In a simmering dispute that ended with a scuffle and arrests, angry Makah Indians pelted a protest boat with rocks as the two sides bickered over a tribal plan to hunt gray whales. Four protesters were arrested by tribal police following a confrontation that began when they stepped onto Makah land Sunday. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society official Lisa Distefano, group photographer Jan Cook of Seattle, and members Matahil Lawson of British Columbia and Ken Nichols of Hawaii were arrested on trespassing charges. They were turned over to the Clallam County Sheriff's Department and released after making statements. It was unclear whether charges will be filed.
People can only take so much.
The Makah hope to kill a gray whale this fall, reviving a centuries-old whaling tradition. The tribe stopped whaling in the 1920s, after commercial whaling decimated the gray-whale population. The Makah have received international sanction and federal support for a plan to take 20 whales through 2002, a maximum of five per year. Sea Shepherd contends the hunt is illegal and will lead to wholesale commercial whaling on a global scale. The environmentalists have been anchored offshore here for more than a month.