At the Alaska Federation of Natives convention earlier last month, the AFN Subsistence Committee delivered a report on their work. Subsistence Committee Co-chair Rosita Worl said blood quantum is an emerging issue that the committee is looking into. She said that the Marine Mammal Protection Act requires that marine mammal hunters be at least one-quarter Native.
“One of the issues that really has been emerging is the issue of blood quantum,” said Worl. “We are now hearing from parents (and) grandparents that they are no longer able to take their children, grandchildren with them hunting. We realize that under the Marine Mammal Protection Act that the regulations state that you have to be one-fourth Alaska Native blood.”
Worl reported that the AFN Subsistence Committee is working on a memorandum of agreement with the Indigenous Peoples Council on marine mammals. She also said AFN will be coordinating a study on the issue and holding focus groups in villages to learn more.
