White paper on management and utilization of large whales in Greenland. [Presented at the 67th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission].

Abstract

Kalaallit Nunaat/Greenland is a Self-Governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark with full legislative and executive responsibility in many fields including the management of natural living resources. Foreign policy (including international organisations) is the responsibility of the Danish Government in consultation with Greenland. Greenlanders have maintained a traditional lifestyle connected to the sea dependent on marine resources, including subsistence hunting. Greenland (2018) has a population of app. 55,900 people living in 17 towns and 81 settlements (2018, West Greenland: 52,635 and East Greenland: 3,242). Inuit comprise about 90 % of the population. Within the IWC context, Greenland’s hunt of large whales falls in the category of Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling (ASW) together with the Chukotka hunt of gray and bowhead whales, the Bequia hunt of humpback whales and the Alaskan hunt of bowhead and gray whales. For aboriginal subsistence whaling the IWC has the following objectives: - ensure risks of extinction not seriously increased (highest priority); - enable harvests in perpetuity appropriate to cultural and nutritional requirements; - maintain stocks at highest net recruitment level and if below that ensure they move towards it. The Greenland hunt for large whales respects those objectives.