Date: Sat, 18 Oct, 1997
Sea Shepherd Releases Congressional Letter of Opposition to Makah Whale Hunt

Congressman Jack Metcalf & 43 Other Members of Congress
Deliver Condemning Letter At IWC Meeting in Monaco

MONACO, The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society held a press conference aboard the 200-foot long vessel Sea Shepherd on Saturday, October 18, 1997. At the conference, U.S. Congressman Jack Metcalf delivered an official letter of objection, signed by 44 members of the United States Congress, condemning a U.S. government-supported proposal by the Makah Tribe of Washington State to resume a controversial Gray whale hunt.

"This bi-partisan letter expresses the voice of 10% of the entire U.S. Congress -- representing about 2,500,000 voting citizens of the United States," says Sea Shepherd's Pacific Northwest Coordinator Michael Kundu, "This should send a profound international message that the people of the U.S. do not want to see any new whale hunts in our coastal waters"

The Sea Shepherd press conference was scheduled to coincide with the beginning of the International Whaling Commission's annual meeting in Monaco, at the end of which the 39-nation body will consider the Makah request, presented to the lWC on behalf of the Makah tribe by a delegation from the United States Department of Commerce.

Sea Shepherd initiated the effort to develop the letter with Metcalf's staff in early 1997. Earlier on the morning of the 18th, Kundu and Sea Shepherd President and founder Captain Paul Watson approached the IWC's Aboriginal Hunting Workshop alongside Congressman Metcalf to officially deliver the letter. The Congressman was allowed to enter the meeting with the caveat that he would not be allowed to speak during the IWC discussions. Sea Shepherd, which has openly criticized the IWC for their lack of enforcement of illegal whaling activities, was excluded from the meeting.

"We have been patrolling Neah Bay for the past two years, accompanying the Gray whales migrating by the Makah reservation on some occasions," adds Captain Watson. "But the delivery of the Congressional letter of condemnation to the International Whaling Commission's meeting in Monaco alongside Congressman Metcalf was certainly the biggest blow to the opportunistic plans of the Makah Tribal Council. The Makah now know how far we are willing to carry the voice of the U.S. public -- and we're prepared to deliver that message again next year, if we have to."

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
International Director Lisa Distefano (310) 301-7325

For Congressman Jack Metcalf
Legislative Assistant Brad Marshall (202) 225-2605



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