SEATTLE – A week after five Makah whalers illegally hunted a gray whale off Neah Bay, some of the tribe's leaders have begun to say that while they disapprove of the hunt, they understand why the men did it.
Yesterday, with the help and permission of the head of the tribe's whaling commission, whaler Wayne Johnson sent out a lengthy written statement defending his actions and expressing frustration with the system that has held up a legal whale hunt for the tribe.
Although Makah tribal leaders have uniformly denounced the hunt, many are saying they appreciate the frustration that drove the whalers to their motorboat.
“You could see this as an act of civil disobedience,” said Micah McCarty, a member of the Makah tribal council who trained in the whaling canoe alongside some of the same men who legally hunted the tribe's first whale in more than 70 years in 1999. “It's not like they were rebels without a cause.”
Still, McCarty remains resolute that the men should be punished.
The illegal hunt came as the tribe has been trying to get permission from the federal government to legally hunt gray whales again under its 1855 treaty with the United States.
Some wildlife and animal rights groups have demanded that the tribe be forever banned from whaling because of the rogue hunt. But federal officials are continuing their review of the tribe's request for an exemption to the Marine Mammal Protection Act. In 2002, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Makah Nation must obtain a waiver under the act before it could hunt whales again.
Keith Johnson, the president of the Makah tribe's whaling commission who helped Wayne Johnson with his statement, said yesterday that he also understands the whalers' feelings. “There are two ways you can look at it,” Johnson said. “Yes, it was absolutely wrong; they didn't have a permit. But it doesn't say in the treaty you have to have a permit.
“I see it both ways. These guys certainly wanted to exercise their treaty right, and they want to bring traditional foods home. We want subsistence; the freezers are low, and they want whale meat for the winter time, and I am sympathetic to them when they say that.”
Keith Johnson said he remains committed to pursuing further hunts through the legal process. That process has been aggravatingly slow, he said.
