NOAA Fisheries News Releases
NEWS RELEASE
August 3, 2007
Sheela McLean
(907) 586-7032
NOAA Releases Draft EIS on Bowhead Whale Subsistence Hunting
NOAA Fisheries Service has released a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) proposing continued hunting of bowhead whales in Alaska in the years 2008 through 2012.
“The DEIS proposes that we authorize subsistence harvests of the Western Arctic stock of bowhead whales for the years 2008 through 2012, under the Whaling Convention Act, and a cooperative agreement with the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission,” said Doug Mecum, Acting Administrator for the Alaska Region of NOAA Fisheries Service.
The public comment period for the document will end on October 12, 2007.
Under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) approved an overall five-year subsistence catch limit for the Western Arctic stock of bowhead whales based upon the needs of Native hunters in Alaskan villages and in Russian villages along the Chukotka Peninsula. On an annual basis, NOAA Fisheries Service issues the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission the Alaskan share of this quota by regulation. The subsistence hunt is managed cooperatively by NOAA Fisheries Service and by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission under the Whaling Convention Act.
The IWC conducted its 59th annual meeting in May in Anchorage, Alaska. Based on the management advice of its Scientific Committee, the IWC adopted a catch limit for 2008-2012 identical to that of the previous five-year period. Alternative 3 of the DEIS corresponds to the IWC action, and is the agency’s preferred alternative.
Between 2003 and 2006, hunters averaged about 50 harpoon strikes on bowhead whales each year. In 2006 Alaska natives consumed 31 whales for subsistence.
For more information on the proposed action, or to download a copy of the draft EIS, visit www.fakr.noaa.gov/protectedresources/whales/bowhead
For CD copies of the draft document, contact Steven K. Davis, NOAA Fisheries Service, 222 West 7th Ave., #517, Anchorage, AK 99513. Written comments can be submitted to the same address or by email to bowhead-DEIS@noaa.gov. When submitting email comments, use Draft Bowhead Whale EIS in the subject line.
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries Service) is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation’s living marine resources through scientific research, management, enforcement, and the conservation of marine mammals and other protected marine species and their habitat. To learn more about NOAA Fisheries in Alaska, please visit our websites at: www.fakr.noaa.gov or at: www.afsc.noaa.gov.
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