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FRIDAY, JULY 13, 2001

The National Marine Fisheries Service today has issued a final environmental assessment on the Makah Nation whale hunt, allowing the Washington tribe to exercise its treaty rights year round.

Previous hunts were restricted to the summer hunting season.

The decision was based on public comments received on a draft assessment issued this past January. Animal rights groups and former Congressman Jack Metcalf were successful in invalidating the prior conditions of the hunt, requiring the government to reconsider how it will occur in the future.

Under the proposed action offered by the final assessment, the tribe can hunt year round and take up to five whales or make seven strikes per calendar year, whichever comes first.

"The proposed action will honor obligations contained in both the Treaty of Neah Bay and in the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) by granting the Makah the IWC quota for gray whales for ceremonial and subsistence use, with limits that protect the gray whale and address public safety," reads the document.

Get the Final EA:
ISSUING A QUOTA TO THE MAKAH INDIANTRIBE FOR A SUBSISTENCE HUNT ON GRAYWHALES FOR THE YEARS 2001 AND 2002 (NFMS 7/13)
Public Comments on Draft EA on Issuing Subsistence Quota to Makah 2001/2002 (NFMS 7/13)

Only on Indianz.Com:
The Makah Whale Hunt (A Top Story of 1999)

Relevant Links:
The Makah Nation - http://www.makah.com

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