ABSTRACT
The coastal Indigenous people of Alaska have utilized and depended upon marine mammals from bowhead whales in the Arctic to harbour seals in the Gulf of Alaska down to the present. In 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) was passed, outlawing most marine mammal taking in the United States; however, it included an exemption for “coastal Alaska Natives” to make non-wasteful harvests of marine mammals for “subsistence” purposes. A core provision of the MMPA is the definition of “Alaska Native” that was adopted by regulation, incorporating the language found in the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971. The definition of Alaska Native in ANCSA stipulates primarily that a person must be a quarter Alaska Native by genealogy to be eligible. Over the past 45 years, demographic changes driven by marriage patterns have resulted in increasing numbers of individuals of Alaska Native identity falling below the requirement of a quarter Alaska Native ancestry, thereby becoming ineligible to hunt marine mammals. Data acquired from the US Bureau of Indian Affairs, who enrol persons of Alaska Native descent for eligibility for Indian Health Services, clearly demonstrate that the current definition and its enforcement pose serious challenges to the future of marine mammal hunting by Alaska Natives in a number of regions. This chapter will address Alaska Native views on the current situation, efforts made by Alaska Natives to address this situation and the current status of the dilemma.
