===== A message from the 'makahwhaling' discussion list ===== A GOOD AFTERNOON TO... ----------------------------------- Patty Murray, U.S. senator and Gore/Makah supporter. Order a few extra phones, Senator, because the people YOU WORK FOR will soon be calling to share a few thoughts about the blood on your hands! ***** WHALE DEFENDERS JOURNAL ------------------------------------------------- We've mentioned this before, but a web-site has been set up for anti-whaling protestors to post pictures, stories, reports and other information. It really is a very nice site, and we encourage you to pay a visit. The photos, especially, will help you visualize what is happening- from the people who are right here fighting the slaughter. Bookmark it and visit often. A must-see! http://www.safepassing.org/ ***** WE PAY THESE PEOPLE'S SALARY? --------------------------------------------------------- Disturbing news from the White House Council on Environmental Quality... A list subscriber reports: "I have to let you know that when I called Sally Ericson, the phone conversation left me fuming and in tears all in the same breath. She started by telling me that I was making racist statements by referring the the Makah as "those people." She also asked me such questions as "How would you feel if your children were threatened by environmentalists on their way to school?" We find this kind of attitude from a public servant intolerable and unforgiveable. It seems that our public servants have forgotten who they work for. Perhaps Sally needs to be reminded that the TAXPAYERS of this country pay her salary, and that they better start representing the wishes of the American people! Council on Environmental Quality: (202) 456-6224 Sally Erickson's direct phone number: (202) 395-5750. And, in what has become a tradition for this list, we remind you to pass on your thoughts to the good people at Gore 2000. They will probably try to refer you to another number, but let them know your feelings anyway, especially after reading this report from another list subscriber: "I was very angry with Gore 2000. An American Indian woman on the mailing list -- she is very bright, very knowledgeable -- was treated very rudely when she called Gore's DC campaign headquarters. They cut her off, would not listen" This absolutely shocking behavior from the Gore campaign deserves a response. Let them know what you think! "GORE 2000" Telephone: (202) 263-6000 ***** CLALLAM COUNTY- "WHALING CAPITAL USA" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- << CLALLAM COUNTY COMMISSIONERS HOLD FAST TO THEIR STANCE OF NOT TAKING A STANCE ON THE MAKAH WHALING ISSUE DESPITE MORE PRESSURE FROM ANTI-WHALING PROTESTERS. COMMISSIONERS SAY FOSTERING GOOD RELATIONS ON OTHER ISSUES LIKE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SALMON RESTORATION ARE A HIGHER PRIORITY THAN COMING OUT AGAINST THE HUNT, WHICH WAS GRANTED TO THE TRIBE THROUGH AN 1855 TREATY. ANTI-WHALING ACTIVISTS HAVE BEEN PUSHING LOCAL AND REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS TO TAKE A STAND AND OPPOSE THE MAKAH'S KILLING OF GRAY WHALES. IN FACT, SOME JURISDICTIONS, INCLUDING THOSE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, HAVE PASSED RESOLUTIONS AGAINST THE HUNT. AND TUESDAY, LOCAL PROTESTER, CHUCK OWENS OF THE GROUP CALLED PENINSULA CITIZENS FOR THE PROTECTION OF WHALES RETURNED TO FACE THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WITH HIS URGINGS. BUT COMMISSIONER MIKE DOHERTY, WHO'S DISTRICT INCLUDES NEAH BAY, SAYS THE BOARD HAS TO LOOK AT THE BIGGER PICTURE WHEN CONSIDERING WHAT KIND OF POSITION TO TAKE. DOHERTY SAYS THEY ARE IN A RATHER PRECARIOUS POSITION... ESPECIALLY HAVING TO WORK WITH NOT ONLY THE MAKAH'S BUT ALSO OTHER TRIBES IN THE COUNTY. AND HE ADDS THAT WHEN THERE IS A FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED TREATY INVOLVED, THE BOARD WOULD RATHER HONOR THAT AND FOSTER GOOD RELATIONS, THAN MAKE WORKING WITH THE TRIBES MORE DIFFICULT IN THE FUTURE. OWENS SAID HE IS TAKING OUT AN ADD WHICH CALLS FOR FELLOW PROTESTERS TO TURN OUT FOR THE JUNE 8TH COMMISSIONERS MEETING TO ONCE AGAIN URGE THE BOARD TO OPPOSE THE HUNT. >> (From NCN.com) ***** NATIONAL POLLS ------------------------- The McLaughlin group is conducting a poll on whether the Makah should (or should not) be allowed to hunt whales. This poll will apparently be open through Thursday. You are allowed one vote per week, so pass the word to all! You can cast your vote at: http://www.mclaughlin.com/91.cfm ABC News is also conducting a poll on international whaling. Turn out the vote! http://www.abcnews.go.com/ ***** NO SURPRISE ---------------------- ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada, May 25 -/E-Wire/-- Results of DNA detective work presented at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting on the Caribbean island of Grenada reveal that Japan's so-called 'scientific' whaling is providing a cover for illegal hunting and trade in endangered whales... "This survey has revealed a surprisingly high number of protected whales on sale in the Japanese markets," said Vassili Papastavrou, a whale biologist for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which funds the DNA work. "There is a loophole in international regulations that allows the Japanese to undertake so-called 'scientific' whaling and that hunt is acting as cover for this illegal trade in protected whales. Pro-conservation countries now need to get serious and