After facing decades of legal and bureaucratic hurdles, the Makah Tribe in Washington has won approval from the US to resume whale hunting for the first time in 25 years.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) Fisheries announced on Wednesday that it would grant the tribe a waiver, allowing the Makah “a limited subsistence and ceremonial hunt” under an 1855 treaty. The Makah will be permitted to hunt up to 25 eastern North Pacific gray whales over 10 years.
The tribe of 1,500 people on the north-western tip of the Olympic Peninsula is the only Native American tribe with a treaty that specifically mentions a right to hunt whales. But it has faced more than two decades of court challenges, bureaucratic hearings and scientific review as it seeks to resume hunting for gray whales.
The decision by Noaa Fisheries grants the tribe a waiver under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which otherwise forbids harming marine mammals. The tribe will be limited to hunting two to three whales a year, and the hunts will be timed in order to avoid harm to the endangered western North Pacific gray whales that are sometimes found in the region.
“This final rule represents a major milestone in the process to return ceremonial and subsistence hunting of eastern North Pacific gray whales to the Makah Tribe,” said Janet Coit, the assistant administrator for Noaa Fisheries, said in a statement.
“The measures adopted today honor the Makah Tribe’s treaty rights and their cultural whaling tradition that dates back well over 1,000 years and is fundamental to their identity and heritage.”
Whales and whale hunting are a vital part of Makah culture. Whale hunts require spiritual rituals and ceremonies, according to the tribe’s website, and have inspired tribal songs and dances.
“For the Makah Tribe, whale hunting provides a purpose and a discipline which benefits their entire community,” the tribe said on its website. “It is so important to the Makah, that in 1855 when the Makah ceded thousands of acres of land to the government of the United States, they explicitly reserved their right to whale within the Treaty of Neah Bay.”
Archeological evidence shows that Makah hunters in cedar canoes killed whales for sustenance from time immemorial, a practice that ceased only in the early 20th century after commercial whaling vessels depleted the population. The hunts in 1999 were the first time in 70 years the tribe had gone whaling.
“We’ve never lost sight of the importance of whales and whale hunting,” Janine Ledford, the executive director of the Makah Cultural and Research Center, told KNKX public radio. “You know, we weren’t hunting for roughly 80 years, but that didn’t mean that our community – that our tribe, you know – forgot how important whales are to us.”
The tribe will still face some hurdles as it seeks to resume hunting. Before a hunt, the Makah must enter into a cooperative agreement with Noaa fisheries, and obtain a permit, a process that involves a month-long public comment period.
Animal rights advocates, who have long opposed whaling, could also challenge Noaa’s decision in court. The tribe faced intense protests from activists during its 1999 hunt and lawsuits ultimately put a stop to the event.
