Barrow Whaling...first catch of the season (Anchorage: credit, how much)

[Sarkar]

Credit...Artic Sounder

May 9, 2008
The Arctic Sounder - Barrow crew takes dream whale, season’s first


80 pictures...Credit to dzanoff

Whaling in Barrow pictures from cityscapes photos on webshots

[Rance]

Good for them! I couldn't find the recent photo's tho.

[Sarkar]

Simply reference photos Rance.....

I doubt one butchering job would look much different from the next one

pretty nice group of pictures showing the process....

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by Rance

Good for them! I couldn't find the recent photo's tho.

That's sort of old news by now, as they've been catching whales at a steady pace for a week or so.

But there has been some interesting politics going on too! Which might be a little difficult to explain. First, whaling is serious business here; it is what feeds most of the community. It is also a very labor intensive, and dangerous, business; yet they have a very good safety record and want to keep it that way because everyone is family.

This year I know of at least three film crews that have been here to check out whaling. One young individual came, not to film, but to investigate what would be required. Zac Nickolson is a friend and admirer of Bill Hess, who published "The Gift of the Whale". He learned a great deal and will probably be back, and will probably be successful in making a documentary, someday. A very bright young man.

Another crew is from Animal Planet, with Jeff Corwin. The AEWC voted not to allow him on the ice. The Barrow whaling captains also voted not to let him on the ice. (He has a reputation, and nobody is quite sure what point of view they are likely to present.)

That created a problem, because each whaling captain has the perogative of bringing anyone they like to their camp, and the National Geographic people had a film crew out on the ice. It seems that a group of whaling captains visited that camp and made it clear they wanted NO film crews on the ice. So, as far as I know, National Geographic has been booted too.

Life in the fast lane... :-)

[Rance]

Simply reference photos Rance.....

I doubt one butchering job would look much different from the next one

pretty nice group of pictures showing the process....

That they are. Floyd...that is awesome! Although it would be great to get to see them hunt and harpoon and hauling out and butchering and heck even the celebrating (whew) in a documentory...I still like to think they have enough control to say who can or can't be out there. I'd hate to think it would become a spectator sport. They are hunting for food and they sure don't need some greenhorn out there falling overboard or wandering off only to walk into a polar bear. Or somehow other wise making a rukus distracting the crew or spooking a whale. Kudos to the captains. And I even like Corwins shows. Maybe if he hangs out and eats a little muktuk he might be more favorable in their eyes?

[rotorhead]

I think keeping the video crews off the ice is a perfectly reasonable response given the way they've been ambushed by the media types in the past. The whale harvest is too important to the arctic coastal communities to let it be sabotaged and savaged in the media by sensationalist coverage from animal extremist activists and their captive media outlets.

The only way I'd personally let any video crew come along is if they ceded complete editorial control of the final product to prevent any "bait and switch" attempts on the behalf of the producers and editors. Typically, once they've got the film in the can it's all up to them, the subjects have no say at all in how it turns out. Provided they've taken enough footage they can slant the final edition any way they want no matter how the original event occured. They can also edit the same footage to represent exactly the opposite point of view if it suits them. Or maybe they'll do several versions from multiple slants/angles and sell them to competing outlets, whichever way will make them the most money.

From personal experience I can tell you that the one thing you can depend on from "documentary" video crews is that they'll tell you whatever you want to hear in order to get the footage, and then do whatever the he11 they want with it once they clear out. Even a legal contract is scant protection once they've got physical control of the original media. Once the shows hit the air you can never take them back no matter how egregiously wrong they are and how much they lie.

[alaskaboy]

The greenies are gonna have a field day with this thread. As long as the whales are plentiful, let the cultural hunts go on. Right now the whales in the region are at a 20 year high, population wise.

Save me some Eskimo Ice cream!

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by rotorhead

IThe only way I'd personally let any video crew come along is if they ceded complete editorial control of the final product to prevent any "bait and switch" attempts on the behalf of the producers and editors.

Absolutely true. It's a political football, and nobody can be trusted.

Bill Hess photographed it very well in the 1980's, and published "Gift of the Whale" in the 1990's. That was much more of an accomplishment then than it is now, as people here were extremely sensitive after the International Whaling Commission in total ignorance had banned whaling here in 1977. In the late 90's I happened to have been lucky enough to go to Anchorage for the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention the year George Ahmaogak gave a presentation of slides from the book. It was extremely well received, as one might expect given the audience!

Bill describes in his book (and I've talked to him personally about it) how he was able to accomplish what he did. He moved to Barrow, and lived here. He worked on a whaling crew, with no camera, at the lowest level. After he had become an experienced crew member, he asked if he could take pictures too.