act to stop this 'scientific' whaling charade." ***** AUSSIES SPEAK OUT! ------------------------------------ The Australian Newspaper, 25 May, l999. Harpooned by a cruel concession. Whaling must not be allowed to increase under the guise of indigenous rights. Sue Arnold. __________________ With massive financial and logistic support provided by the Clinton Administration , the Makah tribe of Washington state killed a female gray whale in the waters of a National Marine Sanctuary last week. Relying on their l855 Treaty rights, Makah insist killing whales will restore their culture although the tribe hasn’t whaled for over 70 years. Opponents believe precedents set by the Makah slaughter will see whaling break out world wide under the guise of indigenous rights. My group, Australians for Animals , launched a lawsuit against the US Government in October, l997 to stop the Makah kill, because global ramifications of the downing of five significant US environmental laws by indigenous rights could not be ignored. The lawsuit, run by a major Washington DC firm of public interest lawyers , and joined by Republican Congressman Jack Metcalf, alleged the Clinton Administration had breached the Endangered Species Act, Whaling Convention Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Marine Mammal Protection and National Marine Sanctuary Act. Defeated in Tacoma last year , the lawsuit is on appeal before the 9th circuit Court of Appeal. In spite of pending legal proceedings , the Makah went ahead and killed, setting the environmental clock back to the Dark Ages. Americans reacted with horror as television broadcast nationally pictures of a young whale in its death throes. In the ten minutes it took for the whale to die a bloody cruel death, the US was transformed from the world’s most powerful pro-whale ally to a killer nation with the same status as Norway and Japan. After days and weeks with activists and hunters playing tag on the waters of Neah Bay, a whale approached the hunters’ boat so closely she was easy prey. Protected from whaling for nearly a century, Californian gray whales have learned to trust humans again. Mothers and calves often bringing their young right up to boats so people can touch them. With harpoons biting deep into her flesh, she was blasted with a 50 ml anti tank gun. As the giant corpse sank in the l00 foot waters, the Makah were forced to call several commercial fishing boats to raise her body to the surface. An eyewitness report sums up the horror. A protestor boat had made a desperate dash back to its home base to refuel and find more boats to intercept the Makah. Boats were in short supply being constantly seized and confiscated by the Coast Guard. Only a week before, US coastguards armed with machine guns had boarded a protestor boat, seizing the vessel and putting the unarmed crew in prison. She said: ". I'm sick at heart and elevated only by the dedication and bravery of those who tried so hard to prevent the tragedy of a whale being slaughtered in American waters. " The coast guard had a multitude of vessels enforcing the exclusionary zone - in addition to a helicopter that repeatedly did low passes over our boat. But we were too late, they had murdered a whale. " Everyone was feeling rage, and devastation and futility on top of utter exhaustion. The harpoons waving back and forth as the body of the whale rolled in the swells was sickening. The distance from the pec fins to the fluke seemed to be short . Later on, one of our crew paced out the body, they had killed a baby. As they hauled the body to shore, I watched the crowd cheering - it sounded like a football game. Makah climbed up on the lifeless form and jumped up and down, I determined that the human race had hit an all time low. " Makah claim the right to kill and strike a further 33 whales over the next four years. In spite of official denials by the US and Makah, there seems little doubt the Makah intend to begin commercial trade. Already, the tribe is attempting to sell whale meat to local restaurants as " whale hamburgers". A document obtained under discovery during the lawsuit indicates the National Marine and Fisheries Service are unable to guarantee the Makah will not sell meat commercially. "The real question here is whether we can reassure the opponents of Makah whaling that their treaty prohibits them from ever engaging in international commerce. This is probably not something we can say." states a NMFS document dated May 30, l996. In ignoring and defying the IWC definition of aboriginal subsistence whaling, the US opened the door to Japan and Norway declaring their coastal populations " indigenous". As well, the Clinton Administration took to itself the right for member countries to make their own recognition of indigenous people thereby hobbling the IWC, and reducing the Convention to a paper tiger. Ironically, latest reports out of the US indicate the murdered whale may well be JJ, a young whale rescued, rehabilitated and released by Sea World, San Diego earlier this year. (Sue Arnold is Co-ordinator of Australians for Animals, Inc. one of the country’s longest serving wildlife and marine groups founded in l981. She is a former Fairfax journalist. ) ***** CAN IT POSSIBLY BE SAID ANY BETTER? --------------------------------------------------------------- Maureen writes: "We can win this. We have to win this. I don't want to live in a world that doesn't win this." Get back on those phones, folks! *****