 |
Makah whale hunt under way; protester boat seized
Monday, April 17, 2000
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEAH BAY -- The Makah Whaling Commission issued a permit to hunt a whale to the Paul Parker family this morning, and the Coast Guard arrested two protesters and seized their 23-foot boat before noon.
Five families have been preparing to hunt as the spring gray-whale migration from birthing grounds in Mexico to feeding grounds off Alaska gets under way, commission President Keith Johnson said. Protest groups -- mainly Ocean Defense International -- have been monitoring the area by boat.
"They've seized one boat already," Ben Johnson, chairman of the Makah Tribal Council, said in confirming the Parker family canoes were on the water.
The Coast Guard is enforcing a 500-yard restriction zone around the whale hunt, and KIRO-TV reported that the seized vessel had entered the zone.
A tribal whaling crew took the Makah's first whale in 70 years last May 17.
The Makah whaling tradition dates back thousands of years, but the hunts stopped in the 1920s as commercial whaling decimated populations. When the gray whale was taken off the Endangered Species List in 1994, the tribe moved to resume the practice, citing whaling rights granted under their 1855 treaty.
In 1997, the effort was cleared by the International Whaling Commission, which allocated the Makah 20 whales through 2004, a maximum of five per year.
The hunt, supported by the federal government, has pitted allies of the Makah against animal-conservation activists.
When the tribe prepared to resume the hunts in late 1998, conservation groups staked out Neah Bay for months, hoping to protect the southbound fall migration. Several protest boats also were seized last year by the Coast Guard.
All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten or redistributed.
· Mall searched after fatal shooting, no gunman found
· Fire leaves two Arlington boys dead
· Shooting leaves three hurt, one dead in Skyway
more
101 Elliott Ave. W.
Seattle, WA 98119
(206) 448-8000
Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820
seattlepi.com serves about 1.7 million unique visitors
and 30 million page views each month.
Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com
Send investigative tips to iteam@seattlepi.com
©1996-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Terms of Use/Privacy Policy
