Whale hunt update from Sekiu, WA

[Guest guest]

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

 

FROM WASHINGTON CITIZEN'S COASTAL ALLIANCE

 

 

Sekiu, WA: 3:46pm PDT

 

(We previously sent this update on Friday, but for some reason, it

disappeared into cyberspace. If Friday's update shows up at some later time,

please disregard and accept our apologies!)

 

Folks, the 'action item' below is something you should ALL take seriously.

Congressman Jack Metcalf is, as usual, taking the lead on this issue, and

YOU need to take part! Please visit www.stopwhalekill.org for information on

how to contact YOUR congressional representative, and forward this item on

to as many interested people as you can!

*****

 

 

FROM PROJECT SEAWOLF

--

 

June 23, 2000 -- This morning, Congressman Jack Metcalf (WA) will start

circulating among his colleague members of the US Congress, a letter

addressed to the International Whaling Commission. Congressman Metcalf is

hoping to collect in excess of 100 co-signatures in time to formally submit

this letter to the IWC Secretariat, prior to their forthcoming meeting.

 

The letter (complete text included below) essentially asks the IWC to

discipline the United States Commerce Department for their recent violation

of the US NEPA process, and to intervene by directing the US not to allow

this hunt to continue. There is little time to collect signatures, so we

must now act and have our respective Congressional representative be aware

of Metcalf's plans to circulate the letter, and have them take a proactive

step to ensure their names are added to the brief.

 

Citizens across the country are asked to IMMEDIATELY contact their

respective members of Congress and ask them to sign onto Congressman

Metcalf's letter. There is a prospect that continued pressure may

encourage a political end to this distasteful, precedent setting slaughter

of whales. Please call your Congressional representative TODAY!

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Dear IWC Commissioners -

 

We, the undersigned members of the 106th Congress of the United States, are

writing to urge the IWC to stop the Makah Indian Tribe's gray whale hunt.

 

On June 9, 2000, The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

ruled that the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, a branch of

the US Commerce department, violated the most basic requirements of US law

in the course of supporting the Makah Indian Tribe's unprecedented attempt

to hunt gray whales in a National Marine Sanctuary. The court ruled that

the Department of Commerce has subverted the National Environmental Policy

Act (NEPA) by making a decision to support the Makah's whaling effort --

including committing to advocate the Makah's position to the IWC -- before

engaging in any of the required NEPA analysis.

 

The US government never conducted an unbiased lawful analysis of the

effects of the proposed hunt -- including its potential repercussions on

the small resident gray whale population that resides within the Olympic

Coast Marine Sanctuary. Impairment of the public's ability to enjoy that

Sanctuary was not considered. The government's ability to continue to

execute the will of Congress in effectively opposing the resumption of

commercial whaling worldwide, in light of the Makah hunt, was not

evaluated. The Court ordered the government to complete a new environmental

assessment " free of the previous taint " before supporting the hunt.

 

When the IWC approved the 1997 joint quota request which allowed the Makah

to begin hunting whales, members of the IWC were lead to believe that the

US government had adequately studied the matter, and had complied fully

with US law. Presumably, if the members of the IWC knew that the US had

run roughshod over its most elementary legal requirement, they would never

have approved such a quota.

 

Under those circumstances, it is obvious that the IWC should immediately

recognize that its prior consideration of this matter was tainted by the US

government's violation of environmental law. Once the department of

Commerce has fulfilled its environmental obligations, the Commission should

have the opportunity to debate the merits of the Makah whaling application

with full knowledge of its effects.

 

Thank you for your attention to this letter. We are confident that when the

IWC is able to evaluate an unbiased assessment of the full effects of the

Makah hunt, it will call for an end to it.

 

Sincerely, [undersigned members of Congress]

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

Project SeaWolf

P.O. Box 987

Marysville, WA 98270

" A federally-registered 501c3 non-profit organisation "

 

email to: ProjSeaWolf

 

See Our Review of Northwest Eco-tourism Operators -- " Make Sure You Only

Select The Best! "

http://home.earthlink.net/~projseawolf/ecos.htm

*****

 

 

 

TRIBE HOPES TO LEARN GRAY WHALE PATTERN

-------

Peninsula Daily News

June 18, 2000

By Austin Ramzy

 

QUILEUTE COUNCIL APPROVES RETURN OF RESEARCHER

 

LAPUSH- Informally they're called residents, the gray whales that make

extended stays in Washington waters rather than migrate to and from Baja

California, Mexico and Alaska's Bering Sea.

