Makah whalers celebrate atop a dead gray whale in Neah Bay after the successful hunt in this May 17, 1999, photo. — Elaine Thompson/The Associated Press
Makah group marks anniversary of whale hunt (AP)
…Meanwhile, federal officials are in the process of finalizing an environmental review that could lead to another hunt, the Daily News reported. The tribe is currently seeking authorization from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries agency under the Marine Mammal Protection Act to hunt gray whales for subsistence purposes.
In 2012, NOAA scrapped a 2008 draft environmental impact statement of Makah whaling and began a new draft environmental impact statement, after new scientific information found that a group of gray whales that frequents the Washington coast may be different than the 20,000 whales that migrate past the state each year on their way between Alaskan and Mexican waters.
Donna Darm, associate deputy administrator for the NOAA’s west region, said a new statement incorporating that information should be ready for public review by the fall.
“There’s been a lot of new science that we received since the 2008 draft,” Darm told the Daily News Thursday.
That information will not necessarily affect the tribe’s hunt, but it will require that tribal hunters carefully identify what group any future whales they take come from, according to the Daily News.
“Nothing we’ve learned really changes what the tribe has proposed in the first place,” Darm said. “It just changes what we see as far as impacts.”
….Animal welfare and other groups decried the 1999 killing and later sued to stop the hunts.
Legal challenges then put the whale hunts on hold.
In 2004, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Makah could not obtain a waiver under the Marine Mammal Protection Act until an environmental assessment was prepared.
An illegal whale hunt in 2007 led to the death of gray whale and federal prison sentences for two Makah tribal members, including Johnson.
Exposing the Big Game 
WTF ???!!!!?!?!
Yep, it isn’t over
The Makah have nothing better to do? They have a very nice museum on their land, but this is horrific and even more so for the whales.
Every human is going to have to take a step back and consider strongly whether our past behaviors and what we feel are entitlements are sustainable going forward. I think there will come a time that the tribes are going to have to do this, and re-evaluate subsistence hunting. Our President says we are going to have to make ‘hard choices and sacrifices’ due to climate change uncertainties. So far, I only see wildlife making the sacrifices, and never the humans, hiding behind self-serving scientific hypotheses and vague terms like ‘sustainability’.
Time for killing traditions to die, develop new cultural tradition,.There is nothing sacred about culture, killing or otherwise; it just records a history that must adapt to changing times. The really certainty is change. We, including them, are well past subsistence hunting but failing to adapt in their case and American hunters are failing, American Elmer Fudd Nimrod traditions who have their own rationalizations for their blood sports. There was a time when we were few and lived close to the animal kingdom and did kill for subsistence as does the rest of the animal kingdom. We moved past that with agricultural settlement. Now we are 7 billion and growing and destroying land and marine life and animal farming and killing 6 million animals a day, not counting the marine life, hunting kills, and USDA Wildlife Services killing of millions. Humans are committing genocide against all animals including their own over populated pets in animal shelters. Time for us all to end our killing traditions
The Makah are not Sports Hunting . They need to eat . And light their tents, and clothe their bodies . They do not have the soil, the sun, the climate to grow cabbage or corn or potatoes . Or would we prefer that they move camp and come to live among us, adding to the crowded cities ?
Oh, poor Makah! The roughly 1,200 registered members of the tribe live mostly around Neah Bay which, last time I checked, has electric lighting, running water and internal combustion engines which power the boats used in the commercial fishing and “traditional” whale hunts the Makah engage in; and don’t forget the high power rifles and ammunition used to help kill the harpooned whales, no doubt manufactured locally in a gun factory exclusively employing traditional native craftsmanship. And what exactly are the official statistics on how many Makah starved to death for lack of whale meat during the several decades during which it was illegal for them to hunt the whales?
Everyone with an ounce of common sense knows that these whale hunts are not about making tents from the whale skins or lighting the village with whale oil or feeding starving children; they are a political statement in which some Makah wish to assert long obsolescent treaty rights and disinter antiquated “traditions” that somehow make them feel better about themselves. As such, any Makah pushing to re-instate the whale hunt are no better than the Taiji fisherman busily slaughtering dolphins as part of their “traditions.” The whales simply serve as sentient, and suffering, props in this little political farce. At some point bleeding-heart liberals need to stop issuing blanket passes to aboriginals engaging in barbaric behavior.
Shame on them! Thank you, Roger, for what needs to be said. Most “traditions” are barbaric. Perhaps we need to bring back the long-held “tradition” of human sacrifice: It certainly would be more beneficial for Earth, and the animals would rejoice. In this 21st century, with massive world-wide species decline, there simply is no excuse for this–and then we see these yahoos standing on the dead body of that once-beautiful whale. Anything we humans now do, is not sustainable, and this nonsense of “sustainability” must be exposed for what it is: a trendy excuse for our species to continue to take whatever it can from Mother Earth.
That’s right Rosemary.
The Makah will consume the whale as the “civilized people” among us consume pigs or chicken . Most humans will eat animal flesh, for whatever reason . .The 1,200 Makah will not bring about more torture upon living beings than the over 7 BILLION humans walking around the planet gnawing on BBQ ribs . I do not eat flesh but I recognize that the slaughter of non-human animals for food is not about to end in our lifetime .
The Makah are as “civilized” as any of us nowadays. Please read Geoff’s comment to this same post for an accurate depiction of the tribe in the 21st century.
Well said, Idalupine, Roger, and Rosemary. We humans of all stripes need to evolve past the killing of earth’s creatures. The times, they are a-changin’!
Indeed they are as “civilized” as “the rest of us” . They conduct themselves like the rest of us . We slaughter animals, they do too.Their local resources are much fewer than ours, their choices are very limited . We don’t have to spend $10.- for one orange
You should honestly read geoff’s comment. Whether you can face the music on your hollow ethics or not, the fact is a few want to continue a morally repugnant act out of false pride for tradition. Put morals above such things and maybe the world would be a better place.
When we, who insist on imposing our morals, our views, our beliefs upon the rest of the world’s people have vanquished our own shortcomings and lack of ethics, then we might attempt to take the highbrow road; in the meanwhile, let us concentrate on our own conduct and not judge others by what we idealize and are far from achieving ourselves
It seems a bit separatist to keep notions of higher ethics to oneself. If we waited until everyone in our perceived in-group moved beyond speciesism, there might be no whales left to protect.
It merely follows the concept of Think Globally, Act Locally . Righten the group’s ills before pointing the accusing finger at another community’s .Neither species-ism nor fear of whale extinction enter into the equation .
This blog is written and frequently commented on by those who have stopped viewing non humans as things or objects, trying to fix everyone with get us nowhere so you are wasting time. Simply be against the slaughter. I will not wait idlely by for people with your mindset to get with the program and stop singing and start swinging.