Lori Townsend, APRN – Anchorage
The International Whaling Commission just wrapped up their meeting, this year in Morocco. Harry Brower is the chairman of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission based in Barrow. Brower attended the meetings and said there was a move by the IWC to change the subsistence quota timeline from the current five-year to a 10-year system.
Brower says it’s concerning that the IWC is increasingly polarized with some factions supporting subsistence whaling and conservation groups that oppose all whaling. Alaska whalers lost their quota completely for a time in 2002 and attempts were made to block it in 2007 but the U.S. chair worked to get it re-instated. Brower says the current quota that expires in 2012 is not secure into the future.
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