More on the upcoming whale hunt in Washington State

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Wednesday, April 12, 2000, 09:55 p.m. Pacific

 

 

Protesters are back as whale hunt

nears

 

 

 

Waters are calm off the

Olympic Peninsula, for the

moment, as Makah tribal

hunters train to harpoon

their second gray whale in

as many years from the

hull of a cedar canoe.

 

But with the spring whale

migration already under

way, the mere possibility of another hunt

has drawn some of last

year's most virulent protesters back to

Neah Bay.

 

While government officials predict the

Makahs' quest will spark

fewer high-seas confrontations this year,

activists maintain they'll

stick around until a hunt - or until the

migration ends in June.

 

Nine activists calling themselves Ocean

Defense International are

patrolling the coast in a 38-foot retired

Canadian

search-and-rescue boat. The boat carries

two jet-propelled

watercraft and some of the seven protesters

accused in federal

court last year of negligently operating a

motorized vessel one day

before the Makahs' successful May 17 hunt.

 

The activists wouldn't detail their plans

but said they were

prepared for direct action.

 

" We're not just going to stand on the water

and hold signs, " said

Tami Drake-Miller.

 

Meanwhile, a group of about 30 activists

shut down a road

leading to the Makah Reservation for about

an hour earlier this

month, said Chuck Owens, with Peninsula

Citizens for the

Protection of Whales.

 

" You can definitely say protest activity

has picked up, " said Coast

Guard Lt. David Billburg, in Port Angeles.

" But we haven't got a

real grasp on how much protesting there'll

be and who the players

will be. "

 

This past weekend a 30-foot gray whale,

believed to have died of

natural causes, washed up on Whidbey Island

property belonging

to one of the most vocal protesters of the

Makah whale hunt:

Rep. Jack Metcalf, R-Langley.

 

Metcalf is among those who argued in

federal court that the

government improperly approved last year's

hunt. Since the

whale's carcass showed up Saturday on the

beach in front of his

bed-and-breakfast inn just north of

Langley, people have come to

pray for the animal's spirit - and gawk in

fascination.

 

" It does blow you away, " said Norma

Metcalf, the congressman's

wife, who spent the better part of the past

four days trying to

figure out how to remove the carcass. Her

husband is in

Washington, D.C.

 

" It's just very distressing, " she said.

" Whether they die of old age

or gunshot by Makahs, it's just distressing

to see those big things

lying dead. "

 

It's difficult to say how or when any Makah

hunt will take place

this spring. After last year, when the

Makahs harpooned a

30-foot, 3-year-old female whale after

weeks of protests, the

tribe is reluctant to publicly announce its

moves, said John Arum,

a Seattle attorney representing the tribe.

It was the tribe's first

whale in 70 years.

 

The tribe must inform the National Marine

Fisheries Service when

a hunt is to take place, but it can do so

at the last minute - and

demand the information be kept

confidential.

 

Keith Johnson, president of the Makah

Whaling Commission, said

five families are in various stages of

training for a hunt. None has

requested a permit from the commission yet,

but the season runs

through June.

 

" We're hoping the families can pull

together and make a hunt, " he

said. " If it's right and things work out,

that will be OK. It's a

spiritual event. "

 

Johnson expressed dismay that protesters

had already drawn a

bead on the hunt. " I don't know why they're

here, " he said. " I wish

they would just leave us alone. "

 

Johnson, upon hearing where a gray whale

washed up this

weekend, couldn't contain a laugh. He said

the dead adult helps

make the case tribal hunting doesn't harm

the overall gray-whale

population.

 

" The implied message is it's OK for the

Makahs to take a whale, "

he said.

 

Even for Whidbey Island residents like

Anahata Pomeroy, who

has reserved judgment on the Makah hunt,

whales loom large in

her everyday life.

 

When she heard about the dead whale, she

and a friend, who is

Native American, came to perform a ceremony

to release the

whale's spirit. Yesterday, she stood in

jeans and a fuzzy pink

cashmere sweater next to the whale's

rotting carcass, to sing a

high-pitched blessing, with tar drum.

 

" I wanted to come back today because this

is my gift, " said

Pomeroy. " I wanted to give it my heart song

and bless it on its

journey. "

 

Craig Welch's phone message number is

206-464-2093.

 

 

 

2000 The Seattle Times Company

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uesday, April 11, 2000

Makah Indians practice for

another whale hunt

 

ASSOCIATED PRESS and KIRO 7 EYEWITNESS NEWS

 

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(Neah Bay-AP) -- Makah Indians are practicing

to kill another gray whale, and protest boats

are in the water off Neah Bay to try and stop

them.

 

Tribal Chairman Ben Johnson said one canoe

with one family was out practicing Tuesday.

He also said two protest boats were in the

water from the Ocean Defense group.

 

Some of the same people tried to prevent the

tribe from killing the whale last year. It was the

first gray whale killed by the tribe in seven

decades as it revives its whaling heritage.

 

Four Makah families are trying to kill gray

whales this year as they migrate past the

northwest tip of Washington on their way from

Mexican to Alaskan waters.

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