 

Researchers hope to learn more about them, as does the Quileute tribe.

 

The tribal council approved the return of a whale researcher to coastal

beaches on the Quileute Indian Reservation this summer to observe the

whales' behavior. Under the agreement, Jay Mallonee will bring students from

a San Francisco State University program.

 

The plan is to eventually have a sort of gray whale exchange rpogram with

studens at the Quileute Tribal School, said Mitch Lesoing, a tribal

biologist.

 

CREATION STORIES

" The students coming up get to learn traditional creation stories about the

gray whale, while tribal school kids start learning how to do whale

observations, " he said. The efforts will help the tribe's goals of

encouraging whale watching and interpretive opportunities for tourists,

which means jobs for tribal members.

 

La Push is of particular interst to Mallonee, who also researches wolves in

Montana, because the beaches offer unique access to whales, Lesoing said.

" There's just an amazing opportunity because gray whales come really close

and there's lots of types of behavior we see, " he said.

 

" The tribe is interested in having a better understanding of how the whales

used the habitat here. "

 

Gray whales can often be seen in the waters off First and Rialto beaches.

Mallonee hopes to gather information about the whales that stay in the area

through the summer. " We may be able to determine carrying capacity of this

area, " he said in a press release.

 

" There is only so much food and that's going to limit how many whales are

here at one time. Shore-based observation is very nonintrusive- it doesn't

alter the behavior as a boat might. "

*****

 

 

JAPANESE 'STACKING' WHALE TALKS

-----

>From 'The Australian'

By Amanda Hodge

June 19, 2000

 

AUSTRALIA'S hopes of securing a whale sanctuary in the South Pacific are

fading, with conservation groups accusing Japan of stacking next month's

International Whaling Commission meeting.

 

Conservation delegates to next month's meeting say preliminary voting

numbers indicate Australia's proposal would be defeated by a rump of

developing nations that have allegedly received financial aid in return for

their votes.

 

Caribbean island states with no history of commercial whaling had already

signalled their intention to vote with pro-whaling lobbyists, and the newest

IWC member, Guinea, was also expected to vote with Japan.

 

A spokesman for Environment Minister Robert Hill said that while the

Government had no clear idea of how the vote would go, it had also lobbied

hard for the proposal. " Those sorts of tactics aren't new, but I think we've

put in a strong lobbying effort of our own with various countries

particularly. "

 

But Greenpeace spokeswoman Denise Boyd urged the Government to double its

lobbying efforts in the face of such campaigning. " Last year, a half-dozen

Caribbean island states joined Japan in a walkout over suggestions it should

reconsider its domestic quota on all porpoise hunting. That species doesn't

even exist in Caribbean waters, " Ms Boyd said.

 

" What reason could Guinea possibly have to want to come to the IWC ... it

doesn't make a lot of sense, " she said.

 

Guinea's intention to join the IWC followed a tour of the country by

Japanese government delegates. While Japan has denied accusations it uses

foreign aid to encourage developing countries to vote its way, it has been

one of Guinea's most generous aid donors in recent years.

 

Japan's IWC commissioner, Minoru Morimoto, has also publicly stated his

country's intention to lobby for numbers among IWC member countries.

 

" In the IWC the numbers of votes decides everything, " he told a Japanese

fishing paper.

 

" If we can get enough supporting countries for a single majority, the

situation will change and not so many resolutions will be adopted. "

 

Japan's staunch determination to defeat the whale sanctuary proposal has

also been clear through its recent employment of an Australian public

relations firm to push its agenda.

 

(For more information on this topic, and action you can take, visit

www.stopwhalekill.org)

*****

 

 

 

BEST SIGNPOST OF THE WEEK

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A waterway located east of Sekiu marked; " Uptha Creek "

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