The Makah Indian Whaling: Indigenous Right or
             For hundreds of centuries, the Makah Indians have
             revolved their culture and traditions around whaling. It
             has been part of their tradition as long as the tribe has
             ever existed. In the early part of this century the Makah
             voluntarily abandoned the whale hunt in recognition of the
             precarious situation of the gray whale. When the whale
             was listed as an endangered species in 1969 the hunt was
             officially banned. The Makah were formally forced to give
             up whaling. After seventy years, however, the Makah are
             once again in a position to whale. They wish to do so on
             the basis of the importance of whaling to their traditional culture. This wish, however, is highly controversial. It is has stirred up much dissent among numerous groups including the International Whaling Commission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and numerous animal rights groups. Even the Makah themselves are not fully united on this issue of whaling. This paper examines the importance of the whale hunt to Makah culture and discusses the changing nature of tradition. The question is presented as to whether the Makah are reestablishing tradition or simply pursuing a viable commercial opportunity.
             The Makah Indians are indigenous to what is now
             Washington State. Their population is small; only about
             two thousand people are on the tribal rolls (The
             Economist, 1998). Their traditional culture, like all
             indigenous groups, was completely toppled by the arrival
             and eventual dominance of non-Native, European groups to
             this continent during the fifteenth and sixteenth
             centuries. Makah tradition included, as one of its core
             components, many of the same hunting and gathering
             practices employed by other indigenous peoples. Much of
             their livelihood and material culture was based on their
             extensive whale hunting activities. In 1928, recognizing
             the precarious stat...