Makah whalers request more federal monies

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FROM WASHINGTON CITIZENS' COASTAL ALLIANCE

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MAKAH EXPECT FUNDS

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By Emeline Cokelet

Peninsula Daily News

January 20, 2002

 

NEAH BAY- The Makah tribe's request for federal funding for fisheries

research will also include management for future whaling activity. In

addition to its request for a $1.2 million marine research vessel, the tribe

is is seeking $70,000 from the National Marine Fisheries Service to hire a

whaling manager and develop a needs statement for a new whaling quota, Makah

Natural Resources Director Dave Sones said Friday.

 

The tribe has employed a temporary manager off and on in recent years, but

anticipates a greater need for the position when the International Whaling

Commission determines a five-year whaling quota this spring, Sones said.

" We're expecting with the new quota up for the five-year period, we'll

probably have a lot of attention focused on the issue again, " he said.

 

Sones requested $37,960 for a full-time manager, who will assist the Tribal

Council in public relations and work with the Makah Whaling Commission.

 

A requested $11,904 will pay for a consultant who is already working with

the tribe to develop a whaling needs statement for the International Whaling

Commission's May meeting in Japan. Remaining money would go toward benefits

and administrative costs, said Sones. The tribe submitted its request in

November to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which

oversees the Fisheries Service.

 

The requested research vessel is a 47-foot motorboat that the U.S. Coast

Guard is using to replace its existing 44-foot cutters.

 

If not approved, the Makah have requested two other boats that cost less and

can still meet the tribe's needs, Sones said.

 

Natural resources staff will use the boat to enforce the tribe's 1,120

square miles of ocean in its " usual and accustomed " fishing grounds, as well

as to research whale and marine mammal biology to assure sustained

populations.

 

Sones said the tribe is anticipating it will receive the requested funds but

has yet to hear from federal officials.

 

The tribe's application has drawn criticism from anti-whaling groups that

say the money, which would come through the U.S. Department of Commerce,

would publicly fund the killing of gray whales. Tribal hunters resumed their

traditional whaling in 1999 after a 70-year hiatus.

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QUESTIONS... QUESTIONS...

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We've kept our word and not taken liberties with Cokelet's article. But

questions remain unasked, and unanswered. We present them here for you, for

the media, for anyone who actually looks beyond the fluff: A " no spin zone "

of our own making, if you will...

 

1) Who, exactly, would the Makah tribe hire as its whaling " manager " with

this proposed taxpayer-funded windfall? Or is this another " no name "

subsidy?

 

2) Would taxpayer money once again happily fall into the pockets of Ann

Renker (wife of former Makah Tribal Chairman, and unabashed pro-whaler) to

develop a " new " Needs Statement, even as the old Needs Statement has proven

woefully inadequate and incorrect in numerous areas? Is someone else tapped

to be hired for the " new' statement? Has anyone even bothered to see how

laughable Renker's 1997 Needs Statement really has proven to be?

 

3) Is the requested $11,904 for a " consultant, benefits (!!!) and costs "

only? Our records show otherwise.. read the FOIA document at

www.usagainstwhaling.org (and excuse us, but BENEFITS???)

 

4) If the Makah can make use of a boat that costs far less for their

" research " that will still " meet the tribe's needs, " WHY THE HECK ARE THEY

BEGGING FOR $1.2 MILLION IN THE FIRST PLACE?

 

5) Incidentally, has anyone asked EXACTLY what this " research " might be all

about? The Makah clearly state it is to " maintain the Tribes (sic)

scientific and cultural relationship " with offshore species. Is it just us,

or does that send a chill down your spine? We've said all along the Makah

wanted to expand their hunting, but just why would they want to get 40 miles

offshore? Can you say " bowhead whales? "

*****

 

 

 

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM

Is anyone asking questions here?

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(June 13, 2001)

Whale counters only spotted 87 new calves this year, the lowest number in

eight years of surveys, said Wayne Perryman, biologist with the National

Marine Fisheries Services... Reproduction has been down for three

consecutive years for this population... "

 

(January 13, 2002)

Gray whale populations are migrating down the California coast this time of

year, but with fewer calves in tow. Last year, biologists estimated there

were only 260 calves born to the 26,000 whales that migrate 5,500 miles each

year between Alaska's Bering Strait and Mexico's Baja Peninsula. " We've had

three years of very low calf production, " said Wayne Perryman, a biologist

with the National Marine Fisheries Service at its La Jolla laboratory. " What

we expect to see in a good year is 1,100 to 1,400 calves. "

 

(January 17, 2002)

Calves southbound as of January 17, 2002: a mere 18!

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