Public is asked to weigh in on Makah whaling

The federal government is asking for feedback on a proposal to allow the Makah Indian Nation to hunt Pacific gray whales off the Washington coast.

The National Marine Fisheries Service released an analysis Friday of the environmental and social effects of five different hunting scenarios, plus an option of not allowing a hunt. The agency is considering permitting the killing of up 20 whales over five years.

The different scenarios include restrictions on how many whales could be killed annually, how many could be struck but not killed, and when and where the hunting could occur.

Once included on the endangered species list, the total population of gray whales is more than 20,000, and in the 1990s totaled more than 24,000 animals.

"It seems to be stable. When a population starts to reach its natural peak, it will fluctuate a few percentage points," said Brian Gorman, a fisheries service spokesman in Seattle. "It is considered a healthy population."

The tribe, from the northwest corner of the state, has an 1855 treaty right to whaling. It killed its first whale in 70 years in 1999, sparking celebrations among tribal members and protests from environmental activists.

Then last September, a group of five tribal members illegally harpooned and killed a whale. The federal government was reviewing a request made in 2005 to conduct additional hunting. The men involved await sentencing in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on charges related to the killing.

The unpermitted hunt does not affect the current proposal. "This is a separate thing," Gorman said. "It's not really a deal-breaker here."

The analysis released Friday, called a draft environmental impact statement, is one of the first steps in the long process of approving a whale hunt. It will be followed by public hearings, a final impact statement and a hearing before an administrative law judge.

The draft proposal addresses concerns about the whale population, effects to other wildlife species and economic, ceremonial, subsistence and cultural impacts to the tribe.

While the tribe has treaty rights to hunt the animals, the whales are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and in 2002 the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the fisheries service to examine the broad effects of a whale hunt.

Approval for resumed hunting could take more than a year.

HOW TO COMMENT ON WHALING

Read the draft proposal for a whale hunt: goto.seattlepi.com/r1421

Submit comments until June 8 by e-mail to MakahDEIS.nwr@noaa.gov, subject line Attn: 2008 Makah DEIS; by mail to Steve Stone, NOAA Fisheries Northwest Region, 1201 N.E. Lloyd Blvd., Suite 1100, Portland, OR 97232; or by fax to 503-230-5441, Attn: 2008 Makah DEIS.

Attend a public meeting 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., May 28, at the Vern Burton Memorial Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles, or 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., June 2, at the Lake Union Park Armory-Great Hall, 860 Terry Ave. N., Seattle.