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Aboriginal whaling orindigenous whaling is thehunting of whales byindigenous peoples recognised by eitherIWC (International Whaling Commission) or the hunting is considered as part of indigenous activity by the country.[2] It is permitted under international regulation, but in some countries remains a contentious issue. (The hunting of smallercetaceans is covered atDolphin drive hunting.)[3] It is usually considered part of thesubsistence economy. In some places, whaling has been superseded bywhale watching instead. This article deals with communities that continue to hunt; details about communities that have ended the practice may be found inHistory of whaling.
Under the terms of the 1986 moratorium, theInternational Whaling Commission allows the activity to be carried out by aboriginal groups if it occurs on a subsistence basis, similar tosubsistence fishing. ThisAboriginal Subsistence Whaling is restricted to native peoples and others working on their behalf, as defined by the IWC.[4]
The IWC says that:[5]
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.[6][2]
In 2018, the Commission endorsed proposals made by a working group established six-years earlier to consider some long-standing and complex questions, and improve the way that the Commission considered ASW. A number of new initiatives were endorsed in order to facilitate a more straight-forward process when catch limits are next considered at the 2024 meeting of the Commission.[7] The new initiatives include:
In the United States whaling is carried out byAlaska Natives and by theMakah of Washington State. It no longer occurs on the Atlantic coast, although thePilgrim Fathers found the original inhabitants of New England had a well-developed understanding ofdrift whales.
The Arctic whaling program is managed by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, which reports to theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The commission includes eleven whaling communities which inhabit the Arctic Alaska coast: the Gambell, Savoonga, Wales, Little Diomede, Kivalina, Point Hope, Point Lay, Wainwright, Barrow, Nuiqsut, and Kaktovik.[8]
In 2015 Alaska Natives caught 326beluga whales and 49bowhead whales.[9] In 2016 they caught 59 bowhead whales, two minke and one humpback whale;[10] The latter two species were not authorized, though no one was prosecuted.[11]Annual catches vary between 300 and 500 belugas and 40 to 70 bowheads.
The hunt takes the bowhead whales 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 twogray whales each year until 1996. The quota was reduced to zero in that year due to concerns about sustainability.[12]
According to federal law, theMakah people of Washington State are entitled to hunt and kill onebaleen whale, typically a gray whale, each year, though archeological records and oral history indicate a significant number of humpback whales were hunted as well. The Makah ended their whaling practices in the 1920s, but notified the U.S. Government of their wish to reassert their whaling rights in 1995. The first permitted Makah whale hunt in 70 years occurred on 17 May 1999, when they caught a north Pacific gray whale,[13] an unpermitted hunt killed another in 2007,[14] and in 2018 they tookmeat from a humpback killed by aship strike.[15] Anenvironmental impact statement for further hunts was issued in 2015.[14]
On 5 April 2019 NOAA Fisheries proposed issuing a waiver under the MMPA to the Makah tribe to allow hunting, as well as a what stakeholders can do to engage in the public rule making process before an Administrative Law Judge. One of the main stipulations that NOAA proposed was allowing the Makah people to hunt as many as 20 gray whales every five years, however prior to any hunt the tribe would have to obtain a permit from NOAA.[16] On 2 August 2019 the Administrative Law Judge announced that the final agenda for the hearing on NOAA's proposed waiver and regulations was set for November 2019, which was postponed from the previous 26 June 2019 announcement.[17]
Canada left the IWC in 1982 and as such is not bound by the moratorium. Whaling is carried out by various Inuit groups in theCanadian Arctic in small numbers and is managed by theDepartment of Fisheries and Oceans.
Chukchi people of theChukotka Autonomous Okrug in theRussian Far East are permitted to take up to 140gray whales from the North-East Pacific population each year.
Some whaling is conducted fromGrenada,Dominica,Saint Vincent and the Grenadines andSaint Lucia. Species hunted are theshort-finned pilot whale,killer whale,pygmy killer whale andspinner dolphins. Throughout the Caribbean, around 400pilot whales are killed annually with the meat being sold locally. This hunting of small cetaceans is not regulated by the IWC.
Whales are hunted inBequia, the largest of theGrenadines.[18] Natives of Bequia are allowed to catch up to fourhumpback whales per year using only traditional hunting methods of hand-thrown harpoons in small, open sailboats. The limit is rarely met, with no catch some years.[19] Its classification as aboriginal, and therefore permissible, is highly contested. In the 2012 meeting of the IWC, delegates from several anti-whaling countries, and environmental groups, spoke out against it, with Peter Sanchez of the Dominican Republic calling it "artisanal whaling out of control".[18]
Whalers in theFaroe Islands take approximately 800long-finned pilot whales per year. These hunts are calledgrindadráp inFaroese.
Lamalera, on the south coast of the island ofLembata, andLamakera on neighbouringSolor are the last two remainingIndonesian whaling communities. The hunters have religious taboos that ensure that they use every part of the animal. About half of the catch is kept in the village; the rest is traded in local markets, usingbarter. The whale hunts are carried out in a traditional manner, withbamboo spears and small wooden outriggers, 10–12 m long and 2m wide, constructed without nails and with sails woven from palm fronds. The animals are killed by the harpooner leaping onto the back of the animal, from the boat, to drive in the harpoon.
The people of Lamalera hunt several species of whales, primarilysperm whales (thebaleen whale istaboo), and in the peak year of 1969 caught 56 sperm whales. In addition to whales,dolphins,manta rays,turtles and several species ofsharks are also hunted. In 1973, theUnited NationsFood and Agriculture Organization sent a whaling ship and a Norwegian master whaler, to modernize the hunt. This effort lasted three years, and was not successful. According to the FAO report, the Lamalerans "have evolved a method of whaling which suits their natural resources, cultural tenets and style."[20][21]
TheWorld Wildlife Fund has carried out surveys in the village to determine that the limited hunting does not endanger world whale stocks or other endangered species.
Commercial whaling and poachers hunt whales in large quantities and sell them illegally.[citation needed] TheInternational Whaling Commission (IWC) does not allow the hunting of any whales except for aboriginal subsistence whaling and scientific whaling, which have catch limits to maintain the conservation of whales.[22] These groups must report their hunts and the number of whales killed in order to track the population of whale species and conservation. Hunting illegally means the kills are not reported, which makes it difficult to maintain population numbers and conservation.