This is pretty damn sporting, just like their forefathers did it. These boys are in deep S*&^t though as this was done in broad daylight and highly illegal...pretty pathetic imo...

Makah tribal members shoot, injure gray whale
By Lynda V. Mapes and Keith Ervin

Seattle Times staff reporters




KEITH THORPE / PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

A California gray whale with a harpoon still sticking from its side is tethered with floats to a small boat on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca about two miles from shore northeast of Neah Bay, Wash. The whale was harpooned and shot by five members of the Makah tribe, according to a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson. The hunt appears to be unauthorized by the tribe.
Five Makah tribe members shot and injured a gray whale near Neah Bay this morning, the U.S. Coast Guard and eyewitnesses reported.

The whale was in the water and still alive around 2 p.m., said Coast Guard Petty Officer Kelly Parker.

Charlotte King, a Makah tribal member, said several men had been handcuffed and taken to the Coast Guard's Neah Bay station. Parker could not immediately confirm that report.

"They are bringing it in as we speak," King said of the drama surrounding the whale. "It just gives me the shivers. It's kind of good news and sad news. I have mixed feelings. It's exciting that we are exercising our right to go whaling, but I like whales, too. I wonder what they'll do with the meat."

Reached earlier today, Makah Nation Tribal Chairman Ben Johnson said tribal whalers had been out practicing hunting skills in connection with their sovereign treaty rights to hunt whales. He could not confirm that a whale had been killed.

The Coast Guard, National Marine Fisheries Service and state Department of Fish and Wildlife are investigating, in cooperation with Makah tribal police, Parker said. Three Coast Guard vessels from Neah Bay set up a 1000-foot-diameter "safety and security zone" to keep other boats away.

The shooting took place about a mile east of Neah Bah and half a mile offshore, the Coast Guard reported. The Coast Guard was alerted to the incident at 11 a.m. and arrived on the scene at 11:45.

Dave Sallee of Forks, Clallam County, a non-Indian fisherman, said he saw two boats surrounding a gray whale and pursuing it as it pulled buoys through the water that appeared to be attached to the whale by harpoon lines. Sallee said he heard a total of 21 shots.

Sallee said the whale appeared to be an adult and that he'd seen it rising and diving, but that before long it appeared to be still.

Johnson, the tribal chairman, was reached while he was consulting with the tribe's attorneys. He confirmed that the tribe has been seeking an exemption from the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act so that it could take up to five gray whales per year. However, Johnson continued, the tribe has not yet secured that exemption.

In 1999, the tribe had a permit to whale from the National Marine Fisheries Service, allowing it to hunt on the outer coast of its homeland on the north Olympic Peninsula at Neah Bay. That permit is now tied up in court challenges. But even if it were in force today, if the whale was taken within the Strait of Juan de Fuca, as appears to be the case, that would be a violation of the permit.

The permit also required the whale to be secured with a harpoon from a traditional canoe before being dispatched with shots from a high-powered rifle. However, Sallee said he saw no canoe in the water. The canoe, he said, was tied up to one of the motorized boats at the time.

The tribe hunted its first whale in 70 years in 1999 with the permission of the U.S. government and the Makah tribal council. However, today's shooting was not authorized by either the tribal council or the federal government.

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

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This is really sad but I'll bet they'll get away with it and it will set a precedent for future hunts. It sounds like they tried to get a permit but it wasn't happening fast enough for them so they decided to push the issue. This is just another example of the tribes doing what they please and then saying "whatcha goin to do about it".

It would be so sad if a little stunt like this would screw em out of all there special rights...NOT
they won't even get a warning

Not surprised!!!!

It is going to be front page news tomorrow and throughout the week, seattletimes.com is updating quickly and people are PISSED...other boards are starting to have some fairly heated discussions and I am surprised at the lack of interest here...oh well...but they wont get off easy on this one from what I can see.

I really have no problem with them whaling at all. They had the ability to do it before we came along into their lives, so why shouldn't they be able to do so. 5 whales a year is a drop in the bucket.

There are some good tribes out there and then there's the bottom of the barrel known as the Makah's. What I would like to see is the other tribes stand up and say enough is enough otherwise it's very easy to lump them all together right, wrong or indifferent!

