Q5

[hnadgauda]

Analysis of the question:

A: Deferred during first read through of answer choices and ultimately chosen as correct!

B: We have no evidence of traditional items made from sea otter pelts being mentioned in the exemption; the passage states that the exemptions exist for "taking protected animals".

C: Tempting because in the passage, it indicates that Alaska Natives had made many uses of sea otters before the occupation of the territory by Russia in the late 1700s. However, we don't know that the Russian hunters pressured the Russian government to bar Alaska Natives from hunting sea otters. This part is out of scope.

D: Out of scope. No mention of the sea otter population in the passage.

E: Out of scope. We don't know this!

[ohthatpatrick]

Thanks, I'll just add that the support for (A) comes from lines 21-25.

[ReginaP412]

Am I understanding this then-- they were allowed to hunt sea otters after 1972, but were still prohibited from using sea otter pelts to produce handicrafts after 1972?

I understood the whole point here was that they were still prohibited from hunting sea otters (the point of the two cases referenced) because they didn't fall under the exemption. But it's just that the sea otter pelts* were not exempted and hunting was OK?

Thanks

[Misti Duvall]

Am I understanding this then-- they were allowed to hunt sea otters after 1972, but were still prohibited from using sea otter pelts to produce handicrafts after 1972?

I understood the whole point here was that they were still prohibited from hunting sea otters (the point of the two cases referenced) because they didn't fall under the exemption. But it's just that the sea otter pelts* were not exempted and hunting was OK?

Thanks

Good question! I think the issue of what happened after 1972 has to do with interpretation of the regulations. By statutory law, they were allowed to hunt after 1972 if the hunting fell under the Alaska Native exemption. FWS regulations defined and narrowed that exemption, brining into question who was exempted in practice and under what circumstances, which is what the passage mostly discusses.

Either way, they were definitely prohibited from hunting from 1910 to 1972, because there was no exemption at all during that time period.