Action alert! Makah whale hunt!

[Guest guest]

Article was sent to us from WCCA. Be sure to email the head of NOAA and tell

him what you think! Conrad.C.Lautenbacher. We heard that the local

TV station King 5 ran the story at noon with the opener, Makah request $1.2

million taxpayers' dollars....... That's exactly the point folks, this is

your money!

 

 

MAKAH REQUEST FOR $1.2 MILLION BOAT ANGERS ANTI-WHALING GROUPS

 

 

By Luis Cabrera

Associated Press

Thursday, January 17, 2002

 

 

It lists for $1.2 million, has an oceangoing range of 230 miles and comes

equipped with twin 450-horsepower diesels, a global positioning satellite

system and radar that scopes to 36 miles.

 

The Makah Tribe says it needs the latest-model patrol boat -- the kind the

Coast Guard is ordering -- to take part in marine mammal research and

fisheries enforcement around its reservation on the northwest tip of the

Olympic Peninsula.

 

But anti-whaling activists contend the 48-foot vessel would simply make the

Makah more efficient hunters and killers of whales.

 

" We have stated from the beginning that the tribe intends to step up their

`cultural' whaling activity and to include other species of whales. Now it

appears they want the U.S. government to pay for it, " said Sandy Abels,

president of U.S. Citizens Against Whaling.

 

Five anti-whaling groups denounced the boat request this week, after

obtaining documentation on it through the federal Freedom of Information

Act.

 

The Makah have been under siege by animal activists since they moved to

resume traditional whaling after gray whales were removed from the federal

Endangered Species list in 1994. Tribal hunters killed their first and only

gray whale in May 1999, using a canoe and harpoon, as well as a big gun and

a motorboat.

 

The tribe made its boat request in November to the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the National Marine Fisheries

Service.

 

The boat would be used to help locate gray whale populations and study whale

migration patterns and food sources, said David Sones, tribal fisheries

manager.

 

" We would be looking at their movements, their general health -- a lot of

the type of general science that is needed to better understand the

species, " he said. " We would be finding a way to plug into what's existing

as far as research, and basically be exercising our co-management

responsibilities " with federal and university researchers.

 

The boat, which has a top speed of about 25 knots, also would be used to

enforce rules on Makah fishermen in the 1,120 square miles of tribal waters,

Sones said.

 

Michael Lawrence, the Makah Tribal Council's fisheries representative, said

of claims that the boat would be a step in the direction of large-scale

commercial slaughter of whales and other marine mammals, " That's way off.

It's just a way that we will be able to better co-manage another resource

and all of our resources. "

 

According to the tribe's budget request, studies conducted with the vessel

would help the Makah fight anti-whaling lawsuits and allow tribal members to

participate on International Whaling Commission scientific committees.

 

If the Makah are turned down for the new boat, which is built by Textron

Marine & Land Systems of New Orleans, they've listed two alternatives. One

is a 42-foot Down Easter costing about $436,000, and the third option is a

35-foot Boston Whaler costing about $411,000.

 

The request is being considered by NOAA staff, and the final decision will

be made by Vice Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher, NOAA's new administrator, said

Chris Yates, a NOAA spokesman in Washington, D.C.

 

Yates said he could offer no estimate on when the decision would be made or

the tribe's chances of getting what it seeks. But he noted that NOAA had

granted Makah requests for research money as the tribe launched its whaling

effort from 1996-98.

 

Last week, a coalition of anti-whaling groups filed suit against the

Fisheries Service and NOAA in U.S. District Court in Seattle to stop Makah

whale hunting.

 

The groups contend the Fisheries Service's studies of potential harm from

whaling were inadequate. The government has 60 days to respond.

*****

 

Sandra Abels

U.S. Citizens Against Whaling

" Saving Our Oceans One Whale At A Time "

www.usagainstwhaling.org