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8934
Open
SC/67B/AWMP/20 Rev1
Whaling in Chukotka from 2013 till 2017
Sergei V. Zagrebelnyy
International Whaling Commission
2018
During 2013-2017, whaling in Chukotka was conducted by sea-hunters from 9 communities (14 whaling settlements), but whaling only by people from 4 villages (Lorino, Inchoun, Lavrentiya, Uelen), which makes over 70% of the whaling limit. For the last 5 years the average catch per year is 122 gray and 1-2 bowhead whales. The average size of the gray whales from 2013 to 2017 varies from 9.4 up to 10.9 meters for females and from 9.4 up to 10.6 meters for males. Mostly young females are currently whaled – annually females make up 52% to 69% of the slaughtered animals. Whales caught on Chukotka’s Arctic coast are statistically larger (by more than 1 meter) and fatter (by 30%) than the whales harvested on the eastern coast. On the reason by the current grey and bowhead whales harvesting in Chukotka region is below a maximum of the sustainable level recommended by the IWC Scientific Committee for both whale species, has been Suggest raising quotas by 10 heads in 2018 and by 10 whales annually (135 animals/per year) for the next 6 years of harvesting (which will increase the ammount of the meat produce by 900 tons every year), because the natives population of Chukotka has risen by 11% (in 2010 - 17,900; in 2015 - 19,140 people) since 2010 and also considering the biomass of the harvested whales being currently almost 2 times less than it was in the 1980s-1990s.
