The United States has granted the Makah Indian Tribe in Washington state a long-sought waiver, allowing them to resume sanctioned whale hunts for the first time since 1999, a move that is expected to reignite conflicts with animal rights activists.
The Makah, a tribe of 1,500 people located on the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, is the only Native American tribe with a treaty that explicitly includes the right to hunt whales. Despite this, they have faced over two decades of court challenges, bureaucratic hearings, and scientific reviews in their quest to hunt gray whales once more.
NOAA Fisheries granted the waiver under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which typically forbids harming marine mammals. This waiver permits the tribe to hunt up to 25 Eastern North Pacific gray whales over a decade, with an annual limit of two to three whales. This population is estimated to include around 20,000 whales.
Celebration and Criticism
The tribe celebrated the decision but criticized the lengthy process.
“Whaling remains central to the identity, culture, subsistence, and spirituality of the Makah people, and we regard the Gray Whale as sacred,” said Makah Tribal Council Chairman Timothy J. Greene Sr. “In the time since our last successful hunt in 1999, we have lost many elders who held the knowledge of our whaling customs, and another entire generation of Makahs has grown up without the ability to exercise our Treaty right or experience the connections and benefits of whaling that our ancestors secured for us.”
Conditions and Challenges
The hunts will be scheduled to avoid harming endangered Western North Pacific gray whales, of which about 200 to 300 remain, as well as a group of approximately 200 gray whales that typically feed along the Northwest coast during the summer and fall.
Despite the waiver, the tribe must still overcome several hurdles. They must enter into a cooperative agreement with NOAA under the Whaling Convention Act and obtain a hunting permit, which includes a month-long public comment period.
Animal rights advocates, who have long opposed whaling, may challenge NOAA’s decision in court. DJ Schubert, a senior wildlife biologist with the Washington, DC-based Animal Welfare Institute, expressed his organization’s intent to object to the issuance of the hunt permit and might consider legal action after final approvals are granted.
“We completely respect the tribe’s cultural practices and traditions,” Schubert said. “We just fundamentally disagree that they need to hunt whales to continue those traditions. We hope that as this decision-making process plays out, perhaps the Makah Tribe and the government could reconsider the need to hunt whales and advocate for protection instead of persecution.”
Historical and Cultural Significance
Historical evidence shows that Makah hunters in cedar canoes killed whales for sustenance for centuries, a practice that ceased in the early 20th century due to the depletion of whale populations by commercial whaling.
By 1994, the Eastern Pacific gray whale population had rebounded and was removed from the endangered species list. Seizing the opportunity to reclaim their heritage, the Makah announced plans to hunt again. They trained in traditional whaling methods and received approval from federal officials and the International Whaling Commission. In 1999, they successfully harpooned a gray whale, marking their first successful hunt in 70 years.
The hunts sparked protests from animal rights activists, leading to clashes and legal battles. After animal rights groups sued, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned federal approval of the tribe’s whaling plans, requiring the tribe to obtain a waiver under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The Makah Tribe applied for a waiver in 2005, but the process has repeatedly stalled due to emerging scientific information about whale populations and their health.
Comparisons to Alaska Native Hunts
Eleven Alaska Native communities in the Arctic have similar waivers for subsistence hunts, allowing them to kill bowhead whales, which are listed as endangered.