The Seattle Times reports the Makah Tribe could soon be hunting gray whales again under a final series of proposals released this month by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.
The tribe at Neah Bay hasn’t had a legally authorized gray whale hunt since 1999, which was the first in more than 70 years. The hunt revived a cultural tradition lost after nontribal commercial exploitation of the whales drove them nearly to extinction.
The tribe has spent almost 20 years trying to get NOAA officials to allow them to resume the hunt “for spiritual and cultural reasons”. In 2021, an administrative law judge found that the tribal hunts would have no effect on the overall population of the whales.
On Friday, NOAA identified one of seven proposed actions as the preferred action. The option would provide a waiver of the Marine Mammal Protection Act for the Makah Tribe to harvest whales. The option outlines an alternating winter/spring, summer/fall hunt season that would expire after 10 years and allow no more than 25 whales to be struck while the waiver is issued.
The tribe would need to get a permit from NOAA before each hunt. The preferred action would aim to reduce the risk of harm to the Pacific Coast feeding group and endangered western North Pacific gray whales.
The agency will issue a final decision on the hunt in 30 days or more.
In 2017, an estimated 27,000 gray whales in the northeastern Pacific migrated between calving grounds in Baja and feeding grounds in the Arctic. Since then the populations have declined by a few thousand whales, but scientists found hope in finding more mothers with calves in 2023 than in any of the past five years.