From: Dan Spomer To: Makah Whaling Update List Date: Tuesday, May 11, 1999 9:25 PM Subject: Makah Whaling Update (May 11, 1999) > >===== A message from the 'makahwhaling' discussion list ===== > >FROM WCCA >--------------------- >The Makah were on the water again this morning, actively hunting gray >whales. SEDNA, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the West Coast >Anti-Whaling Society are all on-site to counter the Makah efforts. >Seattle-area media have just reported that the hunt may be "off" for the >day, due to worsening weather. > >Streaming video is available from yesterday's Makah action. You can access >it at: > >http://www.msnbc.com/local/KING/240592.asp > >Final note: The Peninsula Citizens for the Protection of Whales are >ratcheting up their protests at the Makah reservation border. They will be >on-site today at noon, and are planning a larger protest this Saturday at >1:00pm. PLEASE make an effort to join them in expressing outrage over this >illegal hunt. They will be meeting at Olson's Resort in Sekiu at 11:00am. >Contact: Chuck Owens (360) 928-3048 >***** > > > >FROM SEA DEFENSE ALLIANCE >-------------------------------------------------- >5/10/99 > >Little clarification...I've been talking to Jonathan Paul all day on the >SeDnA lead vessel, and they are not now being held. They were detained >earlier this afternoon for an hour or so. They were searched for weapons, >and none were found - because none were on board. > >But, Jonathan and the SeDnA flagship are, as of 6:30 p.m., alive and safe >and well. > >If anyone needs more information about the Sea Defense Alliance (SeDnA), >you can contact me at 916/452-7279. As the only defense group on duty this >a.m., they are "sucking wind" - and 2 of their members are in jail. > >Stay tuned. > >Cres Vellucci >SeDnA Communications >***** > > > >FROM JIM ROBERTSON >------------------------------------- > >Newsradio 1450-KONP Full Report > > Updated Tuesday May 11, 1999 > > (Neah Bay) -- Makah Indians are going out for >another day > of whale hunting from Neah Bay. The water is >smooth this > morning and there's a light overcast. During >yesterday's hunt > the Indians threw the harpoon, but a whale >dived away. Two > anti-whaling activists were taken into custody >by the Coast > Guard for harassing the Indians. The Clallam >County Sheriff's > Department says two Oregon residents, 23-year >old Jacob > Conroy and 24-year old Josh Harper, were >arrested for > investigation of felony assault. Sheriff's >officials say the two > threw smoke bombs near the whaling boats and >shot > chemical fire extinguishers into the faces of >the Makah > whalers. In addition, they allegedly fired >flares over the bow > of the Makah canoe and threatened the lives of >the whalers. > The Sheriff's department transported the men to >Port Angeles > for a court appearance. Officials say the two >protestors > arrested yesterday were members of the Sea >Defense > Alliance. Around noon yesterday, the Makah >tribe issued a > 10-day permit to take a whale, which invokes a >500-yard > exclusionary zone around the whaling canoe and >keep the > protest vessels at bay. Under the tribe's >arrangement with the > Coast Guard, the Makah have the right to >declare the zone for > safety reasons. Meantime, an anti-whaling group >was moving > a ship to Neah Bay to join the protest against >the Makah > whale hunt. The Sea Shepherd Conservation >Society says its > patrol vessel Sirenian was proceeding to Neah >Bay and > expected to arrive last night. A Sea Shepherd >press release > said the group considered the Coast Guard's >detention of the > whale activists as outrageous and indefensible. >The group > says they will do whatever is necessary to >protect the > whales. >***** > > > >FROM PROJECT SEAWOLF >------------------------------------------ >5/10/99 > >As of this report, the Makah tribe is actively engaged in a gray whale hunt >attempt. Throughout the day, reports have come in that one whale was >actually hit with a harpoon but not fired upon by riflemen in the pursuit >boat. KING 5 TV and KIRO News & have run aerial videotape of at least 2 >harpooning attempts from the canoe. All that is clear is that, as of >sunset Monday evening, no whale has yet been landed. > >Earlier this evening I spoke with Captain Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd, who >has moved the "Sirenian" to Sekiu in preparation for tomorrow's hunting >efforts. Earlier today, another anti-whaling group had their boats seized >and detained on alleged charges of "reckless endangerment," suspected >firearms possessions and violations of the Coast Guard established >exclusion zone. Coast Guard personnel boarded these activist's vessels >with drawn weapons and 2 of the activists were arrested and detained at >Clallam County jail. Canadian boats and some other US independents are >reported to be arriving this evening. > >The vessel launch is apparently being staged from the backroads far south >of the Makah reservation. From our previous surveillance, it appears that >the launch points may be at beaches near the coordinates >48.14.89N/124.41.74W or 48.12.56N/124.41.62W. This means that the vessels >are being brought in by road along Makah Bay Road or the Ozette-Neah Bay >Road. This is particularly concerning because under these circumstances, >since the ability for activists to find and monitor all these locations is >virtually impossible. There are reports of a small craft gale advisory for >tomorrow, but if