If an application to resume a hunting tradition goes according to plan, the Makah Tribe hopes to host their Nuu-chah-nulth relatives from Vancouver Island this year for a whale feast.
The Washington State Nuu-chah-nulth nation currently eagerly awaits the result of a request for a permit from the United States government to hunt grey whales. If granted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Makah plan to assemble a whaling crew and take to the waters of its territory in Neah Bay this summer.
T.J. Greene, chair of the Makah Tribal Council, outlined the nation’s plans during a recent Nuu-chah-nulth Council of Ha’wiih Forum on Fisheries. The meeting was hosted by the Nuchatlaht Tribe in Campbell River June 10-11. Greene mentioned that the hunt would be guided by a whaling commission that the Makah have assembled.
“They’re going to be the ones with that authority to put together a whaling crew and to carry out that hunt according to our traditions, cultures and protocols,” said Greene on June 11.
These traditions are over 1,000 years older than the United States of America, states the Makah Tribe. In 1855 the tribe signed the Treaty of Neah Bay with the US government, an agreement that ceded thousands of acres of Makah territory to the United States – but retained the Makah’s right to hunt whales.
Over the decades that followed that signing, commercial whaling would deplete many species to the brink of extinction, leading the Makah to cease their hunt in the early 20th century.
“We laid down our harpoons in the late 1920s,” said Greene.
Through the last century countries around the world would ban whale hunting, leading to a widespread moratorium announced by the International Whaling Commission in 1982, which remains in place to this day.
Meanwhile, the population of the Eastern Pacific grey whale has rebounded, growing to an estimated 17,400-21,300, according to the NOAA. The animal was taken off the United States’ endangered species list in 1994, leading the Makah to pursue resuming its whale hunt under US law.
“It’s been difficult to exercise that right for a number of years,” said Greene. “In good faith we chose to work with the United States and obtain a quota from the International Whaling Commission.”
A legal hunt did occur, and on May 17, 1999 the Makah brought in their first grey whale in nearly 80 years. A feast hosting over 3,000 followed, including Nuu-chah-nulth guests from Vancouver Island, with others that came as far as Alaska and Fiji.
Although the US government and International Whaling Commission supported that 1999 hunt, a quarter century of administrative delays would follow for the Makah. In 2002 a federal court ruled that the tribe needs a waiver under the existing whaling moratorium, which was finally granted in 2024. This allows the Makah to harvest up to 25 Eastern Pacific grey whales over a 10-year period. The waiver requires that the initial approach to the whale be made in a traditional dugout canoe carrying a harpoon person. Support boats are to be available carrying a Makah member bearing a high-power rifle to dispatch the whale.
“The use of modern technologies (e.g., support vessel, rifle) will help ensure that the hunt is humane by reducing the time to death over using traditional measures,” reads a statement from a NOAA report, noting that the hunt is to take place outside the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Now the tribe awaits a permit from NOAA Fisheries, which is expected any day now.
“We’ll go through these administrative burdens to be able to exercise what’s ours,” said Greene. “For thousands of years we stewarded that resource and took care of it. It provided a great deal for our people - not only as a traditional food, but the amount of respect that we have, the spiritual connection and the reverence that we have for that magnificent creature.”
When and if another grey whale is hunted, Greene extended an invitation to the other Nuu-chah-nulth representatives at the Council of Ha’wiih meeting to celebrate.
Jerry Jack, a hereditary chief with the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation, noted how his people had recently returned the sacred Whalers Washing House to Yuquot, after the contents of the shrine had sat in the storage of a New York museum for over a century.
“One of my late dad’s dreams was to have that whaling shrine brought back home to where it belongs. It’s back home now,” said Jack, who recalled his father explain the purpose of the skulls that are part of the whaling shrine. “Listening to my dad talk, he said, ‘Those skulls are there because those whalers, they said when I die, you cut my head off and you put it down here and I’ll look after you when you go out.’ Our whalers used to go there to prepare themselves spiritually before they went out whaling.”
Before the practice ceased, whaling was central to communities throughout Nuu-chah-nulth territory. During the fisheries meeting Ahousaht representative Kiista, Keith Atleo, described traditions exercised by his great grandparents. His great grandfather’s wife sat in a designated place in her home, praying while her husband was hunting whales.
“She stepped out of that circle for a tiny little bit and our great grandfather got towed up to Alaska,” said Kiista of one particular incident with a whale. “For them to come back, a little bird landed on the canoe. It gave the crew and our great grandfather passage, and told them to start chanting. As the whale was towing them that way, they started doing that chant. It turned them around, and our great grandmother was back in that sacred circle that she was supposed to be in praying. Whaling isn’t just a hunt; it’s a big ceremony.”
-With files from Denise Titian
