NEAH BAY — U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell has been asked to consider federal legislation to let the Makah tribe waive Marine Mammal Protection Act considerations for whaling.
But the freshman senator hasn’t determined how to proceed on any potential bill, her spokesman said Thursday.
Even though the Makah tribe is the only tribe in the Lower 48 whose original treaty — the 1855 Treaty of Neah Bay — specified its right to whale, a 2001 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals required that the tribe get a waiver from the 1972 marine mammal act before resuming any whaling practices.
Such an exemption has never been granted to anyone, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said.
On Feb. 14, Makah officials said they were abiding by the court ruling and filed a waiver application with NOAA in Washington, D.C., asking for permission to hunt a handful of whales annually.
Just a few weeks later, representatives of the Makah tribe met with Cantwell and asked her to consider legislation in Congress that would grant the tribe the same waiver to the marine mammal act.
Fulfill ruling
If approved by Congress, such a bill — which doesn’t now exist — could fulfill the court ruling’s requirement and allow the tribe to hunt whales again.
“Oh yeah,” said Ben Johnson, chairman of the Makah tribe, on Thursday when asked if the tribe asked Sen. Cantwell for such legislation.
“We asked other congressional representatives as well, including [U.S. Rep.] Norm Dicks.”
Johnson said tribal officials were in Washington, D.C., for the winter meeting of the National Congress of American Indians, which ran from Feb. 28 through March 2.
“We meet with [congressional] officials three, four or even five times a year,” Johnson said.
When asked about the potential bill’s status, Johnson replied:
“We don’t know where that is, or if it’s going to fly.”
