===== A message from the 'makahwhaling' discussion list ===== FROM SEA SHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY -------------------------------------- "Whale-Saving 7" to answer federal charges September 29, 1999 Seven whale activists have been summoned to appear in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington, to answer the charge of "gross negligence" in the operation of a vessel, "in a manner that endangered life, limb, or property of another." The charge stems from the efforts of activists to block the Makah Tribal Council in its scheme to kill a Gray whale off the coast of Washington last May. Activists effectively held off the Makah's gunboats and intervened between hunters and whales for five days until the U.S. Coast Guard arrested so many activists and seized enough of their boats that the Makah were able to kill a young whale unimpeded on May 17. Charged are Lisa Distefano, Cheryl Rorabeck-Siler and Allison Lance of Sea Shepherd; Jonathan Paul, Jake Conroy and Josh Harper of Sea Defense International; and local Peninsula Citizens Alliance activist Scott Hopper. The activists' court date has been scheduled for October 1 -- the day on which the Makah may officially start their next whale hunt. "The scheduling is clearly political," said Distefano, International Director for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. "When (Sea Shepherd founder) Paul Watson was arrested by the Canadian government for interfering with the seal hunt, they made sure to set his trial date for the opening day of the following year's seal hunt. Governments like to keep activists in court and out of the field, and in this case the agenda of the U.S. Attorney's Office is clear: they want to keep our boats and volunteers off the water. It won't deter us or anyone else from trying to protect the whales from this illegal sport hunt." U.S. Attorney Katrina C. Pflaumer and Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan M. Roe lodged charges against the activists. The U.S. Attorney's Office is desperate to stifle dissent on this issue. (The charges against Ms. Distefano include the totally contrived and false accusation 'hitting a jetski') Sea Shepherd is well acquainted with the tactics of Ms.'s Pflaumer & Roe. Last November, Mr. Watson and Ms. Distefano were invited by U.S. Coast Guard officers to meet with unidentified individuals on the Makah whale hunt issue, without benefit of counsel being present. The unidentified individuals at the meeting turned out to be Ms. Pflaumer and Ms. Roe, who tried to pressure Sea Shepherd into abandoning its vigorous dissent against the Makah's illegal whale hunt and the hunt's illegal sanction by the U.S. administration. The International Whaling Commission has not recognized a subsistence need by the Makah to hunt whales. Under U.S. law, the Makah may not hunt whales without IWC recognition of a subsistence need, regardless of the terms of any domestic treaty between the U.S. and the tribe. The Makah's current U.S. hunt permit is the result of a "back door" trade in the subsistence whale quotas of American and Siberian Inuit, a deal brokered for the Makah by the Clinton administration in 1997. Sea Shepherd notes that the political support of Northwest U.S. Indian tribes and their PACs has been key to funding the electoral successes of President Clinton and the Democratic Party since 1992. The activists have been summoned to appear at 1:30 p.m. on October 1 at the Union Station Courthouse, 1717 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, Washington, before Judge J. Kelley Arnold. All are expected to ender a plea of not guilty. A hearing will be scheduled for a later date. Jury selection for the trial of Conroy and Harper on a related charge of second-degree felony assault is scheduled to begin October 4. PRESS CONFERENCE NOTICE: The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will hold a Press Conference on the front steps of the Union Station Courthouse October 1, 1999, immediately following the 1:30 p.m. hearing. All supporters and media sources are invited to attend. ***** WHALING SEASON OPENS FRIDAY, BUT MAKAH NOT READY ------------------------------------------------ Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA September 30, 1999 NEAH BAY -- Makah whalers have much to do before trying for another whale during the fall season. Tribal whaling-commission President Keith Johnson said the group has not yet declared a tribal need for another whale like the one killed May 17. And the commission has not yet certified a new crew or issued a 10-day hunt permit. "During the course of the last few months, we were looking at ways we could streamline the paperwork, the procedural things that the whaling captains would have to go through in terms of family hunts," Johnson said. The first hunt, in May, was a tribal hunt. The next will be conducted by one of the 23 traditional families of the isolated tribe. "That's the plan," Johnson said, though he wouldn't disclose the identities of the families who have already come forward. "Four families have approached the commission with interest in preparing for the hunt." The tribe's whaling management plan allows members to begin hunting for gray whales again when the Pacific Ocean population passes southward toward birthing waters off Mexico. That migration arguably begins Friday. "Oct. 1 is open season," Johnson said. However, National Marine Fisheries Service observers -- in place to record and approve the hunt -- had trouble determining the start of the fall migration last year, which hindered hunting. Beginning last October, Makah leaders kept saying whalers were poised to begin the first hunt in more than 70 years, but the tribe waited until the northward spring migration this year before hunting. After a successful hunt then -- which took eight minutes to kill a young, female whale -- whalers and leaders alike assured the world that the Makah would hunt again as soon as a family is ready. The tribe may take a total of 20 whales by 