PORT ANGELES — A public meeting on a draft environmental impact statement evaluating the Makah tribe’s request to resume treaty-based hunting of gray whales is set in Port Angeles next week.
The meeting will be from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 29, at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St. No registration is required.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries also will host a public meeting in Seattle on Monday.
Public comment will be taken at both meetings.
Comment will be accepted until June 11 on the draft environmental impact statement on the tribe’s request to resume hunting up to five whales annually off the North Olympic Peninsula.
Written comments can be submitted to makah2015deis.wcr@noaa.gov.
The Makah’s last legal whale hunt was in 1999. The tribe has sought a waiver from the Marine Mammal Protection Act since 2004.
The Seattle meeting will be from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday at the NOAA Western Regional Center, Building 9, 7600 Sand Point Way N.E.
Attendees must register for the Seattle meeting by 4 p.m. Sunday by submitting their first and last names to makah2015deis.wcr@noaa.gov and reviewing requirements for access to government buildings.
The 1,229-page draft study, which was released in March, evaluates several alternatives, including one that would continue to prohibit hunting.
For more information, see http://tinyurl.com/PDN-drafteiswhaling.
The draft also is available at public libraries in Clallam Bay, Forks, Port Angeles and Sequim.
