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May 20, 1999
SEA SHEPHERD BACKS LAND/WHALES SWAP FOR MAKAH TRIBE
Congress urged to trade former tribal lands for whale hunting treaty clause
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a leading opponent of the whale hunt of the Makah Indian tribe of Washington state, has proposed a solution to the controversy whereby former tribal lands would be returned to the Makah in exchange for a Congressional amendment to the clause in their 1855 treaty permitting whale hunting.
The proposal, delivered to over two dozen members of Congress who are on record as opposing the Makah hunt, comes in the wake of a recently negotiated agreement between the Timbesha Shoshone tribe of Southern California and the Department of the Interior. The agreement gives back to the tribe several hundred acres of traditional tribal land in Death Valley National Park and broad management powers over 300,000 acres of parkland.
'The Makah have long been interested in recovering tribal lands that were ceded to the U.S. as part of the treaty that codified the Makah's alleged right of whaling,' said Sea Shepherd President Paul Watson. 'A five-mile stretch of beach between the southern edge of the main reservation and the traditional Makah village of Ozette is now part of Olympic National Park. A three-mile strip south of Ozette is the site of historically significant Makah petroglyphs.'
The Makah Tribal Council, in response to several previous overtures to provide economic aid and help establish a whale watching industry on the reservation if the tribe forswears a whale hunt, has routinely replied that 'our treaty rights are not for sale.'
'The agreement reached last February between the Shoshone and the National Park Service in Death Valley has set a precedent,' said Sea Shepherd International Director Lisa Distefano. 'No one can perceive giving land back to an Indian tribe in exchange for amending one line in the document by which they were forced to cede that land to the U.S. in the first place as constituting the 'sale' of treaty rights.
'This would resolve the legal dilemma posed by perceived U.S. treaty obligations to the Makah and the obligation to uphold current conservation law under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. To avoid being sued by an Indian tribe, the federal government has desperately tried to pretend that the Makah can go whaling without violating the aboriginal subsistence requirement of the International Whaling Commission and the U.S. Whaling Convention Act, but they can't have it both ways. This is their way out.'
Sea Shepherd has also filed a 'friend of the court' brief in the appeal of the lawsuit filed by Congressman Jack Metcalf (R-Wash.), Australians for Animals, and Breach Marine Protection to halt the Makah hunt seeking to strike down the Makah's hunting permit.
For text of proposal and list of U.S. reps. opposed to Makah whale hunt CONTACT: Paul Watson Lisa Distefano 310-301-7325
MEMBERS OF U.S. CONGRESS OPPOSING THE MAKAH WHALE HUNT
Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) Gary L. Ackerman (D-NY) James E. Clyburn (D-SC) William D. Delahunt (D-MA) Phil English (R-PA) Lane Evans (D-IL) Sam Farr (D-CA) Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) Peter A DeFazio (D-OR) Ralph M. Hall (D-TX) Duncan Hunter (R-CA) Sue W. Kelly (R-NY) John Lewis (D-GA) Jack Metcalf (R-WA) Nita M. Lowey (D-NY) Carolyn B. Maloney (D-CT) George Miller (D-CA) Constance A. Morella (R-MD) Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Christopher Shays (R-CT) Fortney Pete Stark (D-CA) Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) Bruce F. Vento (D-MN) Robert Wexler (D-FL) Albert Russell Wynn (D-MD) Lynn C. Woolsey (D-CA)
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