Makah Tribe Whaling

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Makah Tribe Whaling: Is It a Moral Issue For All To Judge No it is not appropriate for nonmembers of the Makah tribe to evaluate the morality of the Makah Whale hunt. Morality is something that is formed as part of cultural upbringing, it is influenced by your community. Different cultures have different beliefs and morals. It is unfair for someone of a different background, different culture based on where they were brought up to judge another’s moral beliefs. What a nonmember can do is do research and give feedback to a tribe member as to help influence the best choice for the tribe as they are trying to make this difficult decision. The Makah live on a reservation in Washington State. They have their own elected tribal counsel, however they must follow American law. The Makah operate like a small country. They have their own government which makes laws and their own policeman. “The Makah tribe is the only Native American tribe whose treaties with the US governmentinclude whaling rights” (Redish , and Lewis ). The Makah were known for using all parts of the grey whales they hunted. They ate the meat and the skin and used other miscellaneous parts for ropes and bags. They also used whale oil as fuel. The Whale hunt was a very large part of their culture. The men would spend months preparing for the hunt by working on their canoes and making tarpons. During the time period in the early 1900’s when the Makah’s voluntarily stopped whaling due to the low population, the whaling laws went through a huge overhaul. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) was created to regulate whaling in the US. In addition several US environmental laws were passed; Whaling Convention Act (WCA), Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Additionally, the grey was named to the Endangered Species

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