A Cross-Discipline Overview of the Environmental Issue
Overview The Makah tribe are traditionally whalers, and maintained the right to whale when they formed treaties with the United States. But they temporarily stopped whaling because the mammals were at risk of extinction. Now, whale populations are on the rise, but for the tribe, obtaining the right to whale again has been far from simple. Lynda V. Mapes, a reporter who specializes in coverage of the environment and Native American tribes, writes in her article “Q&A | Makah whaling rights spring from 1855 treaty” that whaling has been a part of the Makah culture for thousands of years. In their 1855 Treaty of Neah Bay with the United States, when the tribe ceded thousands of acres to the United States, the tribe also maintained the right to hunt whales (Makah). But in the 1920s, the tribe voluntarily suspended their whaling tradition when worldwide hunting made various types of whales endangered. Now the International Whaling Commission has set a quota of five gray whal...