Whalers of the Cape

by Milt Lum

On May 17, 1999, eight Makah men successfully completed a whale hunt from the Hummingbird, a traditional canoe built for this purpose. Twelve hours later, the whale was brought to the village of Neah Bay, where hundreds had gathered to assist in beaching the whale and celebrating the first successful hunt by the Makah nation in 70 years. Although it was a momentous occasion for the Makah, the hunt was opposed and decried by many who viewed the hunt as unnecessary and an affront to the prevailing norms. The rhetoric generated by those opposing the hunt obscured the facts of why the Makah sought permission to conduct the hunt and why the International Whaling Commission consented.

The Makah and other First Nations tribes on Vancouver Island constitute a group called the Whaling People, who had hunted whales for subsistence in the centuries before they encountered non-Natives in the eighteenth century. Dependent on the bounty of the ocean, they had became skilled hunters as they journeyed from the whale calving grounds in the south to their feeding grounds up north. They relied on the constancy of the whales’ seasonal migratory path which brought them closer to shore. Their canoes were constructed to be fast enough to pursue and sturdy enough to retrieve the large carcasses in the waters near their villages. Their harvesting of these sea mammals was always enough to sustain their village and those surrounding them. The Whaling People thrived.

Their legends were replete with whale stories, and their religious practices acknowledged the bounty of the oceans. They developed rituals preparing their minds and bodies to be worthy adversaries of these gigantic sea mammals, and they never lost sight of the fact that each whale killed was a gift for which they expressed thanks.

On the other side of the continent, whales were hunted as a commodity to generate wealth. Whales were prized for their oil, initially as fuel for lamps and, during the early years of the industrial revolution, as a lubricant for machinery. Over two centuries, this profit-driven industry brought the global whale population to near extinction. The International Whaling Commission was established in 1946 to “provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.” However, its efforts to curtail the avarice of the industry were piecemeal and ineffective until a total ban was enforced on all commercial whaling in 1987.

The Whaling People felt the effects of commercial whaling before the formation of whaling commission. The First Nations whalers in Canada stopped whaling in the traditional form in the first decade of the1900’s, and the Makah ceased subsistence and commercial whale hunting in 1928.

The Makah lifestyle had been changing in the last two centuries. With each incursion of settlers to the Pacific Northwest, the Makah found their traditional hunting grounds – the maritime regions around Cape Flattery and the Strait of Juan de Fuca – less fruitful. Commercial fishing for halibut and salmon exploited resources in their traditional areas, and federal regulatory statues imposed limits on their harvests. Though the treaty of Neah Bay signed in 1855 with the governor of the Oregon Territory, Isaac Stevens, guaranteed fishing and whaling rights to the Makah, it remained for the Boldt decision in 1979 to guarantee access to their quota of the dwindling harvests from the sea.

Complying with the treaty of Neah Bay, the Makah resided on Cape Flattery under the supervision of the federal government, which unsuccessfully attempted to convert them to an agrarian subsistence lifestyle. Smallpox, influenza and malaria decimated their ranks and reduced five major villages to one. In 1920 they moved from Ozette to their present home in Neah Bay so that their children could attend school. Reduced to dependence on the federal government, the Whale People struggled against significant odds to retain their dignity.

The Ozette archeological site uncovered during the period 1970-1981 reaffirmed to the world and to the current generation of Makah that whaling had been an essential part of their culture. (Ozette - Pompeii of the West. plvoice.org February, 2024). They became invested in preserving their traditions as both guardians of their ancestral remains as well as the practices which defined them. The federal government removed gray whales from the endangered list in 1994, and the tribal council petitioned the IWC for a whaling quota. In 1997 they were granted a quota of five whales.

The success of the 1999 hunt has yet to be repeated, as the Makah have been stymied by numerous court challenges by animal rights and environmental groups which are still being dealt with in the judicial system. The delays have not diminished the Makah’s interest in the next hunt. Memories of the first hunt remain as the next generation hones their paddling and harpooning skills to be ready. There is a renewed interest in learning the language to repeat the tales of their grandparents.

At the same time, the Whaling People have become advocates for preserving the ocean home of the whales against the effects of warming seas, pollution and overfishing. Hunting the whale brings them closer to who they once were. Once again, the Whaling People look upon the whale as a touchstone to their past and a guide to their future.