Guest guest Posted May 1, 2001 Report Share Posted May 1, 2001 ===== A message from the 'makahwhaling' discussion list ===== FROM WASHINGTON CITIZENS' COASTAL ALLIANCE ----------------------------- UPDATE ON WHAT'S GOING ON... Not a DOGGONE thing happening, which is a far sight better than we could say this time last year... At last word, NMFS is still working through your comment letters on the Environmental Assessment. Repeat: Call your congressional rep and remind them to " keep an eye " on this situation... Also: NMFS' parent agency (NOAA) just recently submitted their $3.1 billion (yes, billion) budget to Congress, and we are searching high and low for those hidden line items that might authorize future whaling here in Washington state. We're at $5 million and counting right now for the costs of the Makah whaling program, but don't put away those ten-key calculators yet! NOAA made a definite point of including Makah whaling in last year's budget. Amazingly, they tucked it into a $278 million program " to reduce the probability of extinction for protected species; and maintain healthy species and ecosystems. " Our jawdropper of last year's budget? " Supporting sustainable communities that conserve and recover protected species through Native American co-management of marine mammals by Alaska natives and Makah tribe. " WE are investigating, but we can't figure is why the media isn't doing the same... ***** GRAY WHALE NUMBERS DOWN, DOWN, DOWN... ______________________ Our sources tell us that the gray whale census " needs to see 124 more northbound whales to equal the lowest number of northbound whales (792) seen since the 1991/92 season, and time is running out... " Not a single newspaper is reporting on this. Not a single TeeVee station. And you can count out the likes of Paul Shukovsky of the Seattle-PI, who has been spending a lot of time around Neah Bay lately, but for the wrong reasons... SEASON TO DATE (25 Apr 01) Southbound ----- 438 Northbound ----- 668 Total -------------- 1106 Calves South ---- 11 Calves North ---- 10 ***** YOUR HELP NEEDED! ------------------ Letters are needed to support a petition filed by The Fund for Animals and Australians for Animals to list the Eastern North Pacific population of gray whales under the Endangered Species Act. The threats facing this whale population and their habitat include global warming, hunting by indigenous groups such as the Makah tribe in northwest Washington, oil and gas exploration and extraction activities, and contamination of gray whale food supplies. An action alert and sample email letter are available at: http://fund.org/action/takeaction.asp?page=view & alert=150 ***** UP NEXT: COAST GUARD SHAFTS LOCALS AGAIN... ---------------------- Coming soon! The REAL truth behind the U.S. Coast Guard's proposal to close the LaPush station, while the Neah Bay station remains " untouchable " .... For those of you far from this story, the Coast Guard is proposing to shut down a vital station a few dozen miles south of Neah Bay for budgetary reasons, and the locals are furious. As Walter Jackson, the general manager of the Quileute Tribe, asked this week; " Why does the Coast Guard propose to defend the Makah in their whale hunts and desert the Quileute in their efforts to protect the marine environment and maintain their fishing way of life? Good question, Walter, and here's another one: Has anyone asked why they don't close the Neah Bay station and leave LaPush open? ***** LETTER OF THE WEEK (The Peninsula Daily News refused to publish it) ---------------- March 26, 2001 HUMANE EDUCATION NETWORK MENLO PARK, CA To: John Brewer Letters to the Editor Peninsula Daily News Port Angeles, WA. Dear Mr. Brewer: The throngs that recently watched the gray whales frolicking in the San Francisco South Bay reveals the great fascination these intelligent and friendly leviathans have for humans. Their highly organized social systems and communication skills are being studied by scientists. In the Pacific lagoons off Baja California, sightseers pay to stroke whale calves who nuzzle up to the boats while the mothers hover protectively nearby. No one has fully explained why these playful young gray whales seek out human contact, but one tourist who stroked a whale says it is " one of the world's remarkable inter-species encounters ...once you've done this you're changed forever--your life is divided into the time before you touched a whale and the time after you touched a whale. " What a travesty that our government recently spent some $5 million of our tax dollars to help the Washington state Makah Indian tribe reestablish their whale killing tradition by harpooning a trusting young female whale nuzzling their boat-- expecting to have her back stroked? After ten struggling, agonizing minutes in the blood stained waters, she finally died. We urge readers who would rather stroke than harpoon a whale, write and tell your legislators and Pres. Bush to reflect on the words of Dr. Albert Schweitzer, " The thinking man must oppose all cruel customs no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo. " Tell your legislators you want your tax dollars, now spent to kill whales, used to help the Makah substitute their cruel outdated whale killing tradition for a tradition of compassionate (and profitable) whale stroking That would improve both the financial and spiritual development of troubled Makah youth. S M. 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