NEAH BAY — The Makah and the U.S. government are seeking a full-panel review of a December decision by a federal appeals court that bars the tribe from hunting gray whales.
And joining their petitions are 23 Indian tribes from the Northwest and Midwest — including the Lower Elwha Klallam and Jamestown S’Klallam tribes of Clallam County — that filed a collective brief this week supporting the Makah in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
If the December decision is overturned in a full-panel review, the Makah could be cleared to whale again.
The petitions come almost three months after a three-judge panel in the 9th Circuit ordered the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service to prepare a full environmental impact statement before the Makah can resume whale hunts.
The panel also said the whale hunt violates the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
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