Walrus Ivory Regulations

• Walrus tusks can grow up to a meter long.walrus image by Gail Johnson from Fotolia.com
  
  Global bans on the trade of ivory and ivory products were instituted in the late 1980s largely in an attempt to preserve Africa's elephant population, but even before that the United States Department of the Interior initiated procedures whereby the trade in walrus ivory was severely restricted.
  
  

History

• The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, made it illegal to buy or sell non-fossil walrus ivory after December 21, 1972, unless both parties were Eskimo.
  
  According to Heidi Robichaud, a scrimshaw artist, it is not illegal to own ivory, and several varieties of walrus ivory were grandfathered in under the new regulation. Raw walrus ivory imported to the United States prior to the 1972 act, ivory bearing official Alaska state tags and tusks that have been scrimshawed by a native Alaskan are all examples of walrus ivory that may be bought and sold without penalty in the United States.
  
  

Hunting

• According to a fact sheet put out by the Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaskan natives who are at least a quarter Eskimo, Aleut or Indian are permitted to hunt walrus "for subsistence purposes or the creation and sale of Native articles of handicraft or clothing if the harvest is not wasteful." While there is no set, specified limit on the number of walrus that native Alaskans can harvest, the U.S. Department of the Interior recommends that no more are killed than can be realistically used for the above reasons. Killing walrus solely for their tusks is deemed "wasteful" and is illegal.
  
  

Exporting/Importing Regulations

• Handicrafted (or "scrimshawed") walrus ivory may be exported to a foreign country if the exporter first obtains a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. CITES delegates meet once every two years in Switzerland to make regulatory adjustments to commerce involving endangered species. The Fish and Wildlife Service suggests that exporters check on foreign import restrictions in the nation they intend to export to.
  
  Since the Marine Mammal Protection Act passed in 1972, walrus ivory cannot be imported into the United States.