[just in time for valentine's day - Will] ----- forwarded message ----- Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 20:20:43 +0100 From: info <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Urgent appeal to get comments in by 2/16 ----- forwarded message ----- Subject: [EF!] Urgent appeal to get comments in by 2/16 Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 11:11:47 -0800 From: "Dian Hardy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Help Stop Government's Efforts to Resume Whaling by the Makah Tribe Despite overwhelming national and international opposistion, the U.S. government is aiding the Makah tribe of northwest Washington in its efforts to resume whaling. In 1999, the Makah tribe brutally harpooned and slaughtered its first gray whale in nearly 80 years under a U.S. government approved process that was subsequently deemed illegal by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Far from teaching the government a lesson, it has responded to the court's order by publishing a new Draft Environmental Assessment which contains many of the same significant inadequacies that were in its original Environmental Assessment. It is clear that the U.S. government is only interested in facilitating whaling by the Makah regardless of the short or long-term environmental impacts associated with this killing and in complete disregard for the interests of the majority of Americans who strongly oppose whaling. The Draft Environmental Assessment is woefully inadequate. It fails to evaluate the documented decline in gray whale food supplies in the Bering Sea, to analyze the impact of global warming on the quantity and quality of gray whale habitat, to properly consider the impact of whaling on resident gray whales in the northwest Washington area, ignores public safety threats associated with the use of a military-style 50 caliber rifle to kill whales, to consider the significance of the precedence caused by Makah whaling, and otherwise ignores compelling evidence which supports a ban on whale hunting. It is imperative that anyone who cares about whales take a few minutes to prepare a letter to the National Marine Fisheries Service opposing the resumption of whaling by the Makah tribe. Send your letter to: Ms. Cathy E. Campbell NOAA/NMFS Office of Protected Resources 13th Floor 1315 East-West Highway Silver Spring, MD 20910 Fax: (301) 713-0376 Your letter must be received by the NMFS on or before February 16, 2001 to be considered. The NMFS will not consider letters sent via electronic mail. In preparing your letter, please consider making the following points. Or, feel free to use the sample letter provided below and adapt it into your own words. * The Draft Environmental Assessment is entirely inadequate failing to justify the purpose and need for the action, disclose critical information about the environmental impacts of whaling, and avoiding any comprehensive and legally required evaluation of the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of the action on the gray whale population. * The government has ignored evidence of a decline in gray whale food supplies, the adverse impact of global warming on the quality and quantity of gray whale habitat, and has ignored a significant increase in gray whale mortalities and decrease in gray whale calf production documented in 1999. * The government has failed to disclose critical information about the environmental impacts of whaling by the Makah, the precedent that such whaling could set for other native groups to resume whaling, and critical legal information, thereby preventing the public from understanding the environmental consequences of this action and preparing substantive and informed public comment. * Tell the government that you support Alternative 4 - the no action, no whaling alternative. Thank you for helping to stop the resumption of whaling by the Makah tribe. Please encourage your friends, family, colleagues, and associates to help stop the slaughter as well. ========================== Sample Letter: February ___, 2001 Ms. Cathy E. Campbell NOAA/NMFS Office of Protected Resources 13th Floor 1315 East-West Highway Silver Spring, MD 20910 Dear Ms. Campbell: I am writing to express my unalterable opposition to the U.S. government's ongoing efforts to facilitate a resumption in whaling by the Makah tribe in northwest Washington. As scientists learn more about the substantial intelligence and sentience of whales, including the gray whale, it is appalling that the government would be engaged in efforts to allow the Makah to slaughter these magnificent animals. The government's Draft Environmental Assessment is woefully inadequate and contains many of the same deficiencies as were found in its original Environmental Assessment published in 1997. The government has failed to explain how the Makah meet U.S. and International Whaling Commission regulations pertaining to aboriginal subsistence whaling. It is clear from the evidence, in fact, that the Makah cannot meet this definition as they can demonstrate no continued traditional dependence on whaling and because whaling is not essential to meet the tribe's nutritional or subsistence needs. The government has also completely failed to discuss the declining status of the gray whale food supplies and the impact of global warming on the quality and quantity of gray whale habitat. Furthermore, the government has apparently elected to ignore the significant increase in gray whale mortality and decrease in gray whale births in 1999 which may signal trouble for the future of the gray whale. Finally, the government fails to discuss the impact of whaling on individual whales. I don't believe that the eight minutes that it allegedly took the Makah to kill the gray whale in 1999 was at all humane and the suffering caused by such killing must be considered by the government. I also am concerned about the precedent that Makah whaling may set for additional whaling by other native groups and, ultimately, to a worldwide resumption of whaling. Considering what the world's whale species have been subject to in the past and the known intelligence and sentience of these creatures, there is no justification for whaling by a single country or by a single native group. While the government may be convinced that the Makah have no commercial interest in whaling, I believe that both the Makah and the government are using the aboriginal needs argument as a precursor to the eventual decision to permit the Makah to engage in whaling for commercial purposes. For all of these reasons, I strongly support Alternative 4 - the no-kill/no whaling option. I strongly encourage the government to adopt alternative 4 as its final resolution of this issue to protect the gray whale as is consistent with my interests and the interests of the majority of Americans. Sincerely, ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor For more information check out the Hayduke Rocks! web site: http://www.efmedia.org
