US Rejoins the Whale Killing Nations???

As you read this, the United States Government intends to support the illegal killing of a whale in US territorial waters for the first time in over three decades. The safe haven status that this country and its people have afforded the great whales will be shattered. The United States will then have the dubious distinction of being in the company of such whale killing nations as Japan, Norway, Iceland, and Russia. All of which are zealously pursuing a full scale resumption of commercial whaling. Worse however is the fact that once we kill our whale, the whale killers abroad cannot be stopped from killing multitudes more,...and their new best friend....The good ole US of A.

Unlike the relatively few, mostly right wing conservatives who like to mock the struggle to save whales with their "Save the Humans" bumper stickers, most Americans have somewhat of a love affair with whales. Americans recently spent millions of dollars to "Free Willy",... literally! America has been a key nation in preventing the certain extinction of several whale species, including the largest animal the earth has ever known, the Blue Whale. So how could this nation of whale lovers, all of a sudden, become the worlds most important whale killers? Half-truth's involving indigenous rights, and backroom deals that have yet to be disclosed hold the real answers. In the meantime, the American people are being lied too, and duped by government officials and national media into apathetically acquiescing... On second thought, what's new?

Before entering into the arena of charges against nonwhite cultures, I am compelled to address the unavoidable and forthcoming accusations of racism. The fact remains that America, white America has been responsible for the spilling of more whale blood than perhaps any other country. This is about here and now, and right now the US is once again going to spill the blood of whales, but this time, others will do the dirty work, unless Americans respond.

So here is the status quo version of this whale hunt;
The California Gray Whale was recently taken off the endangered species list and Macao Tribe of Washington State have a centuries long tradition of whaling. It is their wish to resume whaling for cultural reasons. The United States being a member of the International Whaling Commission ( I.W.C. - The international body charged with setting legal killing quotas for whaling.), has received approval from the I.W.C. for the Makah Tribe to kill twenty Gray Whales over the next five years. All legal requirements have been met and the majority of people who object are "animal rights" extremists. Furthermore, the Makah have a treaty signed with the US government in 1855 that assures them the right to whale. The Makah also believe that the resumption of whaling will serve to unite the tribe which is plagued by alcohol and drug abuse, and domestic violence. This basic version is what has been repeatedly reported and stated publicly by local, regional, and national media, National Marine Fisheries Service officials, and even vice-president Al Gore. Further exploration however, reveals a slightly different story.

The Gray Whale is indeed removed from the US endangered species list, but is not removed from the
list of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ( C.I.T.E.S. ) which is the officially recognized reference. But the general agreement among whale experts is that the Gray Whale has recovered to near it's original population levels despite having approached serious risk of extinction twice. The true population is virtually impossible to know for sure however, and there is certainly no agreement across the board. It is also worth noting that the Atlantic Gray Whale which used to be abundant is now thought to be extinct.

The cultural reasons certainly leave much to be desired. Firstly it is extremely difficult to defend the use of high speed chase boats , and a high powered .50 caliber assault rifles in the name of cultural revival. The Makah have also voluntarily stopped whaling twice in the past century, and have not whaled for more than seventy years.. In fairness, this was influenced by the decreasing whale populations by non-Makah factors. Tribal elders, who are the heart and soul of the Makah culture, were not formally consulted regarding the resumption of whaling, and this certainly begs question, why? Indeed one tribal elder among all others has courageously spoken out in her opposition to the hunt. So far she has been fired from her only job, had her dog killed in her front yard, and had her grandson beaten by other Makah adults. To understand the reason for this you must understand the difference between the tribal council, and tribal elders. The tribal elders are the acknowledged representatives of the culture. Tribal councils are notoriously a creature of the federal government and opposition to federal interests from within tribal councils is most definitely a bad career move, to say the least. But why would the government want whales to be killed? Shockingly, one would be Makah whaler ( there are no living Makah whalers ) revealed off the record that until 1992, when a US official from the National Marine Fisheries Service ( N.M.F.S. ) approached the tribe, the idea to resume whaling was not even being discussed. Which begs the question once again, why? Why would a US official have an interest in the Makah whaling? It is the answer to this question which holds the truth.

