"There’s a right way and a wrong way to secure the Makah Indian tribe’s treaty right to hunt whales.

The right way is embodied in a 900-page environmental impact statement the National Marine Fisheries Service has spent three years preparing.

It addresses a host of concerns about tribal whaling, including public safety, methods, limits, locations and protection of the overall whale population.

Most important, it’s being submitted to an administrative law judge, who will decide whether to give the tribe a waiver from the Marine Mammals Protection Act, which would otherwise forbid the killing of any whale.

The waiver, once granted, would help assure that the Makahs could permanently exercise a privilege spelled out explicitly in their 1855 treaty with the U.S. government.

Contrast that with the debacle achieved by the five Makah whale-killers sentenced Monday in Tacoma for criminally violating the marine mammals act."

Get the Story:
A Makah whale hunt to end all whale hunts (The Tacoma News Tribune 7/2)

Relevant Documents:
Draft EIS on Makah Whale-Hunting Request | Q&A

9th Circuit Decision:
Anderson v. Evans (June 7, 2004)

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Makah men sentenced for illegal whale hunt (7/1)
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First public meeting on Makah Nation whaling (5/28)
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