Russian]
Rastogi, Toolika, Moira W. Brown, Brenna A. McLeod, Timothy R. Frasier, Robert
Grenier, Stephen L. Cumbaa, Jeya Nadarajah, and Bradley N. White 2004. Genetic
analysis of 16th-century whale bones prompts a revision of the impact of Basque
whaling on right and bowhead whales in the western North Atlantic. Canadian
Journal of Zoology 82(10): 1647-1654.
Redman, Nicholas 2004.Whales’ Bones of the British Isles. n.p.
Teddington: Redman Publishing. xxii + 417 pp., illus., maps, hardcover. ISBN
0-9545800-0-1. £30.00. Order from: Nicholas Redman, 237 Harrowdene Gardens,
Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 ODP, UK.
Reeves, Randall R. and Susan E. Cosens 2003. Historical population
characteristics of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) in Hudson Bay. Arctic
56(3):283-292.
Renker, A.M. 2002. Whale hunting and the Makah Tribe: A needs statement.
International Whaling Commission Report IWC/54/AS2.
Savelle, James M. and Allen P. McCartney 2002. Prehistoric gray whale harvesting
in the Bering Strait and Chukchi Sea Regions of Alaska: a zooarchaeological
assessment. In Don E. Dumond and Richard L. Bland (eds), Archaeology in the
Bering Strait Region: Research on Two Continents. University of Oregon
Anthropological Papers 59:307-318.
Savelle, James M. and Junko Habu 2004. A processual investigation of a Thule
whale bone house, Somerset Island, Arctic Canada. Arctic Anthropology
41(2):204-221.
Stone, Ian R. 2005. Hunting marine mammals for profit and sport: H.J. Snow
in the Kuril Islands and the North Pacific, 1873-96. Polar Record
41(1):47-55.
Williams, T.M., J.A. Estes, D.F. Doak, and A.M. Springer 2004. Killer
[whale]appetites: assessing the role of predators in ecological
communities. Ecology 85(12): 3373-3384.
Visit the INWR website at: http://www.ualberta.ca/~inwr/
| Editor: | Associate Editors: | |||
| Milton Freeman Canadian Circumpolar Institute University of Alberta Edmonton, AB T6G 0H1 Tel: 1-780-492-4682 Fax: 1-403-492-5273 milton.freeman@ualberta.ca |
Klaus Barthelmess Whaling Research Project PO Box 620255 50695 Cologne, GERMANY Tel: 49-221-7408396 Fax: 49-221-747342 kbarthval@gmx.de |
Louwrens Hacqueboard Arctic Centre University of Groningen PO Box 716 9700 AS Groningen, THE NETHERLANDS Tel: 31-50-363-6834 Fax: 31-50-363-490 hacqubr@let.rug.nl |
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