After the decision - Sunday's update

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

 

 

FROM WASHINGTON CITIZEN'S COASTAL ALLIANCE

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SEKIU, WA: 1:47pm PDT- Rainy, rainy and rainy. Also, cold, cold

and cold. Did we mention it was raining?

 

This afternoon we offer you only one article from today's Peninsula

Daily News. In it you'll see some tough words from Rep. Norm

Dicks, which raised our eyebrows a bit. We'd like to encourage

everyone to contact Norm Dicks and let him know " it's about time! "

 

You'll also notice that once again, the Peninsula Daily News

refuses to join in the lock-step parade of the politically correct

Seattle print media. We're thankful that they take the time research

their articles, and hope that some day the 'big boys' will take

note of the outstanding work done by the PDN.

 

As always, you'll find a LOT more information (and contact info

for Rep. Norm Dicks) at www.stopwhalekill.org

*****

 

 

 

PENINSULA DAILY NEWS HEADLINE:

" COURT HARPOONS MAKAH WHALING "

 

Court ruling leaves future of Makah whaling uncertain

Sunday, June 11, 2000

By Mark Morey

and Philip L. Watness

 

NEAH BAY -- Friday's court ruling effectively putting Makah whaling

on hold appears to be anticlimactic. Harpoon-armed canoeists

were unlikely to leave Cape Flattery in search of a gray whale

anymore this spring, a tribal whaling family's representative

says.

 

" With everyone's schedules, I don't even see us going after another

permit any time soon,'' said Justin Parker, spokesman for the

John Parker family of Neah Bay. " Next fall could be another situation

if things don't get straightened out, " Parker added.

 

Three jurists of the U.S. Court of Appeals' Ninth Circuit ruled

2-1 Friday that the federal government did not properly conduct

an environmental review of the tribe's plan to resume hunting

gray whales after a 70-year hiatus.

The decision, issued Friday, directed the U.S. District Court

in Tacoma to order a new environmental assessment.

Tribal officials on Friday discounted the ruling as a minor and

temporary setback, while anti-whaling activists claimed that

the move might signal the end to the controversial practice.

Meanwhile, members of Washington state's congressional delegation

repeated their calls for the tribe to halt whaling.

 

TRIBAL CHAIRMAN SURPRISED

A tribal-sponsored crew launched the first modern hunt last year,

bringing a 30-ton whale to the Neah Bay beach on May 17, 1999.

Two Makah families, lead by brothers John Parker and Paul Parker,

have unsuccessfully sought a whale this year about 10 times since

early April.

 

" This is quite a surprise, " tribal Chairman Ben Johnson said

of Friday's ruling. " We didn't expect this at all. "

But Johnson said the ruling leaves intact the tribe's 1855 treaty

with the federal government to guarantee its right to whale in

exchange for giving up most of the Olympic Peninsula. " We have

a treaty right and this doesn't affect this at all, " the chairman

said.

 

Meanwhile, Keith Johnson, president of the Makah Whaling Commission,

said the 1997 lawsuit ruled on Friday only attacks a procedural

point. " That was the only chink in the armor, " Johnson said after

a telephone briefing with the tribe's lawyer, John Arum of Seattle.

 

Keith Johnson did not rule out the possibility of another hunt

before the court case reaches resolution. The tribal whaling

commission would consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service

before approving any hunt permits, Keith Johnson said.

 

The spring whaling season ends this month; the fall season begins

in October. Both seasons are based on the gray whales' migrations

between the chilly Bering Sea off Alaska and the warm birthing

waters off Baja California, Mexico.

 

ANTI-WHALERS SEE 'VICTORY'

Anti-whaling activists disagreed with Keith Johnson's assessment

of what he called a ``magnified technicality'' over the timeliness

of the government's environmental review.

 

" Today's ruling is a huge victory, " plaintiff Rep. Jack Metcalf,

R-Langley, said in a statement Friday afternoon. " I have been

saying for years that allowing the Makah tribe to continue to

hunt will open the floodgates of whaling worldwide. "

 

Dan Spomer, one of the few anti-whaling activists still stationed

at Sekiu, also applauded the ruling. " This is not a technicality, "

Spomer said. " This is a full body slam. "

 

Both sides of the dispute said they expected new information

to bolster their arguments about the health of the gray whale

population, removed from the Endangered Species List in 1994.

National Marine Fisheries Service spokesman Brian Gorman said

the agency will decide whether to challenge the ruling.

 

" I don't know if we're going to appeal this case or not, " he

said from Seattle. " The court ruled on procedural grounds it

says we didn't follow. If we do a new environmental assessment,

we'll let folks know that's happening. " Gorman said the Tacoma

federal court will probably take several weeks to determine what

it will require the fisheries service to do.

 

FISHERIES SERVICE ADMONISHED

The San Francisco-based appellate court, in its majority opinion,

admonished the fisheries service for its initial environmental

review: " Can the federal defendants now be trusted to take the

clear-eyed hard look at the whaling proposal's consequences required

by law, or will a new (environmental assessment) be a classic

Wonderland case of first the verdict, then the trial? "

 

Gorman said he believed the court questioned the timing of its

environmental review, rather than its substance.

" We had a memorandum of agreement before we did the environmental

assessment, but they didn't comment on the environmental impact

itself, " he said. " We, in effect, put the cart before the horse. "

 

U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton, said he hoped the Makah will

re-evaluate their whaling stance as a result of the ruling. " Even

if the issues of process are resolved to the satisfaction of

the court, I still believe the tribe should re-evaluate its position

and cancel any further plans to take these whales from our state's

waters, " Dicks, whose congressional district includes the Makah

reservation, said in a prepared statement.

 

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she continues to support the

tribe's treaty rights although she preferred that it not hunt

whales, according to her deputy communications officer, Brent

Durbin.

 

WHAT THEY SAY IN NEAH BAY

Residents interviewed Friday at Washburn's General Store and

the Makah Maiden Cafe -- two popular gathering places in Neah

Bay -- said they had learned little of the decision.

But they continued to support the tribe's whaling effort, reacting

positively to news that a protester pleaded guilty to charges

of interrupting the hunt. Ironically, the plea occurred in Tacoma

the same day the appellate ruling was issued in San Francisco.

 

Erin Abbott, 23, of Seattle will be sentenced in September for

gross negligence in the operation of her personal watercraft

during one of the hunts this spring.

 

Abbott suffered a broken shoulder a short distance from the whaling

canoe after being struck by a Coast Guard vessel moving to enforce

the 500-yard exclusionary zone.

" I think she did that on purpose, trying to tip over the canoe, "

Neah Bay resident Joseph Colfax said.

*****

 

 

 

 

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