2002, according to the International Whaling Commission deal made to share a population of grays with the Chukotka tribe of Russia. Johnson said no family has yet approached the whaling commission with a "formal presentation" of intent. The hunt management plan, which Johnson said is exactly the same as before, says the commission must declare potential whalers qualified in their specific hunt roles, such as captain, harpooner, rifleman, diver or paddler, before allowing them to hunt. Families have been training, even in the tribe's new 37-foot canoe, which only recently took to the water after more than a year of construction. The large, hand-carved cedar canoe is called "Kwih-dich-chuh-ahtx," which means "people who live by the rocks and seagulls" in the Wakashan language. It joins the 32-foot Hummingbird as the second tribal whaling canoe. The whaling commission meets again next week, but Johnson said the agenda won't yet include declaring a need for another whale. He said that process has not yet been "triggered." When it is, and when a hunt crew is approved and permitted, the tribe can again hunt the Pacific Ocean. As before, they must only hunt in the Pacific Ocean, not the Strait of Juan de Fuca. And they are to target a male, migrating whale if possible. Also, the hunt must again be observed by a fisheries-service biologist. The intention to continue whaling doesn't stop with this year, or even 2002. The management plan reads, "The tribe intends to utilize the experience and information collected during the five-year term of this plan to develop a second multi-year plan." ***** ARE YOU KIDDING US? PHOTOGRAPHY? THE WHOLE STATE? ------------------------------------------------- [Federal Register: September 27, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 186)] [Notices] [Page 51960] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27se99-35] ------------------------------------------------------------ DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [I.D. 091499C] Marine Mammals; Photography Permit (File No. 954-1517) AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. ACTION: Receipt of application. ------------------------------ --------------- SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that Mr. Michael Kundu, Project SeaWolf/Arcturus Adventure Communications, P.O. Box 987, Marysville, WA 98270-0987, has applied in due form for a permit to take several species of marine mammals for purposes of commercial photography. DATES: Written comments must be received on or before October 27, 1999. ADDRESSES: The application and related documents are available for review upon written request or by appointment in the following office(s): Permits Division, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 East- West Highway, Room 13130, Silver Spring, MD 20910 (301/713-2289); Regional Administrator, Alaska Region, NMFS, 709 W 9th Street, Federal Building, Room 461, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802 (907-586-7235); Regional Administrator, Northwest Region, NMFS, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Bin C15700, Building 1, Seattle, WA 98115-0070 (206-526-6150); and Regional Administrator, Southwest Region, NMFS, 501West Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200, Long Bea! ! ch, CA 90802-4213 (562-980-4015). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The subject permit is requested under the authority of Sec. 104(c)(6) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), the Regulations Governing the Taking and Importing of Marine Mammals (50 CFR part 216). Section 104(c)(6) provides for photography for educational or commercial purposes involving non-endangered and non-threatened marine mammals in the wild. NMFS is currently working on proposed regulations to implement this provision. However, in the meantime, NMFS has received and is processing this request as a ``pilot'' application for Level B Harassment of non-listed and non-depleted marine mammals for photographic purposes. The applicant seeks authorization to inadvertently harass up to: 89 killer whales (Orcinus orca); 20 Dall's porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli); 5 harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena); 30 gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus); 10 minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata); 25 harbor seals (Phoca vitulina); 2 elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris); and 50 California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) during the course of filming activities in Alaska, Washington, and California waters, over a 1-year period. In accordance with the October 13, 1997, Memorandum of Agreement between NOAA and the Makah Tribe, NO PERMIT ISSUED WILL AUTHORIZE PHOTOGRAPHY ACTIVITIES INVOLVING GRAY WHALES IN WASHINGTON STATE WATERS UNTIL NMFS HAS COMPLETED CONSULTATION WITH THE MAKAH TRIBAL COUNCIL (Emphasis ours) Written comments or requests for a public hearing on this application should be mailed to the Chief, Permits and Documentation Division, F/PR1, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 13705, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Those individuals requesting a hearing should set forth the specific reasons why a hearing on this particular request would be appropriate. Comments may also be submitted by facsimile at (301) 713-0376, provided the facsimile is confirmed by hard copy submitted by mail and postmarked no later than the closing date of the comment period. Please note that comments will not be accepted by e-mail or by other electronic media. Concurrent with the publication of this notice in the Federal Register, NMFS is forwarding copies of this application to the Marine Mammal Commission and its Committee of Scientific Advisors. Dated: September 21, 1999. Ann D. Terbush, Chief, Permits and Documentation Division, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. [FR Doc. 99-25069 Filed 9-27-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510-22-F *****