Reply #2: Makah leaders, whaler offer insight [View All]

A week after five Makah whalers illegally hunted a gray whale off Neah Bay, some of the tribe's leaders have begun to say that while they disapprove of the hunt, they understand why the whalers did it.

Friday, with the help and permission of the head of the tribe's whaling commission, whaler Wayne Johnson sent out a lengthy written statement defending his actions and expressing frustration with the system that has held up a legal whale hunt for the tribe.And though Makah tribal leaders have uniformly denounced the hunt, many now are also saying they appreciate the frustration that drove the whalers to their motorboats.

"You could see this as an act of civil disobedience," said Micah McCarty, a member of the Makah tribal council who trained in the whaling canoe alongside some of the same men who legally hunted the tribe's first whale in more than 70 years in 1999. "It's not like they were rebels without a cause." Still, McCarty remains resolute that the men should be punished.

(clip)Keith Johnson, the president of the Makah tribe's whaling commission who helped Wayne Johnson with his statement, said Friday he also understands the whalers' feelings. "There are two ways you can look at it," Keith Johnson said. "Yes, it was absolutely wrong; they didn't have a permit. But it doesn't say in the treaty you have to have a permit. I see it both ways. These guys certainly wanted to exercise their treaty right, and they want to bring traditional foods home; we want subsistence; the freezers are low, and they want whale meat for the wintertime, and I am sympathetic to them when they say that....(more@link)