The Nome Nugget

Egan Renews
Requests on
Waterfowl Laws

JUNEAU (P) - Gov. Egan said Thursday a three-nation treaty covering migratory waterfowl of North America was written to "prevent wanton slaughter of the birds, not to overlook a necessary way of life for an entire people."

Egan made the comment at his regular Thursday morning news conference while discussing the recent arrest of two Barrow Eskimos, by U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents, for shooting migratory waterfowl out of season.

Following the arrest, 138 Barrow natives brought illegal ducks to a mass meeting and signed statements saying they had taken the waterfowl out of season.

The migratory waterfowl season is based in part on a 1916 treaty signed by the United States, Mexico and Great Britain, acting for Canada.

Egan had asked the Interior Department, prior to the Barrow incident, to relax its regulations covering the taking of migratory waterfowl to permit northern Alaskan natives to kill the birds for food at any time of the year.

The natives claim the hunting date restrictions of the treaty forbid them to take migratory waterfowl, legally, while the birds are in the Arctic areas.

After the Barrow arrests, Egan renewed the request to the Interior Department, he said yesterday, and conferred with members of the state's congressional delegation.

Egan said he believed the FWS should have tried to create an atmosphere of education prior to the time the Barrow Eskimos were arrested, and "then, perhaps, this sort of thing could have been avoided."

"The natives approach the problem from the standpoint that someone has eliminated their planned food supply," the governor said.

"If this is done, what are they to do to keep food on their tables?"

The governor said "we probably would find that Eskimos in the northern regions of Canada are probably doing the same thing, to sustain life in a hard land."