The Makah Indians, a tribe of 1,500 people living in the Neah Bay on the extreme north western tip of the US west coast, are looking to their roots to keep their community alive and united. They now want to revive their whaling traditions, which they perceive as the backbone of Makah society and culture. On behalf of the Makahs, the US will next year ask the IWC for a quota of 5 grey whales for subsistence and ceremonial purposes.
"We teach culture, language and history in our school. Our children grow up with it .... we are working very hard to keep our society together", says Makah fisheries manager, Dave Sones to the Harpoon. The tribe has just built a traditional long house of hand-split ceder wood - where ceremonies, marriages, feasts and gatherings with other indian communities will take place.
Identity
Sones feels that there is a growing appreciation amongst the youngsters of the
value of having an identity based on one's own culture and history. Being part of
a culture that has an unbroken tradition going hundreds and hundreds of years
back in time is a privilege that not many kids in the US are given, he points out.
Archaeological investigations confirm that Makah people have hunted whales for
at least 2,000 years.
Industrial whaling operations carried out by Europeans and Americans depleted the whale stock the Makahs had been living off for so long, reducing it to a couple of thousand. When the US government finally decided to take conservation measures, the Makahs were also forced to stop their hunt. Now, the stock is back up at what is considered a historically high level, 21 000, and was last year removed from the US Endangered Species List.
"We will be an active player to make sure the grey whale never goes back on the endangered species list," said Makah Fisheries Director Dan Greene in a press release on May 23. "We will make sure that the resource stays healthy. The tribe is the first to recognize the need for harvest limitations ... it is built into our values", Greene says.
Traditions Kept Alive
Even though it is 70 years since the last whale hunt took place, the ceremonies,
the rituals, the songs and the tales have been passed down and kept alive. "The
whaling was an activity that the whole tribe came together on. All the families
and villages worked as one," says Sones. Before the hunt took place their were
rituals to purify the hunters. After the hunt ceremonies were held to celebrate, and
other tribes were invited to take part. The sharing of the meat followed an
intricate and sophisticated, informal system. Different families would get different
parts of the animal. "A whole social structure was built around the hunt", says
Sones. The whales were hunted using 26-foot long ocean-going canoes with a
crew of eight. A hand-held harpoon attached to a rope was thrown at the whale -
and then sealskin floats were tied to the rope in order to tire the whale and help
the hunters to spot it. The harpooner would be the chief of the family. The hunt
could often be a dangerous affair with the whale sometimes overturning a canoe,
so that the crew had to be rescued by the others.
The Makahs also have seal hunting traditions and these were resumed last year. They also take some Californian sea lions. The seal hunt, however, does not have the same cultural and social importance as whaling. "It is an individual hunt", explains Sones. As such, the purification rituals for the hunt, are done individually and separate from the other hunters. Now, only a few of the elders can remember the whale hunt from their childhood. In a press release from the Makah Tribal Council one of the elders, Charlie Peterson, aged 79, states "It gave me a sense of identity.... I would like to see the hunt come back. It's second nature to our children - they need a chance to do it again."
A Healthy Diet
Sones strongly hopes that his children will learn to appreciate whale meat. "Since
we started to buy much of our food in the grocery stores, illnesses like heart
diseases, cancer and diabetes have been introduced to our society. These illnesses
were not common before", says Sones. He believes that the traditional diet of
dried fish, smoked seal meat, whale meat and whale oil, is more healthy. And also
important is the fact that access to whale meat will mean that they will not have
to spend so much money in the grocery stores - thereby strengthening the
economy of their society.
As opposed to many other Indian reservations - but in consistence with the wishes of the tribal elders - the Makah Indians have no desire to turn to casino gambling or cigarette or alcohol sales. They make a living fishing salmon and pacific sable fish, but the unemployment rate is extremely high; - varying from 25 to 50 percent throughout the year. The fish is sold to a local fish plant, but the old system of sharing is still in existence, and fish is given away to family and friends.
The Makah carry out their fishing operations on coastal vessels of 30 to 60 feet in
length. But Sones is uncertain as to whether they will place harpoon guns on
board these boats like the Greenland inuit have done for their hunt of fin whales
and minke whales. No decisions have been made as yet with regard to what
technology will be used. Other options include the old hand harpoon as it was
used traditionally, or a modified version with a grenade on the tip like the ones
used in the Alaskan bowhead hunt. Sones says that there are at least two issues
that have to be taken into consideration. One is the humane killing aspect, the
other their desire to keep their traditions and culture alive. "Ultimately, we would
like to do the whole tradition - at least as one option", says Sones.
"The Makah Indian Tribe's intent to revive it's ancestral practise of whale
hunting deserves
more than knee-jerk condemnation".
Don Hannula, Seatle Times editorial columnist, May 25, 1995
"The International Whaling Commission should reach it's decision on the
Makah's request by spring of next year. And I say, if Canada can send out an
armed flotilla to protect a bunch of flatfish, surely we can get some enforcers over
here to look after our fragile whale population".
Mike Roberts, columnist, The Province, Vancouver, May 25, 1995
"This whale of a debate would be viewed much differently if the popular cry were
"Save the Makahs".
Don Hannula, Seatle Times editorial columnist, May 25, 1995