Dogfish you really think that they should be able to hunt with power boats and high powered rifles? Killing a few whales wont make much of a difference in this world I agree.Although I heard the last one they killed went to waste as the new generation of indians would much rather have a big mac than whale blubber. But the point of my post is the way the indians do everything is through what I call incremental government."one little piece at a time" Five whales to start then once they get their foot in that door it will be ten whales until it is a full blown whale industry. I have seen this incremental approach so many times to other issues by the tribes. Its not just the Makahs the Indians where I live have this same incremental strategy. So be careful the next thing you know you will turn around and your daughter will be married to one(JOKE). Look up the word souverency I doubt the defination includes taking money from the U.S. tax payer is OK is in there. Its not just the whales its the whales and EVERYTHING else that bothers me. I say we give them back all the land and live off them for a while. We could set up our own souvern nation with no rules. I think it is our turn to be indians. I could go on and on but I wont

I know several really cool people that are Makah. Not everyone in town takes part in the whale hunts so I would say that is unfair to throw them all together like is being done. I have spent alot of time out in Neah working, and fishing, and and for the most part the people are much nicer there than in the city. I think if they want to hunt whales like their ancestors did then that is what they should do. Hunt with spears and dug out canoes. -T

Geez.. not them again..not that again.. they totally wasted the last one.

I guess you should just let us what they are doing "right" it will take less time

I'm pissed off they didnt even use up the last one why why why. Now the A##holes are saying they trying to be human because the whale got caught up in a fishing net.

If you read what is being said, this is a "rogue" group of Makah's not the Makah nation as a whole. I think it is the way this hunt took place and where, the insided strait whales are often resident fish and are always to be protected. Could a whale or two be taken in the ocean once a year per whatever agreement is in place and with some semblance of traditional methods? Sure and I really wouldnt have an issue with it. The Makah's though have a history of this type of crap, see the 25,000+++++winter kings they pummelled two winters ago because the stupid feds gave them a "season" and not a quota. It appears they were turned over to "tribal" justice so some of you might be right, they might just get off with a slap on the wrist once the furor dies down...off to start drinking bloody marys and hitting the Seahawk game with a little hottie...cheers!

I say we grant them their five per year permit and then every year tell them they've used up their allotment due to net mortality. Welcome to our world.

Yeah probably 5 whales a year out of the ocean taken by the Makah's would not have much of an impact, but it wont be just them. If you remember the last time, as soon as the permit was approved other tribes where asking about thier rights to hunt whales. If you allow them to start doing it, then everyother tribe that states their ancestors used to hunt whales will be asking for thier 5. Now that intitial 5 could turn into 25 or 30, and I'm not a very smart guy, but I'm sure 30 whales a year would start to make an impact very soon. So before you start to say "I see no problem" remember this is setting a precedent for other tribes and future generations.

Ideal situation: Sovereign Nation = No Government Money. You've turned 18, you're on your own now. If that is not satisfactory then, you live under my roof, you play by my rules.

are you guys for reals....they used no powerboats..they used the canoe and harpoon and used a .50 cal to put it down like lasttime...and all the meat from the last whale was used up..and it was good.....and to let you all know im a member of the makah tribe and i know everyone in that canoe yesterday...and i support them...i know they werent autorized by the tribe but you feel alot of tension on the tribe from the government ****** us over and over

Yeah right.....I mean BS.....read this slowly

Gray whale shot, killed in rogue tribal hunt
By Lynda V. Mapes and Keith Ervin

Seattle Times staff reporters

PREV 1 of 6 NEXT


U.S. COAST GUARD / AP

A California gray whale swims in Neah Bay after being shot and harpooned Saturday. It later died.







KEITH THORPE / PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

A California gray whale with a harpoon still sticking from its side is tethered with floats to a small boat on Saturday in the Strait of Juan de Fuca about two miles from shore northeast of Neah Bay.











ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Tribal members celebrate on a gray whale's back after a hunt in 1999 as the whale is brought to the beach at the Senior Center in Neah Bay.

Related

Natural Wonders | Gray whales
Archive | Makah Tribe seeks federal waiver to let it once again hunt for whale
Gray whales' migration route (PDF)
Five Makah Nation members harpooned and shot a gray whale east of Neah Bay on Saturday morning, shocking environmentalists and tribal leaders alike. The whale died less than 12 hours later, sinking while heading out to sea.

