Makah's fish take angers anglers | Seattle P-I

[Ediacara]

Makah's fish take angers anglers
Governor asks state to look into high chinook catch

By GREG JOHNSTON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Gov. Christine Gregoire, under pressure from sport fishermen, is asking state officials to explain how the Makah Tribe was able to catch 12 times more chinook salmon than anticipated this winter and how to prevent such a discrepancy from happening again.

Fearing that the tribe's catch might impair this summer's recreational salmon fishing, some anglers have contacted Gregoire and other politicians asking why the state Fish and Wildlife Department failed to stop the harvest.

"The governor has asked the director to share with her some answers about how it happened and what the impact might be and what the department plans to do to prevent and mitigate it in the future," Elliot Marks, Gregoire's natural resources adviser, said yesterday.

More at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

[Syncronaut Seven]

1. Damn Indians!

"Never should have given them all that land in the first place." - Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40Th president of the United States and eminent scholar of American history.

[Robin Hood]

2. Wow!! That is stunning.

Did he really say that? I believe that he did. It sounds stupid, just like he was.

[Syncronaut Seven]

5. Link to a similar incident

http://www.indianz.com/News/show.asp?ID=pol/4182001-1c

But not the one I was looking for.

The quote in question occured when Reagan and his wife met with gorbachev and his. In the context of human rights violations Riasa (?) responded to Nancys query about human rights violations in Russia with a question about opression of America's native peoples.

The "Great Communicator" responded with this pearl.

No question where RWR stood on the Indian "problem". I almost miss old Walking Eagle for his demented wit. It was a lot less scary then now.

[Gyre]

3. The Makah have been a problem forever.

They don't give a damn about the land, or the water. They lease their forests to white loggers for clear-cutting, have stupid media saturated events re: returning to their "roots" while killing gray whales with modern artillary, after prolonged legal battles. And when they aren't raping the environment they were "given", they're busy burglarizing the cars that people leave on the trailheads while they do overnight hikes to Ozette or south to the Quillayute river. They do however, have a very neat museum. It's just a bitch to get to since you now have to drive thru a long stretch of stumps and slash.

I also believe they were unique in that (unlike most native American tribes) they took slaves before they had their horns trimmed by the US Calvary after the civil war. In other words, fuck them.

Gyre

[Ediacara]

4. I'm not a big fan of the Makah either

Killing whales while within the confines of a National Marine mammal Sanctuary, should send any human being to jail. Instead, people who were trying to stop the Makah slaughter were arrested for harassing whales, while the very whale they were "harassing" was slaughtered before their very eyes, and the killers were given police protection.

The entire world is against whaling and it is illegal in the United States, yet because of some obtuse rulings, a hereditary clan is allowed to slaughter whales for NO REASON while within a a National Marine Mammal Sanctuary....

[Johnyawl]

6. I'd be a bit more supportive of the Makah's ...

...excersising their ancestral "heritage" of killing whales if they were doing it in the ancestral manner. Having the canoe towed out to the whale by an outboard powered avon, rowing the final 2 yds, throwing a token harpoon, and then shooting the whale with a .50 cal rifle doesn't seem much like it's preserving traditional values and skills.

This whole whale hunt was the brain child and project of a couple of families within the Makah tribe, who basically came up with this grandstanding stunt to consolidate political power within the tribe.

[alarimer]

7. I read a book about this

It was called the Eye of the Whale, I think and was about grey whales and the epic migration they make. The author interviewed several people about the first harvest they made of a gray whale. It turns out that none of the Makah actually know much about utilizing the products from a whale and the whole thing was left to rot. It was pretty much a waste. I am generally in favor of subsistence whaling, as in the case in Alaska where the people actually use what they take. But the Makah have become so far removed from their ancestral roles that they are really no different from people in, say, Seattle. For them it was more about pride and proving some macho point about killing a whale than it was aout actually utilizing what they harvested.

[DiverDave]

8. They have fresh Salmon for sale

when you cant catch them...they "subsist" on the cash, not the fish.
Oh, and a Whale is a Mammal, not a fish.

[natrat]

9. fuck the makah-no excuses-bad people

if all they want is money-open casinos

[alarimer]

10. I am not an idiot- I know a whale is a mammal

I am a marine biologist.

I was merely pointing out the hypocrisy of these people.