A grey whale shows its massive tail fluke while diving in Possession Sound, near Everett, Washington State.Elaine Thompson/The Associated Press
U.S. federal regulators have authorized the Makah Tribe in Washington State to hunt up to 25 grey whales over the next 10 years, removing a major hurdle that had halted the tribe’s traditional whaling practice for nearly two decades.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday granted the Makah Tribe, which is closely related to the Nuu-chah-nulth on Vancouver Island, a waiver under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It allows for the subsistence and ceremonial hunting of two or three Eastern North Pacific grey whales per year in U.S. waters, a quota established by the International Whaling Commission.
Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, called the ruling a major milestone in the process of returning the ceremonial and subsistence hunting of the whales to the tribe.
“The measures adopted today honour the Makah Tribe’s treaty rights and their cultural whaling tradition that dates back well over 1,000 years, and is fundamental to their identity and heritage,” Ms. Coit said in a statement.
The tribe will still need to enter into a co-operative agreement with NOAA Fisheries and apply for, and receive, a permit before a hunt.
The Makah is the only tribe to have whaling enshrined under treaty rights, under the 1855 Treaty of Neah Bay. A 1999 hunt, the tribe’s first successful hunt in 70 years, drew protests from animal-rights activists, including some who sought to disrupt the effort in speedboats.
Animal-rights groups sued, leading to a 2002 ruling by a U.S. federal appeals court that the tribe would need to obtain the waiver – a process that the tribe initiated in 2005 and one that entailed years of legal and bureaucratic challenges.
Makah Tribal Council Chair Timothy J. Greene Sr. said Thursday that his group is celebrating the NOAA’s decision but that the process has taken far too long.
“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,” he said in a statement.
The Nuu-chah-nulth have also traditionally hunted whales. Tribal council president Judith Sayers did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Eastern North Pacific grey whales were removed from the Endangered Species Act list in 1994. The population has fluctuated over the years, including a significant die-off during what the NOAA called an “unusual mortality event” beginning in 2019. The population has since rebounded, with recent surveys putting their number at about 19,200.
D.J. Schubert, a senior wildlife biologist with the Washington, D.C.-based Animal Welfare Institute, said his group respects the tribe’s traditions but fundamentally disagrees with NOAA’s decision. He said the government agency did not adequately consider issues such as the impact of climate change on grey whales, and the impact of the hunt on smaller populations of other grey whale species.
He said his group will await the outcome of the permitting process, which includes a public comment period, to determine whether it will take legal action.
“During that process, the government needs to make a determination that the proposed method of hunting whales satisfies the humane standard under the Marine Mammal Protection Act,” Mr. Schubert said in an interview.
“It’s the Animal Welfare Institute’s position that there is no way to humanely kill a large whale that’s swimming in the ocean from a moving vessel. And that’s not just applicable to the Makah; that’s applicable to any whale hunt anywhere in the world.”