FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 17, 1999 MAKAH KILL A WHALE, U.S. BRINGS BACK COMMERCIAL WHALING "Look forward to selling whale burgers," says tribe MAY 17 -- By virtue of the U.S. Coast Guard having seized virtually all the boats of whale activists who had effectively protected migrating whales from the assault of would-be whale hunters in Washington state since last October, the Makah Indian tribe finally managed to kill a whale shortly Before 7 o'clock this morning. Television news coverage cut away as the helpless whale was repeatedly harpooned and shot in order to spare viewers the sight of a whale in its death throes. Sea Shepherd's patrol boat Sirenian had gone to the San Juan Islands to refuel and pick up other vessels on Sunday night. To evade activists, the Makah went out on an early outgoing tide. Sea Shepherd has filed a request of the Coast Guard to determine the whale's size and whether it was lactating. "People are starting to grasp the absolute tragedy of what is happening here," said Sea Shepherd International Director Lisa Distefano. "As in the commercial whaling era of 100 years ago, technology wedded to the profit motive will again speed the whales toward extinction." Sea Shepherd notes the zealous and enthusiastic cooperation of the U.S. Coast Guard and federal agencies in the whale hunt, including grants and indirect subsidies of over one million dollars in U.S. taxpayer funds to the Makah Whaling Commission. "Today, with speed boats, military weaponry and the draconian assistance of the U.S. government in stifling all dissent, American whalers managed to blast a whale out of existence in American waters on the pretext of cultural privilege," said Paul Watson, President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. "A tribe that has made no secret of its intention to return to commercial whaling has brought the United States and all its citizens one giant unwilling step closer to the day when the wholesale slaughter of whales for profit will be permitted within the coastal waters of every nation. "As far as we're concerned, Vice President Al Gore and the U.S. Coast Guard got their whale." Sea Shepherd and other whale protection advocates will now prevail upon Congress to amend the 1855 treaty with the Makah in order to bring it into compliance with current international conservation regulations. The International Whaling Commission will be pressed to right the wrong the Clinton administration has permitted within U.S. waters before additional offenses can occur. "The implications of this act must now be dealt with by the infractions committee of the IWC," said Watson. "They must also deal with the sleight-of-hand trick by which the U.S. administration gave a subsistence whaling quota to a tribe that does not meet the IWC criteria for aboriginal subsistence whaling. Without such recognition, under U.S. federal law, the Makah cannot hunt whales." The U.S. has opened itself up to a number of legal issues. Activists cite the Coast Guard's highly selective enforcement of a "exclusionary zone," cited as a safety precaution but which allowed the boats of other Indian tribes into the hunt area and keep protesters out as a clear First Amendment violation. The fact that the Coast Guard allowed the use of heavy weapons by members of a whaling crew that had largely failed a drug test, the extreme likelihood that the whale killed was a nursing mother -- a violation of the Makah's management agreement with the National Marine Fisheries Service -- and the violation of the U.S. Whaling Convention Act are just some of the legal dilemmas now facing the federal government. Additionally, Seattle media reported today that Makah reservation restaurants haved said they are looking forward to selling whale burgers - another violation of their "subsistence" whale hunt exemption. "This is a precedent that must not be allowed to stand," said Distefano. "We hope that environmental organizations that have chosen to remain uninvolved up to this point, along with the American public, will wake up to the reality of what their government is subsidizing in their name." Sea Shepherd and the Washington Citizens Coastal Alliance will shortly announce a boycott of tourism and all products of the Makah and allied Washington state tribes for as long as the Makah persist in hunting whales. ===================================== Sea Shepherd Conservation Society P.O. Box 628 Venice, CA. 90294 USA e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web Site: http://www.seashepherd.org Tel: 310-301-SEAL(7325) Canada: 604-688-7325 Fax: 310-574-3161 =====================================
