Tribal whalers both hunters and hunted

This gray whale managed to get away from the hunters, however the Makha cannot seem to get away from environmental activitists

May 15, 1999
Web posted at: 11:42 p.m. EDT (0342 GMT)

NEAH BAY, Washington (CNN) -- Makah Indian hunters came close to catching their first gray whale in 70 years on Saturday. But the tip of their harpoon didn't pierce deep enough and the big one got away.

The day marked the third hunt this week by tribal whalers, who furiously paddled off the Pacific coast in a hand-carved cedar canoe. One reason for the lack of success: Besides being the hunters, they are the hunted, pursued by anti- whalers in speed boats.

Early Saturday a jet-powered craft disrupting the Makah hunt went directly over a whale. The Coast Guard boarded the vessel and afterwards protest boats retreated.

The whale was not harmed, said Jonathan Paul of the Sea Defense Alliance, one of several activist groups opposed to whaling.

The Makah and anti-whalers have battled on the waters of Neah Bay since last autumn, when the Washington state tribe announced it would resume a tradition that ended almost three-quarters of a century ago.

In the 1920s commercial whalers across the world had hunted grays nearly to extinction. As populations recovered, they were removed from the federal endangered species list in 1994. And the United States supported the tribe's bid to resume hunting before the International Whaling Commission.

Anti-whaling activists say if the Makahs kill a gray then other tribes, and nations, will want to hunt whales too.

Currently, the whale population is at an all-time high of 22,000. And the Makah say the whales will die a humane death.

"In our management plan we have the canoe, and support boats, and each support boat will be armed with harpoons and the rifle to dispatch the whale most efficiently," said tribe member Keith Johnson.