SEATTLE 鈥� Patrick DePoe was in high school the last time his Native American tribe in Washington state was allowed to hunt whales. He was on a canoe that greeted the crew towing in the body of a grey whale. His shop class worked to clean the bones and reassemble the skeleton, which hangs in a tribal museum.
Two decades later, he and the Makah Tribe 鈥� the only American Indians with a treaty right to hunt whales 鈥� are still waiting for government permission to hunt again as their people historically did. The tribe, in the remote northwest corner of Washington鈥檚 Olympic Peninsula, hopes to use the whales for food and to make bone handicrafts, artwork and tools they can sell.
The tribe鈥檚 plans have been tied up in legal fights and layers of scientific review. The next step is a weeklong administrative hearing that began Thursday in Seattle. Whatever the result, it鈥檚 likely to be stuck in further court challenges, as animal-rights activists have vowed to block the practice they call unnecessary and barbaric.
鈥淚t shouldn鈥檛 have taken 20聽years to be where we鈥檙e at now,鈥� said DePoe, a tribal council member. 鈥淧eople ask how it makes me feel. I want to ask: 鈥楬ow does it make you feel that this is the process we鈥檙e having to go through to exercise a right that鈥檚 already been agreed upon?鈥� It鈥檚 a treaty right. It鈥檚 settled law.鈥�
In 1855, the Makah, a tribe that now numbers about 1,500, turned over more than 1,200 square kilometres of land to the U.S. under a treaty that promised them the 鈥渞ight of taking fish and of whaling or sealing at usual and accustomed grounds.鈥� They killed whales until the 1920s, giving it up because commercial whaling had devastated grey whale populations.
By 1994, grey whales in the eastern Pacific Ocean had rebounded and they were removed from the endangered species list. Seeing an opportunity to reclaim its heritage, the tribe announced plans to hunt again.
The Makah trained for months in the ancient ways of whaling and received the blessing of federal officials and the International Whaling Commission. They took to the water in 1998, but didn鈥檛 succeed until the next year, when they harpooned a grey whale from a hand-carved cedar canoe. A tribal member in a motorized support boat killed it with a high-powered rifle to minimize its suffering.
The hunts drew protests from animal-rights activists, who sometimes threw smoke bombs at the whalers and sprayed fire extinguishers into their faces. Others veered motorboats between the whales and the tribal canoes to interfere with the hunt. Authorities seized several vessels and made arrests.
After animal-rights groups sued, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned federal approval of the tribe鈥檚 whaling plans. The court found that the tribe needed to obtain a waiver under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The tribe applied in 2005. The process repeatedly stalled as new scientific information about the whales and the health of their population was uncovered.
Some of the Makah whalers became so frustrated with the delays that they went on a rogue hunt in 2007, killing a grey whale that got away from them and sank. They were convicted in federal court.
NOAA Fisheries has proposed regulations allowing the tribe to harvest 20 whales over a decade, with limits on the timing of the hunts to minimize the chance of killing endangered Western Pacific grey whales.
The population of Eastern Pacific grey whales, which number about 27,000, is strong, despite a recent die-off that has resulted in hundreds washing up on West Coast beaches, U.S. scientists say.
The hearing that began Thursday will focus on highly technical arguments about whether the tribe meets the requirements for a waiver.
鈥淭here isn鈥檛 a big conservation issue here,鈥� said Donna Darm, a retired NOAA official who began working on the issue in 2005 and still does as a contractor.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Animal Welfare Institute oppose the hunts. They argue that NOAA鈥檚 environmental review has been inadequate, and also say the tribe cannot claim a subsistence or cultural need to hunt after so many decades.
DePoe chafes at outside groups dictating what his tribe鈥檚 culture requires. He recalled the pride he felt when the Makah crew succeeded, the joy of sharing the feast and the taste of the whale meat.
鈥淚 have a little brother who鈥檚 in his 20s,鈥� DePoe said.
鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 remember it. I鈥檓 hoping one day he can experience that.鈥�
