[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 97 (Thursday, June 27, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H7102-H7103]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE GRAY WHALE SHOULD BE PROTECTED, NOT HUNTED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington [Mr. Metcalf] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. METCALF: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that the Makah 
Tribe's proposal to hunt five gray whales a year in the Pacific 
Northwest has been put on hold for at least 1 year. It is my hope that 
it will eventually be put on hold permanently.
  Today, the Clinton administration's delegation to the International 
Whaling Commission meeting in Aberdeen, Scotland withdrew its request 
for Makah whaling rights, but has indicated it will renew the request 
at the IWC meeting next year.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly believe that Congress needs to hold public 
hearings, so we can give the Clinton administration direction on this 
issue.
  Opposition to this proposal cuts across ideological and political 
lines. Environmentalists, Republicans, Democrats, and even seven Makah 
elders question the tribe's need to renew whaling.
  Yesterday, my distinguished colleague from the other side of the 
aisle, Mr. Miller of California, joined with me in introducing a 
resolution in the Resources Committee opposing the Clinton 
administration's support for the gray whale hunt. The resolution passed 
unanimously.
  Let me give some background on this issue.
  For centuries, the Makah Indians, who live on the Olympic Peninsula, 
hunted the gray whales that migrated past their villages. Seventy years 
ago, the hunts were abandoned when the whale population plummeted.
  Only 2 years ago, gray whales were removed from the endangered 
species list, and since that time, a number of native groups in both 
the United States and Canada have eyed the hunting of the gray whale as 
a lucrative commercial venture.
  Makah tribal leaders say they want to start hunting the gray whale 
again as a way of reviving their culture. They insist that the whales 
would be used for ceremonial and subsistence purposes--but they have 
also reserved the right to commercial whaling in the future.
  In fact, seven elders of the Makah Tribe strongly oppose the 
proposal. They question the need for resuming the hunting of gray 
whales, and some of them have questioned the motives of the tribal 
officials making the request, fearing the hunt will become a commercial 
enterprise.
  According to the June 19 edition of the Seattle Post Intelligencer, 
one gray whale could fetch as much as $1 million in Japan. Norwegian 
whaling interests have offered the tribe harpoons and a boat.
  Another factor is that 13 native groups in Canada have already 
indicated their intention to resume whaling if the Makah Tribe is given 
a green light by the IWC. The Makah Tribal leaders say they want to 
kill only five whales a year, but if they start, how many more would be 
taken by other native groups? Where would it stop, once it started?
  In addition to supporting the Makah request, the U.S. delegation to 
the IWC also supported a request by Russia to allow whaling of the

[[Page H7103]]

endangered bowhead whale by a native group. Meanwhile, that same 
delegation opposed Japan's request for a small-scale whale hunt for 
scientific research. Mr. Speaker, it is plainly clear the Clinton 
administration has no real whaling policy.
  This lack of a coherent policy is why we definitely need to hold 
congressional hearings on the Clinton administration's support of 
renewing commercial whaling under the guise of Native American hunting 
rights.
  As a member of the Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans Subcommittee and 
the Subcommittee on Native American and Insular Affairs, I intend to do 
everything in my power to stop this tragedy before it gets started.
  I would like to close by quoting from an editorial which appeared in 
the June 23 Seattle Times:

       By supporting the Makah bid to the IWC, the U.S. sets up an 
     untenable double standard--Native American whaling is 
     legitimate but Japanese whaling is not. It will get worse; 
     tribes from Washington to the Bering Sea are sharpening their 
     harpoons, waiting for the Makahs to get the go-ahead.

  The Seattle Times editorial continues:

       As creatures that routinely migrate the globe, whales 
     demand a coherent and consistent international policy. If the 
     world community approves the Makahs' whale hunt, then Japan 
     deserves the same. But the long, grim history of commercial 
     whaling points to a tougher response: No more harpoons. 
     Whales are for watching.

  Mr. Speaker, I have the good fortune occasionally to observe gray 
whales from my home on Whidbey Island. The Gray Whale should be 
protected, not hunted.

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