Whaling Update

[Guest guest]

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

 

FROM WASHINGTON CITIZEN'S COASTAL ALLIANCE

------

 

Sekiu, WA: 1:49pm PDT

 

MAKAH PACK IT IN: WHALES WIN ANOTHER ROUND

 

ODI president Jonathan Paul reports that the Makah whalers have left the

waters off of Cape Flattery and have given up the hunt today.

 

Earlier, Northwest Cable News footage showed the closest attack on a whale

yet: Theron Parker's harpoon toss late this morning missed a gray whale, but

the whale 'flicked' the harpoon with its tail.

 

That was the only harpoon toss of the day, and the gray whales survive to

see another day. Many Seattle-area media are FINALLY addressing the issue of

resident whale populations, and we encourage all of you to contact them,

asking them to FOLLOW THIS STORY!

*****

 

 

 

ACTION!

------

Visit www.stopwhalekill.org for the latest information on what YOU can do to

stop this illegal hunt. And please follow through with the action items from

yesterday's Makah update!!! Make those calls!

*****

 

 

 

GROUP ADOPTS WHALES TO PROTECT THEM FROM MAKAH

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

Wednesday, May 10, 2000

Peninsula Daily News

By Austin Ramzy

 

Last year Chuck and Margaret Owens of Joyce, leaders of the Peninsula

Citizens for the Protection of Whales, adopted a group of resident gray

whales that spend much of the year feeding off Neah Bay.

 

In their ongoing battle against the Makah whale hunt, a group of local

whaling opponents has taken up a new strategy: Adopt-a-whale.

 

The couple named the whales Spot, Freedom, Hope, Kelpy, Karin and Gracie.

Now they plan to run an advertisement in the Peninsula Daily News with

photos of the whales, calling on the Makah and the federal government to

protect them.

The move is designed to put individual faces on the animals, Margaret Owens

said.

 

" You can see what a loss it would be if this whale was the next to be

killed,'' she said as she pointed at a photo.

" I would take it personally. They are individuals. They are Clallam County

residents.''

 

Resident whales linger in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and off the coast

rather than following the migration between the whales' birthing lagoons in

Baja California and their summer feeding grounds off Alaska.

 

The residents are treated by local whale watchers much like pets and two of

them '' ``Buddy'' and ``Buddy II'' '' are well-known.

 

The Makah's whaling management plan worked out with the National Ocean and

Atmospheric Administration calls for tribal hunters to target an adult,

migrating gray whale, a male or a calfless female.

 

The Makahs are prohibited from whaling during the summer or in the Strait of

Juan de Fuca -- regulations designed to prevent any incidental harvest of a

resident whale. But the Makah also say all whales are migratory, and Keith

Johnson, president of the Makah Whaling Commission, disputes calling the

whales ``residents.'' " As for their claim to be adopting certain whale

populations, I guess I'm going to say that I don't think they can adopt

whales in our usual and accustomed (hunting) areas,'' Johnson said.

 

Last May a whaling crew killed the tribe's first whale in more than 70

years. This spring the Paul Parker family has spent four days on the water,

but has not yet killed a whale.

 

By adopting the half dozen whales, the Owens say they hope to protect an

``aesthetic resource.'' " These are the whales you take your grandmother to

the coast to see to get the thrill of her life,'' Margaret Owens said.

 

They adopted the whales through Cascadia Research, a non-profit marine

mammal research organization. The organization uses money from adoption fees

to research the 100 gray whales it has identified as residents.

 

The resident whales have not been shown to be a genetically distinct group.

In a paper first presented last year, a group of whale researchers said that

until more is known about local whale populations, the Makah whale hunt

``should take a precautionary approach.''

 

The Makah's management plan should assume seasonal residents are a distinct

population of gray whales and examine if that group can sustain hunting,

wrote the researchers from the University of Washington, Cascadia Research

and the National Marine Mammal Laboratory.

*****

 

 

 

EXCUSE US? MAKAH MAKING IT UP AS THEY GO...

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

 

" If we were to take nothing but resident whales it would not severely impact

the rest of the whale population. "

Makah Whaling Commission President Keith Johnson, 9/27/98

 

" The agreement not to hunt resident whales only lasts until the end of

October, 1998. We agreed to abide by this for October only, and only for

this year. "

Keith Johnson, 10/15/98

 

" I think we're going to be discussing migrant versus resident for years. "

Makah spokeswoman Denise Dailey, 10/19/98

 

" But the Makah also say all whales are migratory, and Keith Johnson disputes

calling the whales 'residents.' "

Peninsula Daily News, 5/10/00

*****

 

_______________

The simple way to read all your emails at ThatWeb

http://www.thatweb.com