When translated into reality for Inuit and non-Inuit people residing in Canada who earn a living through carving, it means that a large and viable market is unattainable.

"There are trailer loads of Inuit art still in boxes that haven't been opened. This industry is not infallible, this industry is not a cash cow. We have to open up the American market," says Bob Kussey, a carver who resides in Yellowknife.

"This law is killing me. I'm probably the only white guy who carves a lot in whale bone. The law hurts me along with the 15,000 or 20,000 others who make art in the NWT," says Kussey whose wife and children are Inuit.

The end result is a number of communities needlessly fighting for survival. "We're limited by this in the way we take care of ourselves and our families. We're limited by this law. Our children could have healthier lives and a more enjoyable livelihood. I'm bitching about it for me and for other artists," says Kussey who is currently working on a whale bone carving with Pond Inlet artist Billy Merkosak.

According to the Northern Images store located in Yellowknife, Merkosak is also economically affected by the MMPA.

"We have right now, a guy named Billy Merkosak who's been doing beautiful masks from whale bone. We've bought six pieces and we would buy more but we know that our tourists can't have it and that cuts down Billy's sales," says Anna Maguire, a sales clerk at Northern Images.

"We just have less whale bone in the store because we don't want it lying around on the shelves. We lose a lot of sales, lots of people come from the U.S. and they won't buy the ivory. They'll choose the caribou antler or something else," says Maguire. "We tell everybody that they're not allowed to take it into their country and we lose the sale."

Kussey wants the federal and territorial governments to lobby the U.S. Congress to make changes to the act so the carvings can be sold or imported in the U.S.

Robert Moshenko works for the Fisheries Management Department and he says that the federal government is continually trying to change the legislation.

"Every so often the MMPA is opened up for review. Our foreign affairs department has done some promotion or lobby work towards congress on the behalf of the Canadian Inuit. Somewhere between the last three or four years, work has been done on their behalf...it might have been other agencies...the territorial government or the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs," says Moshenko.

Resources, Wildlife, Economic Development employee Ron Graf says the path to MMPA change is a tricky one.

"It's extremely sensitive down in the south. When we were dealing with the polar bear issue, there was a discussion on whether polar bears harvested by the Inuit could be sold in the U.S. and there was a dramatic 'no,' only those harvested by the American hunters," says Graf, referring to the polar bear exemption made to the act in 1995.

There are of course, other exceptions and loopholes in the rule and permits can sometimes be obtained to import marine mammals and marine mammal products into the U.S.

Exemptions are granted for scientific research, public displays, enhancing the survival of a species and to Alaskan natives.

"They're always talking about gloomy economic pictures and revitalizing the economy. It takes a day to do a carving. Every community on Baffin Island, if this law was amended, every single day someone would be able to sell a whale bone carving," says Kussey.