Whaler makes history as Barrow's first known woman to take a whale

Alaska Dispatch News ^ | Jillian Rogers

[skeptoid]

Bernadette Adams became the first known woman in Barrow history to harpoon a whale, when she struck the bowhead pictured here 20 miles offshore from the Arctic community.

Bernadette Adams remembers pitching fits as a young girl out on the sea ice wanting desperately to go out whaling with her father. With no brothers, her hunting career started at a young age. And last week, she made local history as the first woman in the community to harpoon a bowhead. Usually women don’t go out in boats with the whaling crews. And while community members in Barrow are touting her as the first woman to kill a whale, she’s actually not sure if that’s the case. But it doesn’t matter to her either way.

“Everyone keeps asking me but I just say ‘I don’t know, I don’t keep up with that, all I do is go whaling,’” said Adams, 31, last week.

[skeptoid]

snippet The whale turned toward the boat just before the bomb attached to the well-placed harpoon went off.

“You have to throw it hard enough so the trigger rod will hit the muktuk,” she explained. “You try your best to kill it as fast as you can. Sometimes that doesn’t happen, but we were blessed this time because all it took was one bomb and it died.”

The whale died quickly, proving that the throw was well executed. The Ahmaogak crew’s whale measured in at 27 feet, 6 inches. But before celebrating commenced, the crew tied the front fins together, attaching a float, then used thick rope to tie the tail to the boat.

Picture at the link.

[ansel12]

The wonders of the 21st century, a woman decided to go kill a whale.

[molson209]

Grilled Arctic Steak is the BEST ,yum

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Congratulations!

Blubber. It’s what’s on the menu!

[GraceG]

She looks like she has some inuit in her.

I bet this is gonna make Peta angry...

[GeronL]

bomb?

Is that a traditional native Alaskan way to kill a whale?

[Puppage]

Where's The Blubber?

[from occupied ga]

Grilled Arctic Steak is the BEST ,yum

I never had whale meat, but a friend who claimed he has said it tasted nasty. So which is it?

[bikerman]

It tastes like spotted owl.

[martin_fierro]

She blubbered all the way home.

[Blue Jays]

It must be an acquired taste.
From photographs that I have seen, it looks like a quivering bowl of gelatin.
Glad that they enjoy it, yet I will stick to my traditional fare. ;-)

[Buckeye McFrog]

We’re not counting the woman who married Michael Moore, I presume...

[katykelly]

My daughter did a summer dental internship in Barrow . The village chief chose her to help butcher a whale , which she did . She also ate whale . They put the blubber in jars and burry it , where it ferments .

[skeptoid]

Bombs have been used for more than 200 years according to Wiki, but with cannons or "whale guns". I don' know when bombs were adapted to hand-thrown harpoons, but they are much more "humane", efficient and safer than being dragged around for who knows how long by a bleeding whale.

[skeptoid]

The link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harpoon&redirect=no#Explosive_harpoons

[dainbramaged]

When I was a sprout, you could still buy whale meat at the butcher shop - my mother would make a pate for parties and it was pretty tasty with proper seasoning.
I've also eaten whale pot roast and it was stronger flavored than beef, more gamey but to me it was delicious.
Back in the 90's, State game biologists examining Bowhead whale carcasses taken by the folks in Barrow determined that these creatures can live up to 200 years after finding stone harpoon points embedded in them that had healed from previous strikes.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/060713-whale-eyes.html

[skeptoid]

There's muktuk (blubber still attached to the skin)
and then there's the red meat.

An elderly friend born and raised on the Norwegian coast
says it's lean red meat and not at all offensive.

[BenLurkin]

She’s certainly no Marisa Tomei
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNpS-JDXWm8

[katana]

Had it one time in a Tokyo tempura (deep fried everything) restaurant. It tasted like the most delicious pork you can imagine. I would not order it myself by choice, for the same reason I would not want to eat monkey or dolphin (too sentient for my taste and conscience), but I would not begrudge hunters and communities who rely on whale for survival continuing their traditional hunting.

[gr8eman]

Yep...we could start a Politically Correct Wrestling Show! The head dyke in PETA will wrestle this girl for the crime of killing an (OMG) whale. If the whale killer is straight, she has only a 3-count, but if she is also a dyke she gets 4. PETA would be on one side of the arena playing Yes’ Don;t Kill the Whale song real loud and the girls native folks would be on the other side in full regalia. Sort of like Rush’s enviromental whacko pics only with Vince McMahon. I could make a fortune on pay per view!