the weather is clear, it is clearly expected that a hunt >-- very possibly a successful one -- will occur tomorrow or the day after. > >At this point, all avenues must be explored. SeaWolf is formally >contacting the CITES secretariat by fax this evening asking them to demand >that the US Commerce Department call an immediate cessation of this hunt, >until it can be determined whether the US has violated CITES regulations by >allowing the trade of endangered bowhead whales for these gray whales. We >are not certain whether this will work, but if this can be achieved by >tomorrow morning, it may possibly derail the hunt until the spring >migration ends. At this point, every effort must be made to block the >killing of a first whale. > >We will continue reporting as information comes in.... > >Michael Kundu, Executive Director > >Project SeaWolf >P.O. Box 987 >Marysville, WA 98270 > >http://web3.foxinternet.net/seawolf > >"A federally-registered 501c3 non-profit organisation" >SeaWolf@foxinternet.net >***** > > > >MAKAH HARPOON MISSES FIRST WHALE >Protesters intervene; 2 detained > >Tuesday, May 11, 1999 > >By SCOTT SUNDE, PAUL SHUKOVSKY and MIKE BARBER >SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS > >NEAH BAY -- For the first time in 70 years, a Makah Indian stood in the bow >of a hand-crafted cedar canoe yesterday and threw an 11-foot harpoon at a >gray whale. > >It missed. But the attempt connected the tribe to roots stretching back >centuries and marked a return to whaling, which has been banned in the lower >48 states for more than two decades. > >The hunt -- much anticipated on the Makah Reservation and much reviled among >animal-rights groups -- will likely continue for weeks to come. > >And so will the controversy it has generated. Two protesters were detained >for questioning by the Coast Guard and then arrested last night for >investigation of first-degree assault, said Clallam County Undersheriff Joe >Martin said. The two men had tangled with Makah whalers on the waters off >the Olympic Peninsula. > > Makah whaler Theron Parker gets ready to throw his harpoon at a gray whale. >The whale dived, and the harpoon missed in yesterday afternoon's tense >renewal of an old tradition. > >The tribe's canoe, known as the "Hummingbird," came close enough to a gray >whale just before 4 p.m. that crewman Theron Parker threw his harpoon. > >Protesters then moved in, encircling the Hummingbird. Their harassment >forced it and an accompanying motor boat to move north, closer to Neah Bay, >to an area where the Coast Guard offered protection from protesters. > >"We won today. The whales won today because they did not get one," said >Jonathan Paul of the protest group Sea Defense Alliance. > >Although the crew returned to Neah Bay empty handed, tribal leaders are >confident of their chances. Migrating grays will be off the coast for days >to come. > >"They'll be swimming around here for another month," said John McCarty, a >tribal member and former chairman of the Makah whaling commission. > >The tribe may resume hunting this morning, with protesters again promising >to intervene. But unlike yesterday's glassy seas, worsening weather may >postpone the hunt. Gale warnings were posted for the Strait of Juan de Fuca. >Winds off the coast are expected to reach 30 knots, and swells are expected >to be 8 feet. > >The hunt began yesterday, on a calm, warm morning. The boats -- a specially >made canoe hewn from red cedar, and an accompanying motor vessel -- started >their hunt about near Ozette, the ancient village where Makah whale hunts of >old began. > >The hunters passed Shi-Shi Beach and Father and Son Rock at the Olympic >National Park. Then the tribal crew neared Wedding Rocks, where Indian >hunting parties of centuries past left carvings in huge boulders. Among the >images are whales. > >As gray whales neared, six tribal members in Hummingbird paddled so >furiously that they created a wake. Later, they got reinforcements from the >motor vessel, bringing the canoe's crew to seven. It can hold 11. > >Nearby was a vessel from the National Marine Fisheries Service. A government >biologist on board was there to witness the hunt and to perform a necropsy >on the whale. > >By midafternoon, the crew began to stalk yet another gray whale, trailing >the animal as it dived, then came up for air. > >At 3:55 p.m., the hunters were practically on top of the whale as Parker >stood and hurled the harpoon. He overthrew the whale but not by much. It was >the crew's best chance of the day. > >Throughout the afternoon whales glided tantalizingly close to the canoe, >puffing mist into the air as they surfaced. > >At times, the crew would stop paddling and wait for a whale to spout, only >to be disappointed when it would resurface in an entirely different >direction. > >Nearby, on a small power boat, crew member Donnie Swan waited in a wet suit. >His job was to dive into the ocean and sew the whale's mouth shut after it >was dead so that it would not sink. > >On the same boat was Wayne Johnson, captain of the whalers, who stood ready >to fire a .577-caliber gun to dispatch the whale after it had been >harpooned. > >As the hunters worked, the Makah reservation took on a new air. > >"It's exciting," said tribal Chairman Ben Johnson Jr. "We have been waiting >a long time." > >"To me, it would be a good feeling for the Makah to get that whale and bring >it back to shore," added McCarty, a member of a family with a long tradition >of whaling. > >"I've