ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Makah tribe Tuesday won renewal of its quota to kill up to 20 gray whales in the next five years.
Before it resumes hunting off the Washington coast, however, the tribe must receive a waiver of the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act – permission it has pursued since February 2005 and may have to keep seeking for two more years.
The Makah’s original five-year, 20-whale quota, first obtained in 1997 and renewed in 2002, expired while the tribe sought the waiver.
Tuesday’s decision by the 76-nation International Whaling Commission, meeting in Alaska, received a joyous response from tribal members but vows of resistance from anti-whaling activists.
“It’s excellent news,” Tribal Councilman Micah McCarty told Peninsula Daily News by telephone from Anchorage.
“We’re totally elated here.”
McCarty said the whaling commission’s decision “reaffirms the scientific committee that our whaling tradition is viewed as sustainable,” meaning no threat to stable whale populations.
