NEAH BAY, Washington -- Almost a quarter of a century after their
anti-whaling exploits captivated the world, several founders of Greenpeace will take to
the seas again today to stop a whales hunt virtually in their back yard.
But this time, they are sailing under the banner of Canadian Paul Watson's Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society, members of whose ecoguerrilla movement have confronted whalers
around the globe and who is poised to disrupt a controversial hunt by Washington State's
Makah Indians.
In an interview from Neah Bay, where his flotilla is waiting just offshore, Capt.
Watson, 47, said that rather than resort to ramming or sinking the hunters' dugout whaling
canoe, he is planning to use gentler tactics. He plans to broadcast recordings of
predatory killer whales near shore to frighten the grey whales out into deeper waters and
away from the whalers.
``We want to convince (the whales) this is a dangerous place to be,'' he said.
Capt. Watson was a member of the Greenpeace expedition that challenged the Soviet
whaling fleet off California in 1975. Many say the film footage of a harpoon sailing past
the heads of the Greenpeace protesters in their inflatable craft galvanized the
anti-whaling movement.
Capt. Watson said witnessing that hunt ``was the experience that changed my life
forever.'' He said he was profoundly moved by the death of a harpooned sperm whale. ``I
saw pity in its eye for our kind.''
Today, as leader of the Los-Angeles-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Capt.
Watson has come full circle, doing battle against whalers on the Olympic Peninsula, just
20 kilometres south of Vancouver Island.
``I never thought I'd come back here, right to my own back yard,'' he said. He is
being joined on this expedition by three other founding members of Greenpeace: Rod
Marining, Bob Hunter and Lyle Thurston.
Mr. Marining argued that the Makah should not renew whaling for cultural reasons any
more than they should return to the practice of taking slaves. And while the Makah
plan to take no more than five grey whales this year for subsistence and cultural reasons,
the protesters' concern is that the hunt will spread to other whaling nations.
``I'm sad,'' Mr. Marining said. ``This is an opening up of commercial whaling. Japan
will say it has 2,000 years of written whaling history. (They'll say,) `Why not us, too?'
''
Jerry Jack, a land-claims researcher for the 6,000-member Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council
on the west coast of Vancouver Island, confirmed that his people are seeking the right to
hunt whales for subsistence and commercial purposes.
He said that right would include the sale of whale meat for food and bones to artists,
arguing that coastal natives bartered whale oil with other tribes before the arrival of
Europeans. ``That's our position,'' he said. ``We'll negotiate to have it put in
(the land claims). It's the aboriginal right, and nobody has any business telling us what
we should do with our whales.''
Mr. Jack said the Nuu-Chah-Nulth people are closely related to the Makah: They speak
the same language, are inter-related through marriage and share cultural practices.
``We fully support the Makah,'' he said. ``We're the same nation.'' Makah leaders
remained tight-lipped yesterday about exactly when they would begin their hunt for up to
five gray wales, but are in a legal position to start any time.
Makah tribal councillor Hubert Markishtum said his people are unconcerned about the
anti-whaling vessels. ``We knew it was coming. Nobody is worried.'' Capt. Watson's
flotilla includes the 54-metre, ocean-blue mother ship Sea Shepherd, formerly a Norwegian
research vessel; Sirenian, a 29-metre black boat formerly used by the U.S. Coast Guard; a
two-person submarine formerly of the Norwegian navy that has been painted to resemble a
killer whale; and a half-dozen power boats and inflatable craft stored on the decks of the
larger vessels.
Capt. Watson said his crew of 22 is made up mostly of volunteers from Canada, the U.S.,
Britain, Brazil, Israel, Germany, France and Norway. Among those on board is Capt.
Watson's partner and campaign organizer, Lisa Distefano, 35, originally from North
Carolina, who joined the Sea Shepherd society in 1992.
``Paul was my hero ever since I was a little girl,'' she said. ``He inspired me to act
-- and he has ever since.'' The Sea Shepherd society boasts 35,000 members worldwide.
The Gray Whale Hunt
A U.S. native band living near Vancouver Island can start hunting whales today.
The hunters: The Makah tribe of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula area.
The quarry: The Makah have U.S. treaty rights and permission from International Whaling
Commission to kill five gray whales a year over next four years.
The hunt: The Makah will pursue the whales in dugout canoe, then harpoon the mammals
before finishing the job with a .50-calibre anti-tank rifle.
