The Makah should be able to whale
Whaling is a Makah tradition
We have programs to preserve the traditions and cultural heritage of immigrants, we should give all our Native Americans the same consideration. (blogs.king5.com)
The Makah honor the whale and the whaling ceremony. One person who attended the ceremony said, “they honored all who came and the whale… Each time I go to Neah Bay, the Makah show respect, honoring of culture, humbleness, and hospitality.” (blogs.king5.com)
“The Makah people survived for centuries by harvesting the ocean's bounty. In part, they subsisted on whales.” (Trumbull)
Whaling could help the Makah community
“Whaling can help revive community spirit and fight” the tribes problems with unemployment and alcohol and drug abuse (Trumbull)
"Everybody has to work together" to bring in a whale and make use of its meat, blubber, bones, and baleen for food and for traditional crafts and ceremonies," (Trumbull)
They will kill the whales in a humane way
The Makah will use a .50 caliber rifle created by a veterinarian specializing in the humane killing of large animals, so the whale will be killed quickly (Westneat)
The Makah will “modernize their hunting methods - such as using exploding-head harpoons, in order to be more humane and safe…” (Trumbull)
Whaling will not harm the whale population
When people argue that whaling might disrupt migration patterns, others respond that it won’t make a difference. “Biologist John Calambokidis says, "I can't imagine hunting efforts aimed at five animals ... would affect the behavior" of the whole migrating group” (Trumbull)
Whales were removed from the endangered species list in 1994, and there are over 20,000 of them. (National Marine Fisheries Service)
The IWC agreement actually has a smaller number of total whales allowed for hunting in the North Pacific than it did before. It went from 140 to 124, only five of which would be from the Makah (Westneat)
The IWC agreement says whalers cannot hunt calves or any whale with a calf. This will protect their reproduction. (Westneat)
The Makah have a legal right to whale
The Makah have a treaty with the U.S. from 1855 “that specifically reserves ‘the right of ... whaling or sealing at usual and accustomed grounds.’” (Trumbull)
The treaty rights have been upheld in recent amendments. In fact, the 1994 amendment included this statement: “Nothing in this Act including any amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 made by this Act alters or is intended to alter any treaty between the United States and one or more Indian Tribes.” (blogs.king5.com)