Update on the whale hunt

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===== A message from the 'makahwhaling' discussion list =====

 

FROM WASHINGTON CITIZEN'S COASTAL ALLIANCE

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No hunting activity today: Makah whaling team members are reportedly

subpoenaed to testify in Scott Hopper's trial (from his whale protection

efforts last year), which begins today. The weather has improved, but is

forecast to deteriorate again Wednesday night.

 

Still needed: AIR TOUCH CELLULAR PRE-PAID PHONE CARDS! Buy one, grab the

code off the back of the card, and e-mail it to dano

 

Below, a wonderful article by ENN, and several other items.

*****

 

 

 

LEGALITY OF MAKAH WHALE HUNT A GRAY AREA

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Saturday, April 29, 2000

By Lucy Chubb, ENN News

http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2000/04/04292000/legalmakahgray_12460.as

p

 

The Makah Indian Nation of Neah Bay, Washington, abides by a tradition of

spiritual preparation before embarking on a whale hunt. " The sea provides a

natural atmosphere to send prayers to the Creator, " said Dan Greene, a

member of a recent hunt. " We are a spiritual people. "

 

For the second successive year, members of the Makah Indian Nation this

month embarked on a hunt for gray whales off the coast of Washington. And

for the second year in a row, the legality of the hunt is causing heated

debate and radical action.

 

The Makah maintain that their right to hunt gray whales is spelled out in a

treaty with the U.S. government drawn up in the mid-19th century.

 

" Under the treaty made by the United States with Makahs in 1855, the United

States promised to secure to the Makahs the right to engage in whaling, " the

Makah web site notes. " The treaty, which was ratified by the United States

Congress in 1855, is the law of the land under the U.S. Constitution and has

been upheld by the federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. "

 

" The treaty language is crystal clear, " said Brian Gorman, public affairs

officer for the U.S. National Marine Fisheries.

 

Conservation groups fighting to stop the whaling claim the Makah are acting

illegally because the tribe has not received permission from the

International Whaling Commission to hunt gray whales.

 

" To us, the legal situation surrounding the issue of Makah whaling is very

clear. It is illegal, " said Paul and Helena Spong of Orcalab, a whale

research station on Hanson Island in British Columbia, Canada. " The only

'law' applicable is that of the International Whaling Commission which has

been given the responsibility, by international agreement, for regulating

whaling. The IWC has not approved Makah whaling. "

 

Ocean Defense International, a group that is actively trying to halt the

hunt, shares this view. " IWC did not sanction the hunt, " said ODI

representative Jonathan Paul.

 

The Makah killed one whale during last year's hunt in Washington state.

Based in Great Britain, the IWC is an international coalition of countries

that oversee the whaling industry. When the commission was established in

1946, whaling was legal. The original purpose of the group was threefold: to

conserve whale stocks, develop the whaling industry and take into account

the consumers who use whale goods.

 

" The job of the IWC was to conserve whale stocks with a view to making the

largest possible catch, " said Martin Harvey of the organization. " But the

emphasis has moved from catching whales to conserving them. "

 

The method by which the IWC conserves whale stocks is by establishing

quotas. " IWC is only permitted to set total catch limits, " said Harvey.

Countries with quotas are responsible for any legal situations that might

arise from their whaling, he said.

 

The IWC had long protected the gray whale, according to Harvey, after

overhunting had reduced its numbers drastically to less than 2,000 animals.

Russia's Chukotka tribe, which lives on the Siberian coast, was allowed to

hunt whales and assigned a quota through the Russian Federation.

 

In the past several decades, gray whale numbers have recovered to an

estimated 21,000 individuals. The animal was removed from the U.S.

endangered species list in 1994.

 

In 1997, the United States on behalf of the Makah and the Russian Federation

on behalf of the Chukotka proposed a catch limit that, between the two

countries, would not exceed 140 whales per year for the years 1998 through

2002, and no more than a total 540 during that period.

 

The whales that the two tribes were to hunt come from the same migration

corridor in the northeastern Pacific Ocean.

