Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat (VOICE) is disappointed by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on Feb. 12 to approve threatened-species status for the bearded seal — a decision that will significantly impact Iñupiat subsistence rights and food security. The Iñupiat have a high regard for sound sciences that protect our resources, but we believe sound science was not used by the Ninth Circuit and therefore strongly disagree with its ruling.
The court’s decision was based on ambiguous 100-year climate models and directly undermines the Endangered Species Act requirement that threats to a species be identified as “foreseeable.” The predictive climate projections used beyond 2050 were highly speculative and the current bearded seal population is plentiful.
Our goal at VOICE has been to work to protect our subsistence rights, our environment and the cultural and economic sustainability of our communities. Our members have a long history of working to manage seal resources through the Ice Seal Committee that monitors seal populations in our region. We are concerned that this ruling shows a lack of consideration for Native sovereignty over a resource we have relied on and protected for generations.
We urge the federal government to mandate that Alaska Native peoples not be disproportionately impacted by this ruling by guaranteeing that our right to harvest bearded seals will be protected and our harvest limits maintained.
Sayers Tuzroyluk, Sr.,
Point Hope