Whaling would have little effect on environment, U.S. says
By Jim Casey, Peninsula Daily News
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The long-awaited draft environmental impact statement was released Friday by the National Marine Fisheries Service at its regional headquarters in Seattle.
The statement addressed the possible effects of Makah whaling on shellfish beds, free-swimming and bottom-dwelling organisms, other marine mammals, tourism, whale-watching, shipping, sport fishing, human health and public safety.
Its "Cumulative Effects" chapter concluded that effects on these areas would be minor.
Concerning Makah whaling's impact on whales, it noted that about seven whales are killed inadvertently by the U.S. commercial fishery each year, and one dies each year when struck by a ship — twice the number the Makah seek to take.
Long time past, future
The 900-page statement is the latest step in the Makah's long quest for a waiver from the Marine Mammal Protection Act that forbids killing whales.
Lots more time probably will pass, however, before that request is answered.
Public comments on the draft statement are due July 8, but there is no deadline for a final environmental statement.
The fisheries service could make a decision by the end of the year as its final EIS.
More probably, the final statement will launch a formal process of rule making for the resumption of hunting.
It will involve sworn testimony before an administrative law judge.
"If we decided to go forward, it probably wouldn't happen until next year," said Donna Darm, Fisheries' regional administrator for protected resources.
Legal obstacles are certain
Even if the tribe receives the waiver, the issue is certain to be taken to court by anti-whaling organizations that include the Humane Society of the United States and the Animal Welfare Institute.
Peninsula Daily News' requests for comment from the tribe were not answered Friday or Saturday.
Chuck Owens, founder of Peninsula Citizens for the Protection of Whales, issued this statement:
"The release of this document by the National Marine Fisheries Service should be a wake-up call to anyone who cares about tourism here on the Peninsula, community relations, and the survival of Washington state's resident gray whales.
"The elephant in the room is the Makah tribe's quest for a perpetual slaughter of whales.
"If they had had their way since 1998, more than 50 resident gray whales could have met a cruel fate by now."
Treaty right to hunt
The 1855 Treaty of Neah Bay guarantees the Makah — alone among Native American tribes in the Lower 48 states — the right to hunt marine mammals.
Makah whalers last legally killed a gray whale in 1999 after the species was removed from the Endangered Species List.
Anti-whaling activists in 2004 won a federal appeals court ruling that the tribe was subject to the marine mammal act.
Last September, five tribal members illegally hunted and killed a whale. They're scheduled to be sentenced in federal court next month for participating in the hunt.
The draft environmental statement dismisses several alternatives to the Makah proposal, including:
Instead, the statement centers on six other options, the first of which is not to grant a waiver.
No top alternative
Four of the remaining five differ about when and where the Makah could hunt whales, and the sixth alternative would permit whaling with few limits.
The statement lists no preferred alternative.
Alternative 2 and the other four options share several restrictions, namely:
A rifleman in a motor-powered chase boat would use a .50 caliber rifle to kill it, and a diver would enter the water to try to sew closed the whale's mouth to prevent it from sinking.
Choices: Where and when
Alternative 3 would allow the tribe to take whales known to be in the Pacific Coast Feeding Aggregation, sometimes called "resident" whales.
It also would open hunting beyond the months from June through November.
Alternative 4 would prohibit all boats associated with the hunt — including media, protesters and law enforcement — from coming within 200 yards of rocks or islands of the Washington Islands National Wildlife Refuges.
Alternative 5 would cut the limit of four whales killed and seven "struck" each year to two kills and three strikes, but it would allow the tribe to hunt at any time of year.
Alternative 6 would allow the Makah to hunt anywhere in their "usual and accustomed" places — including the Strait — at any time of year.
Rogue hunt of Sept. 8
The document has been in the works since fall 2005, when the fisheries service conducted hearings in Neah Bay, Port Angeles, Seattle and Silver Spring, Md.
Since then, many Makah have expressed impatience with the pace of the process.
Wayne Johnson, one of the five men who illegally killed the whale Sept. 8, said frustration motivated the rogue hunt.
The whale was harpooned four times and shot at least 16 times, floating wounded for 9½ hours before dying and sinking in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Three of the five — Frankie Gonzales, Theron Parker and William Secor Sr. — pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The others — Johnson and Andy Noel — opted for a quick bench trial by U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Kelley Arnold. He found them guilty of conspiring to kill and of killing the whale.
All five face sentencing June 20 in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.
Gonzales, Parker and Secor face fines of up to $100,000 and five years' probation.
Johnson and Noel face the $100,000 fines and one-year jail terms on each count, plus a year's probation.
All five also face tribal charges in Neah Bay, but the case has been continued indefinitely.
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Reporter Jim Casey can be reached at 360-417-3538 or at jim.casey@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: May 10. 2008 9:00PM