===== A message from the 'makahwhaling' discussion list ===== NEXT STOP- PROTEST AT U.S. COAST GUARD STATION! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tired of your tax dollars being burned up by the Makah whale killers' personal security force? Fed up with the lame responses and answers you've been getting from factually-challenged Coast Guard representatives (see example below)? Want to make a statement and DEMAND the Coast Guard release the Sea Shepherd and SEDNA boats seized in May? The Peninsula Citizens for the Protection of Whales (PCPW) invites you to join them for a land-based protest against the U.S. Coast Guard for their shameful performance during the recent Makah whale killing! The protest will take place this coming Saturday (June 26) at noon, and will be held at the Ediz Hook Coast Guard station. To get there, turn north onto Marine Drive from Highway 101 in Port Angeles. BE THERE! For further information, contact Chuck Owens at (360) 928-3048. ***** COAST GUARD RESPONSE REGARDING THEIR SHAMEFUL ACTIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear ******, This is in response to your letter May 24, 1999, regarding your concern over U.S. Coast Guard actions in Neah Bay, Washington. The Makah Tribe has a federally recognized right to hunt gray whales as established by the treaty in 1855. The Makah tribe received permission from the International Whaling Committee to kill a specified number of gray whales annually within a designated area off the northwest coast of Washington. Although the Coast Guard is a federal agency tasked with the enforcement of U. S. laws on the high seas, it was not in a position to support or deny the Makah tribe's decision to hunt, nor did it have the authority to prevent the hunt. We did however, have an obligation to prevent people from endangering one another or themselves during the course of the hunt. As such, the Coast Guard carefully monitored the hunt and associated protests, and took the necessary steps to increase the safety of everyone on the water. As I am sure you are aware, the ocean conditions in Neah Bay are extremely dangerous. Confrontations of any type in that environment can easily become life threatening. I want to reinforce that our primary mission was to ensure safety of all people and property. I appreciate your views and thank you for taking the time to articulate your concerns. I hope this information is helpful. Sincerely, Ernest R. Riutta Rear Admiral, U. S. Coast Guard Assistant Commandant for Operations (and....) SEA SHEPHERD RESPONSE TO COAST GUARD --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Coast Guard attempts defense, fibs big Many have written to the U.S. Coast Guard to complain of the zealous harrassment and persecution of whale activists at Neah Bay, WA, during the Makah tribe's canned whale hunt May 15-17. Law enforcement at Neah Bay was whimsical, to put it gently (Four pro-whale craft were arbitrarily seized and six activists were arrested or cited; no Makah craft were warned or seized, despite numerous observed violations and complaints). Those who wrote to the USCG have by now received a response from Ernest R. Riutta, Asst. Commander for Operations, Rear Admiral. The Asst. Commander bases the USCG's defense on the following statement: "The Makah received permission from the International Whaling Committee [sic] to kill a specified number of gray whales annually within a designated area off the northwest coast of Washington." This is a good example of the cultural phenomenon by which a lie, in the course of perpetuating itself, grows more detailed in the retelling. The unfortunate Asst. Cmdr. is surely merely repeating what he has been told (so it's hard to say who in the chain of command failed to find out the actual name of the international body that regulates whale hunting), but this is the most outlandish embellishment of the "Makah-got-permission-from-the-IWC" lie to date. Once more: The International Whaling Commission considered the Makah's whaling request in October 1997. Upon consideration, they did NOT give the Makah a whale quota. They did NOT specify "a designated area off the northwest coast of Washington" in which the Makah could kill whales. They DID pass an amendment to the schedule of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, stating that the hunting of gray whales may only be undertaken by those tribes "whose traditional aboriginal subsistence and cultural needs have been recognized." The amendment was made by the Australian delegation to the IWC, which noted that "the International Whaling Commission itself is the only body competent to grant such recognition under the Schedule to the Convention." They did NOT recognize the traditional aboriginal subsistence and cultural needs of the Makah to kill whales, "since the member nations were clearly unable to agree." (-- Dr. Ray Gambell, Secretary to the Commission, 5 Oct., 1998) The United States IS a party to the Convention of the IWC and MAY NOT assign its domestic aboriginal tribes the right to hunt whales unilaterally in the absence of IWC recognition and in violation of international conservation regulations. The domestic treaty of the Makah Tribe with the United States DOES NOT supercede the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. The USCG was party to a violation of international law by the United States at Neah Bay, Washington, May 15-17, 1999, and must be held accountable. ***** AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF A LETTER TO GOVERNOR LOCKE -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Governor Locke, While you may have no jurisdiction over this matter, the fact that you choose to keep silent about the Makah whale kill (and there are many more whales who will die) is nothing short of infuriating. Saying it "saddens" you is not speaking out. Having no jurisdiction does not mean your words have no influence or no value. You, who have more power than most, are choosing the easy road of silence. You tell me to contact, among others, the International Whaling Commission. The IWC has specifically REFUSED TO RECOGNIZE any need for the Makah to hunt gray whales under the guidelines established by the Commission for aboriginal subsistence whaling. The US is in violation of its moral and legal obligations to the IWC as a signatory nation to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. It has also violated the US Whaling Convention Act, which provices that permission to kill whales may only be extended to a Native American whaling organization which "has been recognized by the Commission as having a cultural and/or subsistence need for whaling." Let me repeat, the Makah have not been recognized as such. When are my Democratic representatives going to speak out on this illegal hunt? ***** MAKAH TRIBE TRYING TO PROTECT POLICE INVOLVED IN WHALE HUNT PROTEST ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Makah Indian Tribe has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to head off criminal charges against a tribal policeman. Clallam County Prosecutor Christopher Shea charged tribal officer Eric Svenson with misdemeanor assault for his handling of two anti-whaling protesters last year. Now, the Makah's suit against the Clallam County prosecutor questions whether the state can regulate the official conduct of tribal police officers. The Makahs' lawyer says the federal government ... and not state government... should investigate complaints against tribal police. (Northwest Cable News) ***** THEY SAID IT -------------------- Al Gore- Mr. Clarity himself: "The theories - the ideas she expressed about equality of results within legislative bodies and with - by outcome, by decisions made by legislative bodies, ideas related to proportional voting as a general remedy, not in particular cases where the circumstances make that a feasible idea... " (Vice President Al Gore, on ABC's Nightline, asked about President Clinton's withdrawal of Lani Guinier's nomination to the EEOC) *****