===== A message from the 'makahwhaling' discussion list ===== SUPPORT OUR FRONT LINE TROOPS! For further information, go to http://www.stopwhalekill.org It is currently thought that the Makah will resume their killing after November 1. We will keep you informed of any updates or developments. Without further ado, we present you with a collage of recent media coverage: Then what kind of whale killers ARE you? ---------------------------------------- Excerpted from 'Clallam County Business Review', October 1999 Tribes Target Tourists Quileute, Makah plan resort inns "... The Quileutes are not alone- the Makah Tribe in Neah Bay also supports eco- tourism to boost that reservation's economy. The Makah want to build a lodging facility of up to 60 rooms near the upgraded Neah Bay marina. Admitting to the Makah whaling's effects on tourism, (Makah tourism planner Donna) Wilkie is quick to point out it has also gotten the tribe noticed.... "We're meeting with groups who are helping us with the antiwhaling racism that's gotten out of hand on the Internet. Ninety percent of the people accessing the Internet are young. We want those people to get the right information," Wilkie said, pausing. "WE'RE NOT THE WHALE KILLERS THEY THINK WE ARE." (Emphasis ours) Tradition of whaling aside, the Makah may have difficulty marketing nature to an ecotourist, while tribal families are killing the creatures those same tourists willingly travel great distances to see." ***** MICHAEL KUNDU CAMPAIGN NEWS --------------------------- No coasting in Marysville races Excerpted from Seattle Times Snohomish County bureau The people who run Marysville used to run for election unopposed. But this year is different. This year there have been multiple candidates and a primary election characterized by the sound of incumbents just squeaking by. As the Nov. 2 general election approaches, City Councilman Mike Leighan says, "We're in deep doo-doo." Leighan, a two-term councilman and sign-business owner whose previous campaigns were opponent-free, is in the same boat as Mayor Dave Weiser and Councilwoman Donna Wright: All are facing unexpectedly tough challengers who've put them on the defensive by talking about polluted creeks, overcrowded schools, allegedly insufficient developer-mitigation fees and what they say is city officials' promotion of growth above all else. "The anti-growth group, I call them," Wright said. "It seems every time you ask them a question, it's either save the salmon or increase the mitigation fees." But the message of Suzanne Smith, A. Michael Kundu and Gary Way - all endorsed by Washington Conservation Voters, a nonpartisan environmental group – appears to be resonating in a city whose population has more than doubled to 20,000 in the past decade... … Kundu, Smith and Way have also criticized city officials for what they say is their failure to protect wetlands, create parks, ensure buffers and clean up city creeks, which have high levels of fecal coliform - thought to originate from livestock waste and leaky septic systems... …Kundu, 34, who works in public relations at Naval Station Everett and has been a spokesman for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, is highly critical of Leighan and other city officials. "They're running the city in an old-boy network," Kundu said. "People are aware of that. The people I'm speaking with, they're newly moved to Marysville, and they don't believe it's a proper way." In turn, Leighan - whose campaign slogan is "It's our hometown" - has criticized Kundu as a newcomer. Kundu was born in India, reared in Canada, and has lived in Marysville for two years. "Criticism, from people who just moved here, as my opponent . . . sort of bothers me," Leighan said. Michael Kundu for Marysville City Council, Pos.# 7 http://home.earthlink.net/~projseawolf/mkundu.htm projseawolf@earthlink.net ***** HEY, IF IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE JAPANESE.... --------------------------------------------- 50% OF JAPANESE WHALEMEAT LACED WITH POLLUTANTS Excerpted from From Lycos ENS TOKYO, Japan, October 22, 1999 - Over half the whale, dolphin and porpoise meat sold in Japan is so highly contaminated that it is unfit for human consumption, while a quarter is mislabeled or misadvertised to the public. A study conducted by scientists at Harvard University, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido and the University of Greenwich, UK found dangerously high levels of mercury and organochlorines including PCBs and the pesticides DDT and Dieldrin - levels exceeding international regulatory limits... ..The Government of Japan so far maintains that whale meat is healthy and nutritrious food. ***** A TREND? LET'S HOPE NOT... -------------------------- BURNT CHURCH, N.B. - Fishermen angry over a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling on native fishing rights defied the law yesterday and destroyed thousands of Mi'kmaq lobster traps in New Brunswick's Miramichi Bay and vandalized fish plants in the area. The action set off a series of running battles between native and non-native fishermen after days of tension that had been mounting since the Sept.17 court ruling. Mi'kmaq leaders immediately vowed retaliation for the destruction of their traps, which involved more than 150 boats from fishing ports around the bay. "It'll be an eye for an eye," Wilbur Dedam, chief of the Burnt Church reserve, said after receiving word of the actions. Last night, Mi'kmaq gathered on the community's wharf followed through on the threat, setting