The move short-circuited years of wrangling in the courts over whaling by the tribe, which hunted its first whale in 70 years in 1999.

A marine biologist who works for the Makah pronounced the whale dead at 7:15 p.m., U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Shawn Eggert said. The whale went under about a mile from Cape Flattery, and did not resurface. The Coast Guard, following the whale at a distance of 500 yards, saw that buoys attached to the harpoon stopped moving.

The Coast Guard took the five rogue whalers into custody and turned them over to Makah tribal police for further questioning around 6 p.m. Saturday.

"Their fate will ultimately be decided by the tribe," Eggert said.

The hunt wasn't authorized by the tribal council or by the federal government.

"I don't know why they did this. It's terrible," said John McCarty who, as a former member of the tribe's whaling commission, has been an advocate of the Makah Nation's right to resume whaling under an 1855 treaty.

"I think the anti-whalers will be after us in full force, and we look ridiculous," McCarty said. "Like we can't manage our own people, we can't manage our own whale."

The hunt was starkly different from a federally sanctioned hunt in 1999 during which a whale was harpooned and then quickly killed with a large-caliber rifle. That was the tribe's first whale hunt in 70 years.

After the hunt, environmental groups won a 2002 ruling in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the Makah Nation must obtain a waiver under the Marine Mammal Protection Act before it could hunt whales again. The tribe has worked since then to obtain the waiver, and McCarty said the process was close to completion.

Makah Nation Tribal Chairman Ben Johnson said tribal whalers had been out practicing hunting skills Saturday in connection with their sovereign treaty rights to hunt whales.

Dave Sallee, a non-Indian from Forks, Clallam County, said he and a friend were fishing from a boat near Seal Rock east of Neah Bay when they saw two boats surround a gray whale and pursue it. The whale was pulling floats that appeared to be attached to it by harpoon lines. Sallee said he heard 21 gunshots during the hunt, which he said he first observed around 9:30 a.m.



Sallee said the whale appeared to be an adult and that he'd seen it rising and diving, but that before long it appeared to be still.

The Coast Guard was alerted to the incident at 11 a.m., and three vessels from the guard's Neah Bay station arrived on the scene at 11:45, said Petty Officer Kelly Parker. The Coast Guard set up a 1,000-yard-diameter "safety and security zone" to keep other boats away from the whale. It later was reduced to 500 yards.

The Coast Guard, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and state Department of Fish and Wildlife are investigating, in cooperation with Makah tribal police, Parker said.

Officers confiscated the gun that was used, a high-powered Weatherby rifle, Eggert said.

The men who attacked the whale could face civil penalties of up to $20,000 each under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, NMFS spokesman Brian Gorman said.

Criminal prosecution under the act is almost unheard-of, but some environmentalists said the federal government should get tough on the whalers.

"This is a crime. It's illegal and should be prosecuted," said Will Anderson, of Seattle, who has fought against Makah whaling on behalf of Friends of the Gray Whale and other organizations. "I don't think they should hide behind any treaty rights if the information we have currently is correct."

For centuries, the Makah hunted gray whales. In 1855, a treaty reserved the tribe's right to continue whaling on its accustomed grounds. To some Makah, whaling contributes to tribal unity and cultural pride. Some tribal members also say they became more vulnerable to diabetes and other illnesses after straying from their traditional diet.

Makah tribal members said reactions on the reservation were mixed. "It just gives me the shivers," said Charlotte King. "It's kind of good news and sad news. I have mixed feelings. It's exciting that we are exercising our right to go whaling, but I like whales, too."

Before the 9th Circuit placed new restrictions on Makah whaling, the tribe had a permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service allowing it to hunt whales on the outer coast of its homeland on the north Olympic Peninsula at Neah Bay. The limitation was imposed by the federal government to protect so-called resident whales known to frequent the nearshore waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Saturday's hunt, done within the strait, would have violated the permit.

The permit also required the whale to be secured with a harpoon from a traditional canoe before being dispatched with shots from a high-powered rifle. Sallee said he did not see hunters paddling a canoe in the water Saturday.
About 20,000 gray whales migrate from breeding lagoons in Mexico to feeding grounds in Alaska and back, passing through the Makahs' traditional hunting grounds off the Olympic Coast.

