A "Whale" of a Problem: Indigenous Tradition vs. Ecological Taboo

In 1999, the Makah hunted their first gray whale in over seventy years. Ever since that day in mid-May, the Makah Indian Reservation-located at the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula at the westernmost point of the continental U.S. in Washington State-has been torn between traditional tribal members asserting their indigenous rights and environmental activists criticizing the trespassing against an ecological taboo. Ironically, the same ecologically minded groups who had helped many Native tribes voice their concerns over outside, non-Native interference (in issues such as mining, drilling, waste dumps, and nuclear power plants) are now considered the outside interference. While traditional Makah are determined to fight for their ancestral whaling rights, conservationists and animal activists are determined to defend the ones who cannot defend themselves. Much seems unclear in this conflict; one issue, however, has become apparent beyond doubt: the environmental image of Native peoples deserves reconsideration.