talked about our ancestors who through all the years were whale >hunters. That is a missing part of our lives. Now it is part of our lives >again." > >As the hunt continued, people stayed near radio scanners, waiting for word >of success and where the carcass would be hauled. > > A Coast Guard boat tows a protester's inflatable away from the whale hunt >area during yesterday's confrontation. Two protesters were detained. > >As word of the hunt spread, the anti-whaling groups also began to mobilize. >Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was in Friday Harbor >with his vessel Sirenian. > >He arrived in Neah Bay aboard the Sirenian last night. > >Up the coast were two vessels of the Sea Defense Alliance, which describes >itself as a militant environmental and animal-rights group. The boats had >been waiting outside Neah Bay yesterday and shadowed the tribal motor boat. > >"We knew they were going out there. We were waiting for them," said Paul, of >the Sea Defense Alliance. > >The two boats of the animal-rights group played a cat-and-mouse game with >the tribe's motorboat until the Coast Guard interceded. > >Responding to reports that guns were being brandished aboard the alliance >boats, armed Coast Guardsmen boarded the larger of the two vessels. > >Ed Kaetzel, a Coast Guard spokesman, said no guns were found. But a Coast >Guard helicopter observed instances of interfering with a whaling boat and >navigating too closely to another vessel. They remain under investigation. > >Paul denied that guns had been brandished and said that the Coast Guard had >detained two of his group's members. > >Late yesterday afternoon, Clallam County deputies escorted the two >protesters, Jake Conroy, 23, of Seattle and Josh Harper, 24, of Eugene, >Ore., to the Coast Guard station at Neah Bay. > >Undersheriff Martin said his office would recommend they be charged with >felony assault. He refused to describe what they were accused of doing. > >Clallam County Sheriff Joe Hawe said earlier that his office was >investigating reports that demonstrators shot a warning flare over the >tribal canoe. > >"We did it for the whales!" Harper said as he and Conroy were driven away >from Neah Bay by Clallam County sheriff's officers. > >The protesters' largest vessel, the Bulletproof, was joined yesterday >afternoon by two inflatable boats from British Columbia. The three boats >circled the canoe and tried to scare off whales. > >Johnson, the Makah whaling crew captain, complained last night that >protesters were "shooting flares at the canoe, they were shooting fire hoses >at us." > >Meanwhile, tribal police in Neah Bay were preparing to close the reservation >to keep the protesters out, said Lionel Adhunko, tribal police chief. > >"The tribal membership will come down to wherever the whale is towed in. >There will be a ceremony; outsiders will be kept out," Adhunko said. "This >is a tribal cultural thing, and that's where it will stay." > >Yesterday afternoon, protesters began arriving at Neah Bay, promising a >demonstration today. > >Should the tribe take a whale it likely will tow it to a secluded beach. In >a ceremony for tribal members only, sacred songs and dances will be >performed. Whaling captain Wayne Johnson will have the honor of butchering >the whale. The first piece he will dry and decorate. Other choice pieces >will go to members of the whaling crew. Other tribal members will get the >rest. > >Trucks with large ice chests will ferry the meat into town for >refrigeration. The tribe will produce whale oil by rendering in dozens of >large pots that have been collected over the winter. > >The Makahs, whose whaling tradition stretches back 1,000 years or more, >ended its hunts in the 1920s when commercial whalers had devastated the >species. But gray whales have rebounded, so growing in numbers that the U.S. >government took them off the endangered species list in 1994. > >In 1997, the International Whaling Commission agreed to let the Makah Tribe >resume whaling. Tribal members can kill up to 20 whales through the year >2002. > >The controversy that the whaling has caused remains troubling for some >tribal members. McCarty said he had mixed feelings about the hunt. He was >glad the tribe was resuming its tradition, but worried about the >repercussions, including a loss of federal funds. > >"I think there are lot of people that are against the Makah killing the >whale -- more than those that support our culture and our way of life," >McCarty said. "I've got mixed feelings whether it's worth it. As soon as we >harpoon that whale and he's dead, our funding will be dead." > >For the Makah, hunting whales has deep cultural and spiritual meaning. >Whalers were honored members of the tribe, and the act of hunting, >butchering and eating a whale was heaped in ritual. > >Tribal leaders saw a resumption of the hunts as a way to strengthen ties >with the past and its cultural values. Besides, tribal leaders noted, a >treaty signed in 1855 reserved the Makah right to hunt whales. > >The tribe stuck on the northwest corner of the lower 48 states was all but >forgotten for decades. > >But last year, the world discovered the Makah Tribe. Animal-rights activists >gathered outside Neah Bay last summer and for much of the fall, promising to >stop any hunt and, at all costs, protect the whales. > >An intended fall hunt was filled with stops and starts. There were practice >paddles, but never a hunt. An internal dispute crippled the crew. >*****