PORT ANGELES — A public meeting on a draft environmental impact statement evaluating the Makah tribe’s request to resume treaty-based hunting of gray whales is set in Port Angeles this week.
The meeting will be from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St. No registration is required.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries also hosted a public meeting in Seattle on Monday evening.
Comment will be accepted until June 11 on the draft environmental impact statement on the tribe’s request to resume hunting up to five whales annually off the North Olympic Peninsula.
Written comments can be submitted to makah2015deis.wcr@noaa.gov.
The Makah’s last legal whale hunt was in 1999. The tribe has sought a waiver from the Marine Mammal Protection Act since 2004.
The 1,229-page draft study, which was released in March, evaluates several alternatives, including one that would continue to prohibit hunting.
For more information, see http://tinyurl.com/PDN-drafteiswhaling.
The draft also is available at public libraries in Clallam Bay, Forks, Port Angeles and Sequim.
