They want their whale, nd no one's going to tell them they can't have it. His quest is more a search for identity. The Makahs are looking for theirs. They lost it a long time ago with the help of smallpox and the U.S. government. Now they hope to reconnect with a piece of their history in the blubbery folds of a dead whale.
Identity can be mysterious that way.
Many people have their doubts, but I think the tribe is going to do it eventually. But the Makahs will do it, like Melville with his masterpiece, on their own terms and in their own way - fickle batteries and all.