Makah Tribe must seek waiver to continue gray whale hunts

SEATTLE – It may take years to determine whether the Makah Tribe may resume hunting gray whales, lawyers say following the latest in a series of federal appeals court rulings.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday for the third time that the federal government must conduct a full environmental assessment and that an exception to the Marine Mammal Protection Act be granted before whaling can resume.

The complex 49-page decision, which included a reference to Herman Melville’s classic 19th century whaling novel “Moby Dick,” leaves the Makahs with the choice of complying with the ruling, a process likely to take years, or appealing to the Supreme Court.

A tribal request for a hearing before the full appeals court was denied, nor may additional petitions for a rehearing be filed in the 9th Circuit.

“The Court of Appeals has been emphatic on this point … and it’s obviously something the American public doesn’t want,” said Michael Markarian, director of the Fund for Animals, part of a coalition that sued to stop the tribe’s hunts off the Olympic Peninsula.