Posted on 11/07/2005 12:37:20 AM PST by nickcarraway
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A supersonic explosive has begun to replace Yankee whaling-era black powder as Alaska Natives seek more humane weaponry in the traditional hunt for bowhead whales.
"It's a lot safer," said Eugene Brower, a Barrow whaling captain who chairs the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission's weapons improvement program.
Brower trains Native whaling captains to handle a harpoon-launched grenade loaded with penthrite, a World War I-era explosive used in demolition.
"They love it," Brower said of captains from the North Slope villages of Kaktovik, Nuiqsit and Barrow who have converted to the penthrite device for the spring and fall hunts. "It's four times the strength of black powder. With black powder, the meat has a gas taste."
Alaska's whaling commission began researching new weaponry when the 66-member International Whaling Commission mandated two decades ago that more humane methods be developed.
The commission wanted to reduce the number of whales lost at sea after being hit by explosives and to decrease the time it took for a whale to die after being struck.
Researchers in 1995 reported Alaska bowhead whales lived about 60 minutes after being hit with black-powder grenades; bowheads hit with penthrite grenades survived only about 15 minutes.
"We have a position that no whaling is humane," said Patricia Forkhan, president of Humane Society International. "But Alaska Natives have worked a long time toward a more humane and efficient hunt, and we've been supportive. If penthrite is working, that's good."
Penthrite, short for pentaerythritol tetranitrate, is used in blasting caps and easily detonates. Once the grenade penetrates the whale's skin and explodes, it produces a concussion that lethally shocks the central nervous system.
Brad Smith, an Anchorage biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, said penthrite has a "high probability" of killing even if the grenade does not strike a vital area.
Black powder, which dates to 19th century Yankee whaling, is a slow-burning explosive that generally kills by causing hemorrhage. If a whale is struck near a vital organ, death can be swift. But multiple strikes sometimes are needed, endangering crews in traditional, wooden-ribbed boats as a bowhead thrashes in icy seas.
By virtually assuring a swift death, penthrite grenades have increased the chance that a whale will pulled in safely. Bowheads measure 50 feet or more and can weigh up to 110 tons.
About 30 of Alaska's 160 Native whaling captains have completed a training and certification program offered by the Alaska whaling commission and taught by Brower. Maggie Ahmaogak, the Alaska commission's executive director, said the goal is to certify every whaling captain, but the commission has a limited budget and can't require captains to complete training.
Captains authorized to use the new grenade must study a manual and demonstrate that they can assemble, use and safely transport the 10-foot-long device. Training is scheduled to resume this spring and follow the bowhead's northern migration from St. Lawrence Island.
"I've come to learn that developing a new weapon is no small thing," Smith said. Planning, research and overcoming bureaucracy all take time."
The search led the Alaska commission to a Norwegian veterinarian who had produced a cannon-fired penthrite grenade for whalers in Japan and Norway, where the minke whale is targeted. Because Alaska Natives harvest the much-larger bowheads, the grenade had to be modified.
Alaska whalers take bowheads from protected stocks that number about 10,000 animals and range in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas. The hunt is overseen by the International Whaling Commission and managed by the Alaska commission for its 10 member villages.
Whaling occurs in spring and fall; in the ongoing fall hunt, 13 whales have been landed by Barrow crews, three in Kaktovik, and one in Nuiqsit. Although the animals are an endangered species, Alaska's bowhead population is increasing by 3 percent a year, Smith said.
Ahmaogak said she hoped adoption of the new weapon would demonstrate Alaska Natives' commitment to humane weaponry and blunt critics of the subsistence hunt. Commercial hunting has been banned by the International Whale Commission since 1986.
So the people who needed a special waiver to preserve their "tradition"...now need to do it with bombs?
Whatever happened to a fair fight? They should be out there hucking harpoons like they did..."traditionally".
"Black powder, which dates to 19th century Yankee whaling"
Pardon me--hasn't black powder been around a bit longer than that? I imagine a few of the folks here can correct me if I'm wrong (and will), but as I recall, the Revolutionary War was fought with black powder rifles, tweren't it?
In other words the Eskimos are hunting whales with RPGs bought off the Iraqi terrorists
YEE HAW!!!
Selections from an unauthorized translation of Bill Clinton’s memoir, My Life, published in China in July. Translated from the Chinese by Alex Beels. Originally from Harper's Magazine, November 2004.
My uncle Buddy was a little more educated than Papaw, and more knowledgeable. From him I learned about even more wonderful things. Buddy loved to eat ham. Lots of times, he’d buy a ham, bring it home, and call me and my cousins over to eat it together while we chewed the fat. It was from Buddy that I first heard that China was one of the world’s most ancient cultures, that in ancient times its technology was already very advanced, and that very early on it had produced the Four Great Inventions. Take, for example, the cannons that were tested in Buddy’s munitions factory. Originally, gunpowder was invented by the Chinese. Not only that, the compass, printing, and paper were also great creations of the Chinese people. Buddy said, “China’s ancient inventions far surpassed those of all the other countries of the time, especially before the fifteenth century. There’s lots of proof. In those days, China’s science and technology left us in the dust.”
I used to listen raptly to these stories all the time. I knew that the Four Great Inventions were extremely important. I said excitedly, “Uncle Buddy, where is China?”
Buddy said, “In the East, where the sun rises.”
“Quick, take me to China to play!”
“It’s too far away.”
“How long do we have to wait before we can go to China?”
“After you’ve grown up . . .”
Ever since I was little, I yearned to go to China. I thought it must be a mysterious and special place. Whenever I saw one of the cannons Buddy tested being fired, saw the force with which the shell came whistling out, I would think how incredible the Chinese invention of gunpowder was.
I think the writer meant that black powder filled harpoons date to the 19th century, not the black powder itself.
Also known as PETN. It forms the active core of Primacord.
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