fire to two trucks belonging to non-natives. The RCMP and a native fisherman intervened to move the last remaining non-native boat from the wharf after threats that it would also be burned. The violence worsened late last night, when a group of Mi'kmaq battled with a non-native fisherman, leaving one native in hospital with injuries not considered life threatening, the non-native fisherman's home damaged and the Mi'kmaq's pickup truck turned on its side. Raymond, a 29-year-old Mi'kmaq who would not give his last name, was walking away from the scene with blood streaming down his face after the scuffle. He said he and some friends had rammed their truck into the fisherman's garage. The non-native fisherman then crashed his van into their vehicle and attacked them with a baseball bat. "The war's going to start tomorrow," one native shouted as a crowd gathered around the scene. RCMP made a number of arrests after the incident, but refused to comment on their investigation. Members of the Burnt Church band met late yesterday with members of the militant Mi'kmaq Warrior Society, who were called in from Restigouche, Que. Earlier, the non-native fishing crews conducted a methodical sweep of the bay for traps beginning at 8 a.m., and by noon there were only few buoys left bobbing. RCMP officers aboard Fisheries Department patrol boats took down vessel numbers, while a Coast Guard helicopter and Fisheries Department airplane circled overhead. But there were no arrests. Corporal Jacques Giroux of the RCMP said the water was too rough for officers to board boats suspected of destroying the traps. He said "important pieces of evidence" were collected and the investigation continues. Ken Clark, one of the non-native fishermen involved, said the plan was hatched Friday after Herb Dhaliwal, federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, announced he would not stop Mi'kmaq and Malecite from exercising their treaty right to fish. "The problem that I see is the people in Ottawa are so isolated from reality that they have no idea what's going on in the East Coast fishery," said Mr. Clark, who is also a municipal councillor in Miramichi. He said that fishing when the commercial season is closed could eradicate the resource. "They have no interest in conservation. It's a matter of greed. It's economics. They are there for the fast buck. They don't care if they destroy the fishery," he said. The action came a day after federal fisheries officials began negotiations with the Burnt Church band over conservation measures to control the lobster fishery. Ken Barlow, a Mi'kmaq fishing boat captain, said the vandalism may have scuttled chances of an agreement. "Everybody's talking about retaliation ... unfortunately, if they'd given it a little bit more time, I think the traps would have been out of water in another week. I believe they would have sat down and worked it out," he said. "It's discouraging, it's depressing and it's sad. It's sad that the fishermen can't get along. On the one hand, I can see their point, but on the other hand, they can't see ours." RCMP also confirmed that a mob of about 100 non-natives vandalized three fish plants in the region after warning the plants not to buy native-caught lobster. Chris Bonnell, a fisherman and Burnt Church band councillor, was one of the few Mi'kmaq to venture onto the water yesterday. He said he witnessed some of the $5,000 worth of traps he lost being destroyed before non-natives forced him back to shore. He said he can't understand why authorities were unable to prevent the damage. "We got a good ruling for a change, and we exercised our right. We weren't breaking the law, but for some reason they went out there and they broke the law. They're just like vigilantes. Are they above the law?" Meanwhile, hundreds of non-native fishermen in southwestern Nova Scotia reluctantly agreed to wait two more days before launching their own protest. About 700 people packed the only high school in Yarmouth, N.S., to decide how to respond to the high court's ruling. The majority approved a plan to give the federal government and native leaders until late tomorrow to meet their demands or come up with an another solution. In a ruling that acquitted Donald Marshall Jr., a Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq, of selling eels, the Supreme Court found that a 1760 treaty gives natives in the Maritimes the right to earn a "moderate livelihood" from fishing, hunting and gathering. Natives in all three Maritime provinces responded by setting lobster traps outside the normal commercial season. On Friday, in an attempt to resolve the dispute, Mr. Dhaliwal announced his department would negotiate interim conservation plans with native bands. Heather Bala, an aide to Mr. Dhaliwal, said yesterday that the minister was disappointed that the fishermen decided to take matters into their own hands. The Fisheries Department announced Saturday that only status Indians registered under the Indian Act enjoyed the treaty fishing rights. Officers are supposed to begin today removing traps set by non-status Indians off southwestern Nova Scotia in an effort to defuse tensions. ***** FROM THE WORLD COUNCIL OF WHALERS --------------------------------- >From our whale-killing buddies in the WCW comes this heartening update: "I do not think that you can find anywhere a formal statement from the IWC that the Makah whale hunt is legal. (e-mail from IWC Secretary Ray Gambell to WCW, undated) Thanks to WCW Chairman Tom Mexsis Happynook for this little gem! *****