http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8929143p-8829364c.html

Eskimo whalers win 5-year hunt

By ALEX DeMARBAN
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: May 29, 2007)

The ballroom at the Hotel Captain Cook broke out in applause this morning
and Eskimo whalers shook hands after they won the right from the
International Whaling Commission to subsistence hunt for another five
years.

Despite concerns some countries would block the request to take 51 bowheads
a year from 2008 to 2012, the proposal passed by consensus after
commissioners from several countries voiced support.

There are more than 10,000 bowhead whales in the Arctic bowhead stock, and
countries voiced support because the Scientific Committee decided the
bowhead hunt is sustainable.

The IWC, meeting in Anchorage this year with more than 70 member countries,
governs the world’s large whale stocks, including the bowhead hunted by
Alaska's North Slope and St. Lawrence Island Eskimos.

The IWC plans to meet through Thursday and is discussing requests from
aboriginal societies in countries such as St. Vincent and the Grenadines to
hunt humpback whales.

Reporter Alex DeMarban can be reached at ademarban@...