SEATTLE — From treaty rights to tourism, the Makah whaling controversy drew a fresh round of comments Tuesday.
But no protesters. No anti-whaling signs. No impassioned arguments.
For all the opinions, however, it was obvious that no minds had changed by the end of the two-hour scoping meeting hosted by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The Makah tribe of Neah Bay sees hunting gray whales as a mainstay of their seagoing culture that stretches back 15 centuries.
Anti-whaling activists see the proposed hunt as inhumane, a further threat to a marine mammal that was hunted almost to extinction by the 1920s.
Tuesday’s meeting in the Naval Reserve Building on Lake Union drew about 120 participants, with anti-whalers outnumbering Native Americans by about 10-to-1.
Ground rules for the session, which broke up into small group discussions, permitted no theatrics and minimized potential confrontations.
Moderators from the fisheries service wrote down participants’ comments.
They will use them to formulate an environmental impact statement on the tribe’s request for a waiver from the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The act prohibits whaling by U.S. citizens, except for some Alaska natives.
