> Tribal trial angers animal advocates
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> By Jim Casey Peninsula Daily News

> WASHINGTON, D.C. — It's not just the one whale that died off Neah Bay
> on Sept. 8.

> It's not even the maximum five whales the Makah propose to kill
> annually if they receive a waiver from the federal Marine Mammal
> Protection Act.

> It's the international consequences of the tribe's return to whaling,
> Naomi Rose said Thursday from her office at the Humane Society of the
> United States.

> "If it was just about five whales, my organization probably would have
> had different priorities," she said.

> Rose, a biologist, was putting a larger frame around her reaction to
> the Makah Tribal Court's deferred prosecution of illegal whale hunters
> on Wednesday.

> Each of the five men paid $20 in court costs, with charges to be
> dropped if they meet conditions a federal magistrate will outline June
> 30 in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.

> Fears runaway whaling
> Rose fears this sequence of events:

> # The National Marine Fisheries Service, which has released its draft
> environmental impact statement on the Makah whale hunt proposal,
> grants a waiver to permit whaling.

> # Fisheries then turns over supervision of the whale hunts to the
> tribe.

> # A poorly managed hunt sanctioned by the United States reverberates
> for other whaling nations, including Japan, that want to increase
> their quota of whales.

> "I'm very disappointed in the trial," she said.

> "It's nowhere near a good dry run for how they would manage the hunt.
> It wasn't possible for them to handle at any level.

> "What the Makah are attempting to do is not a local matter.

> "It is an international matter, not just because they are a sovereign
> nation, but because they are U.S. citizens."

> Too few impartial people
> The Tribal Court attempted to hold a jury trial but couldn't find
> enough impartial people.

> Rose said she appreciated the difficulty of finding fair jurors in a
> small community like Neah Bay, where friendships and family ties bind
> the village together like a snarled ball of yarn.

> "I respect their treaty rights," she said.

> "But this is not just a matter of treaty rights. This is not happening
> in a vacuum."

> In a prepared statement Thursday, the tribe said the lack of jurors
> had not led to the deferred prosecution.

> "There is no truth to press accounts that the tribal prosecution was
> dismissed because the Tribal Court could not impanel a jury," the
> statement said.

> "The deferred prosecution agreement was reached with the court prior
> to the conclusion of jury selection."

> Rose also said the tribe has no claim to subsistence whaling, the need
> for whale products in their diet — an opinion vociferously rebutted by
> tribal leaders and the hunters.

> "The Makah have survived culturally and physically all the years they
> haven't been whaling," she said of the nearly nine decades during
> which the tribe killed only one whale legally — nine years ago come
> Saturday.

> Rather, the tribe seeks to go "cultural whaling" to revive ancient
> folkways and tribal hierarchy, she said.

> 'Shock and dismay'
> Not far from Humane Society headquarters, Susan Millward of the Animal
> Welfare Institute said the tribal trial had produced "shock and
> dismay."

> "Shock that what has actually happened is so far removed from the
> stand the tribe took [in September], and dismay that the life of the
> whale is worth so little."

> The day following the illegal hunt, the Makah Tribal Council condemned
> it and promised to prosecute the five men — Frankie Gonzales, Wayne
> Johnson, Andy Noel, Theron Parker and William Secor Sr.

> "We just didn't expect they would be let off so easily," Millward
> said.

> "Twenty dollars for the life of that whale is appalling."

> Millward's associate, D.J. Shubert, had been away from the institute
> and hadn't heard about the tribal trial until he learned of it
> Thursday from Peninsula Daily News.

> "Wow, that's very disappointing," he said.

> "That certainly is not an outcome we think is appropriate."

> Three accept plea bargain
> In U.S. District Court, Gonzales, Parker and Secor pleaded guilty
> March 27 to one count each of violating the Marine Mammal Protection
> Act.

> As part of their plea agreement, they received a recommendation from
> Assistant U.S. Attorney James Oesterle that they serve no jail time,
> although each faces a fine up to $100,000 and five years' probation.

> Johnson and Noel turned down the plea bargain and were found guilty in
> a quick bench trial April 7.

> They face sentences of up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine on
> each of two counts, conspiring to violate and violating the marine
> mammal act.

> Shubert said U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Kelley Arnold shouldn't honor
> the no-prison bargain.

> "It's absolutely crucial that this federal judge not agree with
> whatever arrangements come from the U.S. Attorney's office," he said.

> Demands prison sentences
> "Jail time is appropriate in this case. They were intentional in their
> actions.

> "There's got to be a deterrent here. This is not a speeding ticket.
> This is not a parking ticket.

> "These are five individuals who went out to kill a protected marine
> mammal."

> Makah Tribal Chairman Micah McCarty did not return phone calls
> requesting comment from the Peninsula Daily News.

> Meanwhile, the National Marine Fisheries Service continues its plans
> for public meetings on the draft environmental impact statement,
> including one from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. May 28 in the Vern Burton
> Center, 208 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.

> The Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Makah Whale
> Hunt can be viewed:

> # On the Web atwww.nwr.noaa.gov. Click on the "Makah DEIS Released"
> link.

> # On a compact disc available by phoning Steve Stone at the National
> Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 503-231-2317, or e-mailing him
> at steve.st...@noaa.gov.

> # At all branches of the North Olympic Library System: Clallam Bay,
> 16990 state Highway 112; Forks, 171 S. Forks Ave.; Port Angeles,
> Lauridsen Boulevard at Peabody Street; Sequim, 630 N. Sequim Ave.

> ________
> Reporter Jim Casey can be reached at 360-417-3538 or at
> jim.ca...@peninsuladailynews.com.