Reporters rushed to Neah Bay in September after hearing that the tribe's first whale hunt in decades was under way. The hunts had stopped in the 1920s, with the world whale population near extinction. But since Oct. 1, when the tribe was officially cleared to hunt, the Makah have yet to venture into the Pacific to search for a whale. Foul weather, inexperience and mechanical problems have conspired to keep harpoon from target. The Makah are trying to re-create a store of lost knowledge.
Some elders remember tasting whale meat as children.
Some of the women were taught how to prepare the meat. Some of the men know how to fashion whaling canoes from tall red cedar. But no one knows how to whale. Traditionally, whaling families mounted their own hunts, with their own secret preparations and sacred songs. Today, there is a pool of 17 men to fill out an eight-man whaling crew.