Makah Tribal Council Condemns Gray Whale Shooting

NEAH BAY, Washington, September 17, 2007 (ENS) - The Makah Tribal Council Sunday denounced the killing of a California gray whale that was shot with a large caliber rifle and harpooned off the tribal reservation at the northernwestern tip of Washington state.

The U.S. Coast Guard detained five men suspected of killing the whale on Saturday, September 8 and handed them over to tribal police.

"The individuals who took part in this act were arrested by Makah enforcement officers and booked in our detention facility," the Tribal Council said on Sunday. "They were released only after meeting the bail requirements set by the court. They will stand trial in our court at a future date."

The Tribal Council said the men "took it upon themselves to hunt a whale without the authority from the Makah Tribal Council or the Makah Whaling Commission."

"Their action was a blatant violation of our law and they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," the Tribal Council said. "We are cooperating with the National Marine Fisheries Service in their investigation of this incident and will continue to do so."

"We had a meeting of the general council of the Makah Tribe to discuss this incident and the membership of the tribe supports our action," the Council said.

But Wayne Johnson, one of the five Makah tribal members who hunted the gray whale, told the "Seattle Times" on Friday, "I'm proud of what we did. I'm only mad that we weren't allowed to finish the job and bring this whale to shore for our people."

"When the U.S. Coast Guard ordered us to drop our whaling weapons last Saturday, we were just moments away from killing a gray whale that would have fed our Makah people," Johnson said. "The wounded whale was left to drift with our harpoons in it and a second whaling team that would have ended its misery was turned away at gunpoint."

"We've been waiting eight years since our last whale hunt for the United States to hold up its end of our treaty that guarantees our right to hunt whales. They have yet to carry out the legal procedures they claim to need," Johnson said.

"I don't know if I had any faith in the process to begin with, but I certainly don't have any now," Johnson said. "The Makah Tribe never conceded that our treaty rights were subject to all these conditions. We agreed to participate in the process only as a courtesy, not a legality. But years are going by. So many of our elders have passed on. And some of us need this whale meat in our freezers to get through the winter."

The Tribal Council said the lengthy wait for a permit is no excuse for lawlessness. "The tribe has demonstrated extraordinary patience in waiting for the legal process to be completed in order to receive our permit to conduct a whale hunt. We are a law-abiding people and we will not tolerate lawless conduct by any of our members," said the Council.

"We hope the public does not permit the actions of five irresponsible persons to be used to harm the image of the entire Makah tribe," the Council said.

The U.S. government removed the gray whale from the endangered species list in 1994. Five years later, with a permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service, Makah tribal members killed their first whale in more than 70 years.

In May 1999, Makah whaling captain Wayne Johnson watches the distribution of the only whale killed since the Makah resumed their hunt. (Photo courtesy Sea Shepherd Conservation Society)

Johnson says his family has a proud history of whaling, and he wants them to eat healthy native foods such as whale instead of surplus commodities handed out by the federal government.

But Makah tribal leaders were embarrassed enough by the incident that they travelled to Washington, DC to apologize to federal officials and members of Congress on Wednesday. At separate meetings with the state's senators and officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, tribal leaders condemned the September 8 whale hunt.

Tribal representatives met with the two Washington State Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both Democrats, and with Congressman Norm Dicks, who represents the district which includes the Makah reservation at Neah Bay.

Micah McCarty, a tribal council member who attended the meetings, said the hunt "inflamed an already controversial issue." But he said he was optimistic it would not affect the request before NOAA for a waiver to allow ceremonial and subsistence whaling of as many as five whales a year. "It's a public relations setback," McCarty said at a news conference.

Sea Shepherd founder Captain Paul Watson, who has battled the Makah whale hunt for years, said the incident showed that the five men are "thugs." "This was a vicious cowardly act," said Watson. "They did not use the traditional canoe, they did not undertake the proper cleansing rituals and they did not approach the whale with respect or in the traditional manner. They did not have the blessing of their Elders."

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2007. All rights reserved.