"Federal officials have not responded to the October deadline for the tribe’s permit for a traditional summer/fall subsistence hunt of eastern North Pacific gray whales, covered by the Makahs’ 10-year waiver under the Marine Mammal Protection Act."
"SEATTLE — Despite the Makah Tribe’s success in getting a waiver to carry out their exclusive treaty right for whaling, the permitting process that had dragged on for over 20 years has now been effectively delayed another year and a half – because of bogged-down federal bureaucracy. The Makah Tribe is the only one in the Lower 48 that has an exclusive treaty right to whaling.
The Makah tribal council applied for the permit in March, in consultation with the whalers and federal regulators at NOAA Fisheries who have been guiding them for years. This after the tribe’s leadership successfully attained a waiver to hunt gray whales under the Marine Mammal Protection Act – a huge accomplishment that the tribe celebrated in June 2024. Getting a permit to hunt was the last hurdle the tribe needed to clear and many observers thought of it as a formality.
All that was left to do before the potential start of a summer hunting season off the coast of their reservation in Neah Bay was for the agency to issue its decision. But this year’s summer season came and went with no notice to the tribe from NOAA.
“We’re committed as a council and a community to get out on the water,” said Timothy J. Greene Sr., Makah Tribe chairman in March this year."
Luna Reyna and Bellamy Pailthorp report for ICT, KNKX, and Underscore Native News November 20, 2025.
Advertisement 
