Boat tow to Point Lay marks first whaling season for North Slope village

TAMAR BEN-YOSEF

April 25, 2008 at 10:21AM AKST

Spring 2008 will be remembered in Point lay for years to come.

For the first time, residents of the small village, population 260, have been awarded a quota to hunt during the bowhead whaling season.

Julius Rexford, a Point Lay whaling captain, is excited about the prospect of whaling off the shores of his hometown for the first time in 14 years.

The village had recently grown in population, justifying the quota of one whale.

Rexford hopes one will be enough.

But to hunt the marine giant, one must have a whaling boat. And so Rexford and members of his family and whaling crew headed for Barrow to tow a boat from the city to their village.

The boat began the 150-mile trip to Point Lay on Sunday, April 13.

Rexford and his relatives placed the boat on top of their snowmachines for the journey, scheduled to take a day or two.

Rexford took over his father’s crew in 1999 and harvested a whale that same year. He has yet to catch another since. He has been a registered whaler in Barrow for the past nine years.

Rexford and his crew spent more time in Barrow than they originally planned before setting forth back home. Weather was of course a factor in their delay.

Whiteout conditions prevented the landing of a flight bearing Rexford’s nephew, Avaiyak Burnell, a serviceman had returned for a visit after training troops for deployment abroad.

In preparation for the hunt, residents in Point Lay were busy preparing ice cellars for storing their share of the rich meat and blubber.

Tamar Ben-Yosef can be reached at (907) 348-2419 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 419.