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The numbers support a hunt. Natives should have it #639302
03/19/08 01:25 PM
03/19/08 01:25 PM
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,777
Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia
Mira Trapper Offline OP
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Mira Trapper  Offline OP
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,777
Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia
If the numbers didn't support a hunt I would be first in line to complain that conservation is the main program. However I see that the treaty allows a hunt and the numbers of whales are strong enough for such a tradition to continue. The Makah should be given back their treaty rights and allowed the limited hunt they ask for. However the Government is more afraid of having another ARA poster child (Whales) become a political football then they are of doing the right thing.


Seattle Post Intelligencer
Makah 'treaty warriors': Heroes or criminals?
Whaling case has political implications for all U.S. tribes
By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
P-I REPORTER
March 16, 2008
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/355205_makah17.html?source=mypi

NEAH BAY -- The high school security guard in this Indian fishing
village was the last man to see the gray whale alive before it forever
slipped beneath the waves.

Joe McGimpsey doesn't consider himself a shaman, but he was the one
the Makah Tribal Council sent in a small boat to recite sacred chants
over the dying behemoth -- the victim of a rogue hunt in September.

It wouldn't have been right to let the whale die alone, said
McGimpsey, who has often prayed with whalers in his sweat lodge.

Like most people here, McGimpsey -- a good-humored man with a penchant
for seeing the ordinary and calling it "magic" -- was troubled because
the surprise hunt lacked the intense discipline and spiritual
preparation that mark tribally sanctioned whaling.

But he won't pass judgment on the five rogue whalers, who see
themselves as "treaty warriors" -- defenders of their tribe's
153-year-old treaty with the United States. "I am not going to sit
here and condemn them," McGimpsey said.

Early next month, the whalers -- who don't deny killing their prey --
face criminal charges in Tacoma's U.S. District Court for unlawfully
taking a whale.

The case has political implications, not only for the Makahs' ancient
whaling way of life, but for the sanctity of all tribal treaties with
the United States.

On Sept. 8, Frankie Gonzales, Wayne Johnson, Andrew Noel, Theron
Parker and William Secor Sr. drove a harpoon into the whale's flank at
least four times. They also shot the animal at least 16 times with
large-caliber rifles.

But before they could deliver the coup de grace, the Coast Guard
arrested them. Twelve hours passed before the whale died, sinking in
700-foot-deep waters in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The hunt sparked
nationwide headlines and angered animal-rights activists.

Prosecutors charged the whalers with violating the Marine Mammal
Protection Act, a misdemeanor that carries up to a year in jail. If
found guilty of also violating tribal laws, they could face time in a
reservation jail.

The Makahs have always taken a moderate approach in exercising their
right to hunt whales. Even though it's been nine years since the tribe
last took a whale under federal supervision, they've continued working
through the system -- absorbing frustrating setbacks dealt by the
courts in response to lawsuits filed by animal-rights activists.

At the time of the rogue hunt, the tribe was working to solidify its
status as a whaling tribe. In Congress, an exemption to the Marine
Mammal Protection Act that would allow whale hunts without so much red
tape was in the works. And the National Marine Fisheries Service was
making progress toward issuing a permit for the next hunt.

But Johnson, the whaling captain, and his crew finally lost patience.

Johnson, 55, said he was thinking of the next generation of Makah
whalers when he launched the hunt for the gray whale.

"The five of us did this to protect the kids," he said. "If nobody
exercises their treaty right -- we don't have one."

John McCarty, a tribal elder and former executive director of the
tribe's whaling commission, was outraged.

"I've never been so mad in my life," McCarty said. "Right on the verge
of everything happening, and they did that to us."

Like McCarty, many people here think the rogue hunt was a major
mistake. But most are also deeply sympathetic. They say they're sick
of jumping through the government's hoops to conduct a hunt that they
see as their cultural and legal right.

Even McCarty's son, Tribal Chairman Micah McCarty, has some sympathy
for the whalers.

"But in my opinion," he said, "the art of politics was not even
considered when they went out and did this."

'Treated like rock stars'

The Makahs signed the Treaty of Neah Bay in 1855, giving up vast
tracts of forest lands laced with streams teeming with salmon.

The only treaty recognizing a tribe's right to hunt whales, it's an
acknowledgement that Makah culture and spirituality -- not to mention
traditional cuisine -- are thoroughly infused with whales and whaling.

But Johnson fears the treaty is becoming another landmark in a long
trail of broken promises.

"The government has dwindled our treaty down to nothing" by allowing
lawsuits and red tape to stymie hunts, Johnson said.

In 1999, he headed a federally sanctioned whaling crew that brought
home the first gray whale since the 1920s, when the tribe voluntarily
suspended the hunt to allow the species to rebound from overhunting by
white whalers.

It was the proudest moment in Johnson's life. The hunt electrified the
Makahs and fueled a cultural renaissance in Neah Bay, a village of
about 2,000 people that has been devastated by substance abuse and a
60 percent unemployment rate.

"Imperialism and colonialism have wreaked havoc on our culture, and it
has had devastating effects on our well-being for generations," said
Micah McCarty. "What whaling did for us back in the '90s was it began
to heal the old wounds of transgenerational trauma. It inspired our
people to remember who they are and where they come from.

"If you are focused on (native) singing and dancing and learning your
language and your friends are getting involved in the culture, you are
not getting into alcohol and drugs."

