Hi everyone,

A year or so ago we had a discussion on the list about the ethics and
politics of whaling.  (Steve Bissell originally posted a link to an article
that can be found in the list archives; another excellent starting point is
Alx Dark's article at <http://conbio.rice.edu/nae/cases/makah/index.html>.

I bring this topic up again partly to follow up on our discussions about
animal rights and human civil rights a couple of weeks ago, but also
because there is a new book out about the Makah whaling controversy that
list members may be interested in.  Written by Robert Sullivan, _A Whale
Hunt_ is the author's first-person account of accompanying the Makah
whalers for two years during the height of the controversy.

I haven't made my way very far into the book, but from what I can gather so
far, certain environmentalists and animals rights protestors do not come
out looking very good.  For example, Sullivan's book likely reinforces some
of the points made by Alx Dark above, particularly Dark's claims that the
"eco-colonialist" rhetoric of anti-hunt activists constituted a form of
racist opposition to the Makah's efforts to reinstate the hunt (see
especially http://conbio.rice.edu/nae/cases/makah/m6.html at above).

In particular, Paul Watson of the Sea Shepard Society doesn't come out
looking so good (at least not so far).  Watson is quoted early in the book
as saying:  "The real reason for this initiative by the Makah is because
they know very well that whale meat goes for $80 per kilo in Japan, and
that one of those whales is worth close to one million dollars. . . . what
they have their mind set on here is a commercial whaling operation" . . . a
point repeatedly denied by the Makah.  Apparently, Watson was concerned
enough about how he and his organization are treated in the book that he
chose to review the book himself on the amazon.com web page for the book,
which is kind of interesting in and of itself (at:
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684864339/qid=980436642/sr=2-1/ref=sc_b
_1/104-3074238-0018345>) .

Anyway, I bring the subject up again because I'm not convinced that Steve
B.'s point about animal rights and civil rights stemming from the Colorado
Wildlife Commission incident was effectively explored here on the list--we
seem to have gotten a bit sidetracked onto the topic of Roderick Nash's
book.  But I also think the Sullivan book looks interesting and that it can
contribute to our understanding of the Makah whaling controversy.

Jim T.

ps. that full cite is: Sullivan, Robert. _A Whale Hunt: 2 Years on the
Olympic Peninsula with the Makah and Their Canoe_. New York: Scribner, 2000.