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MOLLY PEDERSON, right, and daughter Laura Patkotak take a picture as a bowhead whale caught by Alaska Native subsistence hunters from their family is brought ashore in Barrow, Alaska. Whaling is a community event in Barrow, as family members and town residents race to the beach to congratulate the hunters and help to butcher the catch.
MOLLY PEDERSON, right, and daughter Laura Patkotak take a picture as a bowhead whale caught by Alaska Native subsistence hunters from their family is brought ashore in Barrow, Alaska. Whaling is a community event in Barrow, as family members and town residents race to the beach to congratulate the hunters and help to butcher the catch.
I n Barrow, Alaska, it all begins with a euphoric voice over a crackling radio: “Hey, hey, hey!”

 
 
The signal from an Inupiat whaling captain in a tiny boat on the gray waters of the Chukchi Sea is heard in nearly every home of this frozen town as far north as you can go in the United States, and its meaning is clearly understood. A bowhead whale — one of the oldest and largest mammals on earth — has been caught.

Keeping with a tradition that stretches back thousands of years, bowhead whales are hunted by boat during the fall season. Once ashore, residents flock to help in the work of divvying up the whale.

A BOY HOLDS ON to the baleen of a bowhead whale before work begins to butcher the whale near Barrow, Alaska.
A BOY HOLDS ON to the baleen of a bowhead whale before work begins to butcher the whale near Barrow, Alaska.
As children slide down the whale’s slippery side, officials inspect the catch and ensure the hunters have followed international guidelines to keep traditional whaling on a subsistence scale for native communities.

The skin and blubber, known as muktuk, is prized by the Inupiat, and often eaten frozen. The community says the catch helps them feed their families in the town where produce such as watermelons that are flown in cost as much as $20 each at the local grocery.









CRAWFORD PATKOTAK, above center, leads a prayer flanked by his sons Josiah, in green suspenders, Arnold, in white bib, and Samuel, fourth from right, after his crew landed a bowhead whale near Barrow, Alaska. Both revered and hunted by the Inupiat, the bowhead whale serves as a symbol of tradition, as well as a staple of food.
CRAWFORD PATKOTAK, above center, leads a prayer flanked by his sons Josiah, in green suspenders, Arnold, in white bib, and Samuel, fourth from right, after his crew landed a bowhead whale near Barrow, Alaska. Both revered and hunted by the Inupiat, the bowhead whale serves as a symbol of tradition, as well as a staple of food.
DRAWING ON tradition, and keeping within the Aboriginal subsistence whaling guidelines, a bowhead whale is carved and divided by a crew armed with knives and hooks, and then shared according to custom.
DRAWING ON tradition, and keeping within the Aboriginal subsistence whaling guidelines, a bowhead whale is carved and divided by a crew armed with knives and hooks, and then shared according to custom.
CUTTERS DIVIDE sections of skin and blubber while butchering a bowhead whale in a field.
CUTTERS DIVIDE sections of skin and blubber while butchering a bowhead whale in a field.
 
 
A LIGHT RUNNING on a generator illuminates a man as he passes the giant bones of a bowhead whale. Whale bones are coveted by many in Barrow, often used to adorn the grave sites of loved ones.
A LIGHT RUNNING on a generator illuminates a man as he passes the giant bones of a bowhead whale. Whale bones are coveted by many in Barrow, often used to adorn the grave sites of loved ones.

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