Bill to preempt states from banning ivory advances

Carving art from ivory and whalebone has a tradition in Northwest Alaska that is thousands of years old. Today, Native carvers find their livelihood threatened by states passing laws which ban the sale of legal marine mammal art carved from ivory and whale bone by Alaska Native artists. The states have good intentions in wanting to help protect endangered African and Asian elephants which are being wiped out by the demand for black market ivory.

“We need to continue to combat poaching and black markets for elephant ivory, but we must do so while honoring and protecting Alaska Natives’ ability to carry on their heritage, as they have for thousands of years, and access economic opportunities through selling authentic handicrafts,” said Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan in response to his bill “Empowering Rural Economies Through Alaska Native Sustainable Arts and Handicrafts” advancing out of committee. The bill preempts states from banning walrus ivory, whale bone and other marine mammal products, which have been legally carved by Alaska Natives under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The bill also preempts states from banning fossilized ivory products. That includes antique ivory from walrus and from the wooly mammoth.

“They’re seeing declines in their sales,” said Kawerak CEO Melanie Bahnke of the ivory carvers. “California was one of the biggest states for sales. They’d have a big gun show and Maruskiya’s, one of the big buyers of ivory in our region, has not been able to make sales down there so they slowed down on purchasing. When the cruise ships were coming around and we flew in some artists so they could bring their art to market, as soon as the tourists found out something was made from ivory there was this look on their face. So, it’s not just something to do with laws. We’re battling this perception that it’s about the elephant ivory trade. We’ve been trying to convince animal rights groups not to throw walrus ivory in with elephant poaching. They’re two separate issues,” Bahnke said.

In 2016 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service passed a regulation banning most commercial and non-commercial trade in raw and worked ivory of African elephants following a global decrease in elephant populations due to illegal poaching. Many states have since enacted broader bans on ivory sales that generally include walrus, mammoth and fossilized ivory used by Alaska Natives and Alaskans to produce artistic carvings, clothing, or authentic handiworks. These bans might be conceived to combat the illegal ivory trade, but the bans have also confused buyers of other ivory products. That confusing has turned into lost sales for Alaskan artists.

Nome carver Joe Kunnuk, a King Islander, reports sales are down but for a different reason: COVID-19. “People are tight with their money because they’re not working,” he said. It’s Kunnuk’s hunting season and he’s not selling ivory. He needs the cash to buy gas. “Right now I’m doing repairs for Maruskiya’s,” he said.

“You can tell with the naked eye that walrus ivory is not the same thing as elephant ivory,” said Kawerak’s Bahnke. “We harvest walrus. It’s part of our cultural identity and our ancestors have used all parts of the animal as much as they can and we continue to do that. The bone, even their whiskers are used in jewelry and decoration.”

Carvers Perry Pungowiyi and Sylvester Ayek went to Washington D.C. to share the impact the bans were having on them. “When I go out and I hunt I’m not just hunting to feed my one family,” said Pungowiyi. “The meat gets shared by among families.” The cash he raises selling art buys the gasoline he needs to get to the walrus hunting grounds. “With climate change they’re having to go farther and farther out,” said Bahnke. “So it costs more for gas. It’s had a really negative effect on our artists.”