bowhead whale population increasing...Alaska

** FILE ** Kunneak Neakok assists in butchering a bowhead whale caught by the Quvan Crew during the first day of the fall whaling season, Monday, Sept. 25, 2006, in Barrow, Alaska. Other workers in the background are pulling slabs of the "maktak," which is the skin and fat layer of the whale. With the bowhead whale population increasing, a federal agency is proposing that the subsistence hunting for bowhead whales in Alaska continue at current levels.

This photo released by the Village of Nuiqsut shows the Nukapigak whaling crew standing next to a bowhead whale they caught, on Sept. 13, 2006 near Cross Island, near Nuiqsut, Alaska. With the bowhead whale population increasing, a federal agency is proposing that the subsistence hunting for bowhead whales in Alaska continue at current levels.