Farewell, Fellow Travellers

(Page 4 of 4)

March/April 1988
 
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Bowhead whale

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Balaena mysticetus Driven to the edge of extinction in the last century by Yankee whalers, the bowhead is now hunted only by Inupiat Eskimos in Alaska. While it's still in peril, it provides an interesting example of the hubris of Western science. In 1977, responding to scientific estimates that the population had plunged to between 800 and 1,200 whales, the International Whaling Commission voted to ban all hunting of bowheads, whether for commercial or subsistence purposes. The Eskimos reacted sharply, saying that there were far more than 1,200 bowheads still alive, and that native people weren't stupid enough to kill the last remnant of a species vitally important to their survival. The Eskimos were permitted to hunt, and as of 1986, owing entirely to enhanced counting capability, the total population of towheads is now considered to be in excess of 7,000. Estimated population: 7,000.

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