NEAH BAY – An illegal hunt of a gray whale Sept. 8 was bungled by the five men who killed it, according to a report to federal investigators.
Jonathan Scordino, marine mammal biologist for the Makah tribe, concluded that the five – who face federal misdemeanor charges from hunt – did not know where or how to shoot the whale.
Scordino’s judgment was bitterly rebutted by Wayne Johnson, one of the hunters, although the two agreed that the whale’s 9½ hours of suffering could have been concluded much earlier.
The report says the Coast Guard prevented the hunters from finishing what they had started that morning off Sail Rock in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The National Marine Fisheries Service requested the report from Scordino, who released it Thursday.
Johnson, Andy Noel, Theron Parker, Billy Secor Sr. and Frank Gonzales Jr. are scheduled for trial Nov. 27 on charges of conspiracy to hunt a whale, whaling in violation of the federal Whaling Convention Act, and harassing and killing the whale.
Each count carries a maximum fine of $100,000, a one-year prison term and a year of parole.
The U.S. District Court of Judge J. Kelley Arnold in Tacoma has received at least one motion – which is pending – to continue the trial perhaps until spring.
Attorney Phil Brennan of Seattle, who represents Gonzales, said he would concur with the motion because of the case’s complexity.
The Makah also have promised to prosecute the hunters in tribal court for violating the tribe’s whaling regulations, although no charges yet have been filed, said Micah McCarty, tribal councilman.
