For hundreds of centuries, the Makah Indians have

revolved their culture and traditions around whaling. It

has been part of their tradition as long as the tribe has

ever existed. In the early part of this century the Makah

voluntarily abandoned the whale hunt in recognition of the

precarious situation of the gray whale. When the whale

was listed as an endangered species in 1969 the hunt was

officially banned. The Makah were formally forced to give

up whaling. After seventy years, however, the Makah are

once again in a position to whale. They wish to do so on

the basis of the importance of whaling to their traditional culture. This wish, however, is highly controversial. It is has stirred up much dissent among numerous groups including the International Whaling Commission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and numerous animal rights groups. Even the Makah themselves are not fully united on this issue of whaling. This paper examines the importance of the whale hunt to Makah culture and discusses the changing nature of tradition. The question is presented as to whether the Makah are reestablishing

And we hope that resuming whaling will help

tradition or simply pursuing a viable commercial opportunity.

belongs, in the memory. The whale hunt to them is nothing

existed without whale hunting for over seventy years.

http:\www.conbio.rice.edu/nae/docs/makahplan.html

Some common words found in the essay are:
Tribal Council, Makah Indians, Commission Russell, Whaling Commission, Native American, North Alliance, Waatch River, Currently Makah, Thunderbird Russell, Atmospheric Administration, russell 1999, whale hunt, whale hunting, makah whaling, whaling commission, gray whale, traditional culture, makah whaling commission, whale population, makah indian, hunt makah, whale hunt makah, international whaling commission, cetacean society international, gray whale hunting,
Approximate Word count = 2214
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)