The whales had been hunted almost to extinction by non-Indians by the 1930s. But the population rebounded, and the whales were taken off the endangered-species list in 1994.

Feeding on small crustaceans and tube worms, the whales weigh 30 to 40 tons and can reach up to 50 feet long. They have a streamlined body and tapered head. Gray patches and white mottles mark their skin.

On Saturday, tribal officials appeared in disarray over the event and declined to speak publicly on the advice of their attorneys. A closed community meeting was called Saturday night to talk about what had happened.

"It's not good," said tribal council member Micah McCarty, a former captain of the whaling crew in 1999, as he headed back to the reservation from out of town upon hearing the news.

"I'm still trying to figure out what happened."

Seattle Times reporter Ken Armstrong contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company


I am not aware of Weatherby making a .50cal.

RVW

I am glad they did this and I hope they get off . why you ask?
Maybe now Washington State residents will finally realize how much power Tribes have in this State and finally do something about it . I also see that they were turned over to Makah police not feds anyone else we would be in the feds custody . that really shows how much power they have

Whats your point? Or is this just an excuse for your racism and ignorance of history and law to rear it's ugly head?

The Treaty doesn't say that they had to only use "traditional means" to take the whales. A sovereign Nation was forced to give up hundreds of thousands of acres of land and political power and promised specifically that they could hunt whales. Every court has that has heard the cases has reaffirmed the legality of the Treaty. Non Natives hunted the whales to the brink of extinction, not Natives. They had to wait for the population to rebound, and now their right is again being violated.

The same people that want to take away your/our rights to hunt and fish are attempting to stop it. The use of traditional means, canoe etc, are not covered in the treaty. Should our right to hunt be limited to muzzle loaders and no motor vehicles? Should we be allowed to use only hand lines to fish? Maybe bamboo poles? Why don't Natives have the right to benefit from technology also?

It wouldn't matter what the issue, the original poster and the uneducated that jump on the anti Native bandwagon just want to find ways to complain about Native practice in the same manner as a tantrum by a spoiled child.

No one can condone criminal activity, and even civil disobedience has it's consequences. However, that is not what this is really about.

Imagine you were forced by the government to sale some property you owned for a new government project. You realize that you won't be able to keep the property, so you negotiate the best deal you can. As part of the deal you specifically have a portion of your proceedes to be put into a trust that is to pay dividends to your family. The trust is not gaining money so you let the money accumulate. Suppose then when the trust started gaining equity your kids try to access it, and everyone started yelling about how unfair it was or not right to get money for doing nothing. Thats how I feel about some tribal rights, that they are akin to property rights.
The Makah's specifically retained the right to whale. I have questions about their right to many fisheries they partake in, so of their hunting rights, definitely oppose offsite casino's and most government programs, but the not the right to whale. It is specific and unchallengable.

The history of the last whale hunt is not what everyone has been saying. Originally the Makah's wanted to hunt 100% traditionally, which would be with a canoe, harpoon and bouys. The use of the gun shot was a concession to the fact that the anti's would not like to watch the hours or days long struggle of the whale slowly being killed. The Makah's had been offerred a million dollars per permit, they voted it down, even though they definitely could have used the money. They also made the whales go through lots and lots of training and ritual practices, enough that some thought they would never be disciplined enough to want to go through it again. The agreement to whale only in the ocean was also a concession and does not have anything to do with their actual right. Lastly, the meat, which I tasted, was excellent. Side by Side you would have a hard time descerning it from elk meat. My understanding was that it was all used. If anything wasn't used it would have been the blubber, which I am told does taste horrible. I would gladly take any left over meat, as would many I know.
This hunt, from what everyone is saying, was not sanctioned by the tribe. It appears that several members were tired of watching the tribe be denied their rights for years on end. In the end, there is no way the Federal government will do anything. They have no leg to stand on. If you can find a reason to deny them the right to whale, Boldt would be gone in a nano second, along with casinos and every other right they have. The other tribes may say they don't like what the Makah's are doing, but they would be fools to not support their right. It isn't happening. And before you say it, the Makah's do not have a casino!!!