Environmental Assessment for Issuing Annual Quotas to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission for a Subsistence Hunt on Bowhead Whales for the Years 2003 through 2007

摘要

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) proposes to issue annual quotas to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission (AEWC) to allow continuation of their subsistence hunt for bowhead whales from the Western Arctic stock for the years 2003 through 2007. NOAA Fisheries' objective is to accommodate Federal trust responsibilities by recognizing the cultural and subsistence needs of Alaskan Natives, to the fullest extent possible consistent with applicable law, and to ensure that any aboriginal subsistence hunt of whales does not adversely effect the conservation of the Western Arctic bowhead whale stock.