Makah set to resume whale hunting

Associated Press

SEATTLE — A month after gray whales began their 5,000-mile migration from Mexico to the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, three Makah families are preparing to set out with their cedar canoes and harpoons.

The hunt for the whales, which may begin as early as the second week in April, would be the first off the northwest coast of Washington since spring 2000, a year after the tribe revived its ancient tradition amid fierce protests from animal welfare groups.

It also would be the first hunt under expanded federal marine fisheries regulations allowing whaling in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, where waters are calmer and safer than the rough seas off Cape Flattery.

"It comes with some restrictions, but it certainly opens up more than before and it’s based on science, which we feel very comfortable with," Makah Whaling Commission president Keith Johnson said Thursday in a telephone interview from the reservation at Neah Bay.

Meanwhile, environmental groups are fuming, saying the tribe should wait until a federal lawsuit challenging the hunt is resolved.

"We think it’s outrageous that the Makah would go forward killing these whales, especially before this litigation is resolved," said Michael Markarian, vice president of the Fund for Animals, a New York-based animal rights group.

The Makah’s right to hunt whales is outlined in their 1855 treaty. The tribe moved to resume the hunt when the whales were taken off the endangered species list in 1994.

After making their case to the International Whaling Commission, Makah whalers were allocated 20 whales through 2002, no more than five per year. They have killed one so far, on May 17, 1999, their first in more than 70 years.

In spring 2000, a federal judge suspended whaling and ordered the National Marine Fisheries Service to conduct a more comprehensive environmental assessment. That study, issued last July, cleared the hunts to resume.

It also expanded whaling territory to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Under the previous regulations, whaling was allowed only near the tip of the Olympic Peninsula off the Makah reservation, fisheries service spokesman Brian Gorman said.

The fisheries service’s second environmental assessment also declared the Makah could hunt migrating gray whales as well as those that spend much of their time along the Washington coast. Environmentalists call the latter resident whales and argue they need stronger protections. The tribe and fisheries service call them "feeding aggregations" and insist there is no genetic distinction between the two.

The lawsuit filed by the Fund for Animals and several other environmental groups in January challenges the expanded hunt, calling the studies that prompted the reopening of the hunt inadequate.

The fisheries service filed its response March 18, saying its studies clearly showed that allowing the Makah to hunt no more than five gray whales per year from a population of about 26,000 would not threaten the species.

The tribe defends its right to hunt whales as a sacred tradition that does not harm the environment. "We are stewards of our resources," Johnson said. "We are not hunting the last whale."

A status conference is scheduled for April 23 in U.S. District Court.

The timing of the hunt will depend on when the whales make their way to the state’s northern coast. Some gray whales were spotted this week off the coast of La Push, about 20 miles south of the reservation, spouting and rolling in the surf. Others have already made their way north to Alaska, where a tour vessel reported spotting a cow and her calf south of Barwell Island off Cape Resurrection on Saturday.

The migration will continue through April, though gray whales are often seen off Washington’s coast as late as June.