Anchorage Daily News

The ballroom at the Hotel Captain Cook broke out in applause this morning and Eskimo whalers shook hands after they won the right from the International Whaling Commission to subsistence hunt for another five years.

Despite concerns some countries would block the request to take 51 bowheads a year from 2008 to 2012, the proposal passed by consensus after commissioners from several countries voiced support.

There are more than 10,000 bowhead whales in the Arctic bowhead stock, and countries voiced support because the Scientific Committee decided the bowhead hunt is sustainable.

The IWC, meeting in Anchorage this year with more than 70 member countries, governs the world’s large whale stocks, including the bowhead hunted by Alaska's North Slope and St. Lawrence Island Eskimos.

The IWC plans to meet through Thursday and is discussing requests from aboriginal societies in countries such as St. Vincent and the Grenadines to hunt humpback whales.

Reporter Alex DeMarban can be reached at ademarban@adn.com