The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) allows for the hunting of Marine Mammals by Native Alaskans whose cultures have traditionally hunted them for subsistence. Alaskan Natives can legally produce artworks for sale from materials of Marine Mammals but cannot trade in the raw materials that have not been “significantly altered”, except among each other.

Legal sources of ivory for non-Natives are “pre-act” walrus ivory and mammoth tusk ivory. Pre-act ivory, commonly known as fossil-ivory or mineralized ivory, comes from animals that have passed away before the MMPA was enacted in 1972. Most pre-act ivory comes from islands in the Bering Sea where it is excavated by Alaskan Natives on their own land. Mammoths have been extinct for 10,000 years and are not protected as an endangered species. Mammoth tusk ivory is usually darker than walrus ivory.

In 1975 an international convention was established to prevent international trade from threatening species with extinction. This treaty is known as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Each country is obliged to designate its own authorities.

Artwork from Marine Mammal materials cannot be exported from the United States for importation to foreign countries unless it is worked by Alaskan Natives and is exported for personal use (non-commercial). Whale materials are completely banned from import by CITES countries who are very strict about the subject. People who carry articles created from whale materials are at risk of loosing the items to Customs Agents and being fined. Pre-act walrus ivory may be exported from the U.S. for commercial use in other countries but this requires a CITES Permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.