So is this a story of people vs. whales? On the surface it would seem to be, but the issue comes down to one thing more than anything else, and what else could that be but money. So far the leaders of the Makah tribal council have received hundreds of thousands of US taxpayer dollars to attend I.W.C. annual meetings, and purchase several high powered rifles to kill the whales, among other benefits. But the government seems more than happy to support wholeheartedly this hunt, and here is why. Japan. Japanese businessmen pay top dollar to eat whale meat. It is a status symbol. But the worlds unpopular view of this has prevented easy access to whale meat. To circumvent this, the Japanese have received I.W.C. approval to kill a limited number of whales in the name of research. This research ( killing ), the Japanese tell us, is conducted to help determine what kills whales by the way. For Japan to just disregard international views however, is too dangerous, so a need arises for an indigenous culture to bridge the gap. Enter the Makah, and their role is critical to Japans whaling interest. Commercial whaling is explicitly banned by the I.W.C., so whaling nations have no chance to resume commercial whaling. Of course the whaling nations resent this and they are actively seeking other options. But the I.W.C.'s requirements are stringent, yet commonly ignored. In order to receive a quota, an unbroken practice of whaling and a cultural subsistence need must be established and presented to the I.W.C. So did this subsistence need prove valid in the Makah request, and therefore give them the approval from the I.W.C. they needed. Absolutely not, and the insolence US officials show towards the international community by stating otherwise is an embarrassment. The fact is, that the US delegation to the I.W.C. submitted a request for a Makah quota three years in a row (1995-96-97), and was denied each time. The fourth time around required politics at its best. The US delegation then attached the Makah quota to a long-standing and legitimate quota for another tribe, and incorporated a trade between two species of endangered whales. The bottom line is, the US was going to get the quota no matter how sneaky and underhanded they had to be to get it. But that's not all. US officials knew the Makah had specific intent to commercially whale. The formal proposal submitted by the Makah to the State Department and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stated "...We have the right to harvest whales not only for ceremonial and subsistence purposes but also for commercial purposes." ( Tribal council chairman Hubert Markishtum, May 5, 1995 ). Internal documents within N.M.F.S. from Robert Brownell to Michael Tillman Ph.D. stated "The Makah intend to harvest Gray Whales, Harbor Seals, California Sea Lions, Minke Whales, small cetaceans, such as Harbor Porpoise, and Dall's Porpoise, and potentially, in the future, Sea Otters. The Makah are planning to operate a processing plant so as to sell to markets outside of the US The Makah have started discussions with Japan and Norway about selling their whale meat to both countries." There can be no doubt that Mr. Tillman among others have willfully withheld critical information in order to get the quota. But it didn't work. Other delegations, lead by the Australian contingent were not impressed by the dirty dealings and promptly drafted an amendment to address the US/Makah quota. It effectively eliminated once again a quota for the Makah, and that was that. The defenders of whales around the globe celebrated. The celebration was short lived, the US simply stated that the I.W.C. had approved the hunt, and US media have simply repeated that lie tirelessly. Characteristic of this incompetence is Peggy Anderson of the Associated Press. Peggy was reporting continuously the legality of the hunt even though she had been told numerous times that it indeed was not. Eventually she was handed the phone number for the I.W.C. personally and asked to call. A week later she claimed "I haven't had time to call." Apparently she still hasn't had time to call some three months later. Sadly this is not unusual, it is the standard for US media. So the perception of many people is deeply distorted by a myriad of lies. So as America rejoices in its political correctness, ever more species of marine life wait their turn for extinction, and that is precisely what will happen. As soon as the Makah kill their whale, the whale killing nations of the world shall line up to argue their new and worse yet legitimate argument to resume whaling based purely on culture. Because their cultures have been whaling for the entirety of our current millennium. and waiting in the wings are dozens of indigenous cultures around the globe.

If all logic fails to communicate to just how strongly I resent this lie which may very well result in the extermination of countless whales, and very likely many species as well. It shall be through an appeal to compassion and respect for the ocean environment that I present my strongest argument. This stems from the footage documented by a French film crew of a nearly identical hunt of a Bowhead Whale. During this hunt which was conducted by experienced whalers, over three hundred gunshots were fired and it took over two hours beginning to end. The whale in question died horrendously by what can only be described as a barbaric and pitiful example of humanity gone wrong. It will be the shame of us all to have allowed this to happen, and if the hunt is captured on film, our shame shall be exposed to the world. The whale which the US wishes to kill will be either first of many, or the beginning of the end for a cruel and indefensible cultural shame.

The US Rejoins the Whale Killing Nations?... We shall see.

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