FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, October 17, 1997
CONTACT:
D.J. Schubert, 202-588-5206, djschubert@aol.com
Jonathan Lovvorn, 202-588-5206, jrlovvorn@aol.com
Today, in federal district court in Washington, D.C., Congressman Jack Metcalf, The Fund for Animals, Australians for Animals, Breach Marine Protection, a Makah tribal elder, and others filed suit against Commerce Secretary Daley and other government officials to stop the government from permitting the Makah Tribe to slaughter whales. The lawsuit claims that the U.S. government is in violation of several federal environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act and Whaling Convention Act, in its ongoing effort to allow the Makah to resume whaling.
A U.S. government delegation is presently in Monaco at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting to request IWC approval of a quota of gray whales for the Makah which will permit them to kill or maim up to 34 gray whales over the next four years in or near the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Plaintiffs contend that the government, through the National Marine Fisheries Service, has failed to properly evaluate the environmental impacts of this action and that the Makah cannot even qualify for "aboriginal subsistence whaling" under either U.S. or IWC regulations. Congressman Metcalf, a cadre of animal and environmental protection organizations, and several Makah Tribal elders are in Monaco to oppose and defeat the government's proposal.
"The U.S. Government has made a mistake in pursuing this ludicrous proposal," claims Congressman Metcalf. "It is shameful that the United States would endorse a proposal which is not only illegal but which flies in the face of the values, interests, and desires of the majority of U.S. citizens who believe that whales should be protected not persecuted," adds Metcalf.
Opposition to the proposal is not limited to the U.S. but includes individuals and organizations from around the world, including many members of the Makah Tribe. Indeed, out of 71 comments submitted on this proposal to NMFS, 69 were strenously opposed to allowing the Makah to resume whaling.
Alberta Thompson, a Makah Tribal elder who is a plaintiff on the lawsuit is staunchly opposed to her own Tribe's actions and claims that there is no traditional basis or subsistence need for the Makah to resume whaling in 1990s. In her comments to NMFS, Ms. Thompson stated that, "All that remains is the desire to kill. Not for subsistence, we doe not need the whale meat to survive. We have become pawns in the global struggle to resume commercial whaling operations by countries like Norway and Japan. Our culture will be the mask behind which the Japanese and Norwegian whalers will profit."
"Whales are not inanimate objects who are there for human use and exploitation," asserts Sue Arnold, President of Australians for Animals. "These magnificent and highly intelligent animals deserve our compassion, sympathy, and complete protection, not to be chased, harpooned, shot with military rifles, and ultimately cut up into parts for human consumption," states Arnold.
"Whaling is inherently brutal, inhumane, and unethical," adds Dave Smith, Director of Breach Marine Protection, a U.K. based whale protection organization. "If whales die as a result of this proposal then their blood and their immense suffering and pain is on the hands of the Clinton Administration and the federal agency bureaucrats who endorse this brutal slaughter," concludes Smith.
Congressman Metcalf, who traveled to Monaco at his own expense, will participate in a press conference on October 18 in Monaco with musician and songwriter Julian Lennon to express his opposition to the Makah proposal and to deliver a letter, signed by 43 of his Congressional Colleagues asking the IWC to reject this proposal.