The men who brought home the whale nine years ago were treated like
rock stars. Said Johnson: "All the high school kids back then wanted
to go hunting like we did."

"They were the crew that kept the treaty alive," said Arnie Hunter, a
traditional chief of Neah Bay.

In 2004, after two previous rulings, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals decided that the Fisheries Service must apply more stringent
environmental reviews to the Makah hunts. Whaling has been in limbo
ever since.

"It's another treaty broken by the United States," an angry Johnson
declared after the ruling. "I'm going whaling again."

Micah McCarty says the court-imposed delays have sapped the tribe's
morale. "A lot of our people have become disillusioned with the
system," he said. "People have become frustrated at these challenges
to our way of life. Some people turn to chemical dependency as a way
of self-medicating their frustrations. ... But the strongest medicine
is always our cultural values and cultural practices."

The whale hunt was strong medicine for Johnson, too.

Life hasn't always been kind to Johnson, who has endured long periods
of joblessness. He's had a few minor run-ins with the law, and
acknowledges struggling -- sometimes unsuccessfully -- to stay sober.

"Without the whaling -- it's tempting to go back to my old ways," he
said. "When I was whaling, it gave me focus, it gave me purpose, it
gave me discipline and it was a lot easier to stay clean and sober. I
need it back. I need to go back to my spiritual, religious belief."

'A protest hunt'

On April 8, when U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Kelley Arnold presides over
the whaling trial, he'll be deciding whether the Marine Mammal
Protection Act or Whaling Convention Act trump Native Americans'
treaty rights.

That's got Micah McCarty worried.

Tribes hang on to their treaties with fierce tenacity, knowing the
words are all that protect them from disappearing into the American
melting pot. They frequently point to the Constitution, which calls
treaties "the supreme Law of the Land."

The prosecution "has the potential to put the treaty in a much more
vulnerable position," said McCarty, who hopes the case can be settled
with an 11th-hour plea bargain.

When the 9th Circuit decided in 2004 to put the hunt on hold, it was a
blow for treaty tribes. The ruling meant the executive branch must
regulate the Makahs' right to hunt whales under the treaty without
explicit approval of such regulation by Congress.

It's a frightening precedent for Indian Country that can be applied to
all treaty tribes in the vast Western territory covered by the 9th
Circuit. The Makahs decided in 2004 not to risk appealing that
decision to the Supreme Court, fearing the ruling could become a
national mandate. But if the five whalers lose in Tacoma, they could
bypass the tribal decision and appeal the matter all the way to the
Supreme Court.

Defense attorney Jack Fiander, a member of the Yakama Indian Nation,
has sought to dismiss the charges on a variety of grounds revolving
around the supremacy of the Makah treaty over federal laws.

"The case has politics all around the fringes of it," he said. "You
are dealing with the political issue of what balance the government
should reach in terms of upholding treaties and enforcing regular
laws.

"This was a protest hunt," Fiander added. "It was civil disobedience."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Oesterle has been careful to say
repeatedly that the government "is not pitting the tribe's treaty
rights against conservation" of whales. "We are talking about
regulating the treaty right, not abrogating it."

U.S. Attorney for Western Washington Jeff Sullivan said there has been
consultation on the case with top Justice Department officials. Before
Sullivan's office filed charges against the men, there were
consultations with the agency's section responsible for Indian issues.
The case was also reviewed by the deputy attorney general's office.

The trial is expected to take about a week. Fiander plans to call
tribal elders to testify about the importance of whaling to the
Makahs.

"These folks haven't been able to harvest a whale and conduct all the
ceremonies that their whaling culture is tied to since 1999," said
Fiander, who wants the case thrown out on religious-freedom grounds.
"It's like someone telling you that you can't go to church for 10
years."

P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or
paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com.


[Linked Image]
Mac Leod Motto
Re: The numbers support a hunt. Natives should have it [Re: Mira Trapper] #639431
03/19/08 03:03 PM
03/19/08 03:03 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 4,914
Oregon
TasteLikeChicken Offline
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TasteLikeChicken  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 4,914
Oregon
I live pretty close to where this all happens.

I have no problem with traditional whaling. Only 2 stipulation I would have is adequate whale numbers and that it is used ONLY by the tribe for ritual and or sustinance. I'm with the tribe in that it should be a group decision...not an individual decision.

But...if the whale is sold to the Japanese for sushi.....not acceptable IMO. That is NOT "tradition" or religion....it's just a way to make a fast buck...kind of like the whole casino issue going on in the Columbia gorge right now.


Sack Punch Beaver Lure
http://www.tlclures.co.nr/
Re: The numbers support a hunt. Natives should have it [Re: TasteLikeChicken] #639575
03/19/08 04:34 PM
03/19/08 04:34 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 660
Maine
D
DLM Offline
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DLM  Offline
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D

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 660
Maine
The Japanese have over fished marine resourses the world over. They(their markets)have wiped out our innertidal zones here in the Northeast where most sealife starts. They have stripped our shores of seaweed (where the newly hatched life hides from pedators) and they eat things such as sea urchines and jellyfish which other local marine life utilizes to survive.

I have No Problem with Native Americans/Canadians harvesting a few animals for cultural needs. If those resources were truely threatened I am sure they would be the first to stop the harvest. May the Geart Spirit Smile down on them all.

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