Offshore oil and gas development in arctic Alaska carries a high risk of interference with nutritionally and culturally critical bowhead whale subsistence hunting. Since the mid-1980s, the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission has engaged offshore oil and gas exploration and development companies, including oil majors, in an annual process of collaboration and negotiation to create mitigation measures capable of avoiding adverse impacts to bowhead whales, habitat, and hunting opportunities. The process, founded on local ecological knowledge and western science, has become a staple of offshore oil and gas development in arctic Alaska. In addition to avoiding adverse impacts to subsistence uses that are protected under federal law, this highly efficient process also reduces conflicts that might otherwise slow offshore permitting.