Bill allows non-Natives to aid whalers
FAIRBANKS - Native hunters from Alaska's coastal villages could ask non-Native boat operators to help haul whales to shore in emergencies, under legislation that passed in the final hours of the U.S. Senate session and now goes to the president.
U.S. Rep. Don Young, an Alaska Republican, put the language in a catch-all bill that amends various federal fishing laws. The bill passed the U.S. House without a vote at 2 a.m. Nov. 15. The Senate took up the bill Wednesday night and also passed it without a vote when no one objected.
Brad Smith, a biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Anchorage, said the legislation is intended to legalize the towing of whales by some of the larger boats that travel along the North Slope in support of oil development or other work.
Under current law, only Alaska Natives in whaling crews may hunt whales and tow them back to shore. They generally use several aluminum skiffs with outboard motors to pull a whale once it has been killed. Currently, there is no legal way for a boat manned by non-Natives to help haul the whales.