Makah Indian Reservation

The Makah Tribe has formally requested permission to resume its traditional whale hunt this July. A permit application is out for public comment.

The annual festival marks the anniversary of voting rights for Makah tribal members, which they celebrate with a packed weekend of cultural displays.

After an extended — and unprecedented process — NOAA Fisheries has granted the Makah tribe’s request for a waiver under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The tribe hopes to exercise their treaty right to whaling next spring.

Another key deadline has nearly passed in the Makah Tribe’s request to resume its hunt for gray whales, by getting a waiver under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Here are the latest developments.

The Makah tribe is getting closer to reviving a traditional whale hunt. The final Environmental Impact Statement on their request recommends granting the waiver, allowing for a limited hunt off the west coast of Washington state.

A final decision on the Makah whale hunt was expected from the head of NOAA Fisheries by the end of June. An administrative law judge recommended approval two years ago, but the agency has still not released its final environmental impact statement.

The Seattle Public Library digitized approximately 800 new images this year, more than doubling the size of its historical Northwest Photograph Collection. From McNeil Island Penitentiary to the Coulee Dam to Neah Bay, photos from 1920-1949 demonstrate the long history of regional issues that KNKX Public Radio and its contributors report on to this day.

A long-awaited decision on the Makah tribe’s application to conduct a whale hunt will come within a year, according to federal regulators with NOAA Fisheries who issued a supplemental environmental impact statement on July 1. The supplemental EIS includes a new preferred alternative that the agency is recommending for approval.

KNKX environment reporter Bellamy Pailthorp was one of the first to visit the Makah Indian Reservation as it reopens to outsiders after two years due to the pandemic.

The remote Makah Tribal Nation in Northwest Washington took swift and decisive action to protect its people from COVID-19. Two years later, the tribe has finally begun letting outsiders in.