 

" At our annual meeting in 1997, " said Ray Gambell, secretary of the IWC,

" after extensive discussion, the IWC granted the catch of gray whales

requested. "

 

The United States and the Russian Federation agreed that the Makah could

have 20 whales out of the five-year limit, said Gorman, with a catch of no

more than five whales per year over that period.

 

The schedule for the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling

states that the taking of gray whales is permitted " when the meat and

products are to be used exclusively for local consumption by the aborigines

whose traditional aboriginal subsistence and cultural needs have been

recognised. " The wording has since been updated but the essence of the

decree remains the same.

 

The issue now is whether this language constitutes " approval " for the Makah

to take gray whales.

 

" This decision implicitly recognized that the Makah Indian Tribe would want

to utilize part of this quota, " said Gambell, " since the IWC received the

needs statement and supporting arguments from the government of the USA on

its behalf. However, you will not find anywhere a formal statement from the

IWC that the Makah whale hunt is legal, since it has not made such a

determination. "

 

Gorman asserts that the IWC's inaction to change catch limits after last

year's gray whale kill by the Makah constitutes consent for the take of gray

whales.

 

" There is thus a de facto acceptance of this hunt as falling within the

IWC's requirements for aboriginal subsistence whaling, " he said, " but with a

degree of hesitation by some of our members as reflected in the discussions

which took place in setting the original catch limits. It was precisely for

that reason that the recognition of the aboriginal subsistence character of

the hunt was left deliberately vague, with the onus ultimately falling on

the government of the U.S.A. "

 

Spong does not buy this argument. " No matter how much some maintain that the

IWC gave ... permission by stating that it's up to the parties to settle

issues that arise over quotas, the fact remains the IWC did not approve a

quota for the Makah. "

 

Spong's position is shared by other environmentalists and conservation

organizations, many of which signed a document supporting this opinion at

the 1999 IWC meeting in Grenada.

 

The paper says, " We the undersigned observers at the 51st meeting of the

International Whaling Commission in Grenada wish to point out that the IWC

has not formally approved the killing of gray whales by the Makah tribe of

Washington State, U.S.A. " Groups that support the document include the

International Wildlife Coalition, Humane Society International, Cousteau

Society and the Canadian Marine Environment Protection Society.

*****

 

 

 

FROM AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY

-------------------------

American Cetacean Society

Puget Sound Chapter

Speaker Series 2000

 

Summer Resident Gray Whales and

Management Implications of Makah Whaling

 

Presented by

Jennifer Quan

Cascadia Research Collective

 

Wednesday, May 3

Odyssey - The Maritime Discovery Center

2201 Alaskan Way, Pier 66

Seattle Waterfront

Next to Anthony's Pier 66 Restaurant

 

Doors open at 7:00pm Program begins at 7:30pm

Admission is FREE

For more info: 206-297-1310

email: acs

 

The American Cetacean Society, the world's oldest whale & dolphin

conservation organization (established in 1967), protects whales, dolphins,

porpoises, and other habitats and ecosystems through public education,

research grants, and conservation actions.

*****

 

 

 

LETTER OF THE WEEK (To appear in New Mexico newspapers)

------------------

April 25, 2000

 

BLOOD, GUTS, AND GORE

 

Vice President Al Gore will be making a campaign stop in New Mexico this

week and no doubt he will again tell us what a great " environmentalist " he

is. But Gore has no right to make such a claim -- not as long as he supports

the shameful, illegal slaughter of gray whales in U.S. waters by the Makah

Indians.

 

The Clinton-Gore administration is aiding and abetting the murder of whales

with millions of taxpayer dollars. Its law enforcement agents are

terrorizing and attacking citizens who are trying to stop the killing. Last

week, the U.S. Coast Guard intentionally ran over a young woman protester

in the water and nearly killed her.

 

Please visit www.stopwhalekill.org for the latest and most

comprehensive information on this important issue and tell Al Gore to stop

killing whales!

 

Patricia Wolff

Los Alamos, New Mexico

*****

 

 

 

IRONIC E-MAIL OF THE WEEK

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" ...Throughout his career, Al Gore's environmental leadership has been

consistent, courageous, effective, and visionary. "

 

(E-mail received from Gore 2000 campaign the same day Erin Abbott was mowed

down by the U.S. Coast Guard.)

*****

 

 

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