THE HUNTING OF MARINE MAMMALS has always been a very important
part of life in Greenland, and still is. Traditionally, the catch of marine
mammals provided Greenland's families with most of their daily necessities,
and even today, marine mammals are still an important ingredient in the
Greenland kitchen, even though marine mammal products can no longer meet
all the requirements of contemporary every day life. Be that as it may,
a piece of fresh mattak (the whale skin) is still as delightful as ever
to us.
When I say that marine mammals play a lesser role in contemporary Greenlandic society than was previously the case, for many of the local communities this came about as a result of the completely misconceived campaigns against sealskin products in the 1970s and '80s. Greenland's marine mammal hunts have always been carried out on a sustainable basis. Therefore, the emotionally motivated campaigns against a type of sealing that, furthermore, is not even carried out in Greenland, felt unreasonable. The consequences are well known, resulting in the more or less total devastation of the sealskin market.
The future of the hunting trade in Greenland appears a little brighter today than it did only a few years ago. Interest in sealskins is slightly on the increase something which in itself should be beneficial to the Greenland hunters. It was therefore gratifying when the Nordic Council of Ministers endorsed and sponsored the Greenland initiative to arrange a Seminar on Indigenous People's Production and Trade in January 1996, in conjunction with the UN Decade of Indigenous Peoples.
It is my hope that the work being carried out in support of the indigenous peoples' production and trade opportunities, together with the ongoing collaboration on and within the hunting trade, particularly in the western Nordic regions, will convey a broader acceptance for the sustainable use of marine mammals, to our mutual satisfaction.
Nuuk, january 1997
Lars Emil Johansen
Prime Minister Greenland Home Rule Government (1)
(1) The preface was written january 1997, while Lars Emil
Johansen was still prime minister of the Greenland Home Rule Government.