Whale hunting

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.

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.

It’s been nearly two months since a federal administrative law judge issued his recommendation on the Makah Tribe’s request to revive its whale hunt, and comments on his recommendation closed over the weekend. Now the decision is in the hands of a single official at NOAA headquarters in Maryland.

A federal official has issued his recommendation regarding the Makah whale hunt. Judge George G. Jordan, administrative law judge with the U.S. Coast Guard, says he recommends granting the waiver the tribe has requested under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

A little less than a month remains for public comment on a proposal to allow the Makah Indian Tribe to resume its hunt for gray whales.The Makah have been…

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