Hunting for trouble in the path of whales

Northwest Indian tribes spent the latter part of the 20th century arguing that, far from being the dusty relics of another time, treaty rights were living documents, vested with vital legal imperatives.

The rule of law and legal process must be respected. That cuts both ways. The test will be how the Makah Nation treats an illegal gray whale hunt conducted Saturday morning east of Neah Bay.

The hunt was apparently as spontaneous as it was colossally dumb. Without the knowledge or approval of tribal leaders or tribal whaling authorities, five men harpooned and then blasted away at a whale, mortally wounding the aquatic mammal, which died and sank below hundreds of feet of water 12 hours later.

Fishermen alerted the U.S. Coast Guard, which interceded and eventually turned the tribal members over to reservation law enforcement. The five men's brazen and essentially arrogant and selfish act may have mortally wounded something else: the tribe's political credibility.

The Makah's last federally sanctioned hunt was in 1999, after a 70-year hiatus. Many observers, including this editorial page, embraced the cultural significance of the event and supported the spiritual tonic the hunt represented for the tribe.

Subsequent legal challenges by environmental interests imposed new restrictions on Makah whaling. The tribe had been trolling the halls of power in the other Washington looking for an administrative exemption or congressional relief to resume the hunt.

With Saturday's hunt, the tribe shot a large-bore hole in its own foot and lobbying efforts. There was nothing traditional about last weekend's hunt, but it may be the last for a long, long time.

Everyone will be watching the tribe and evaluating its respect for the rule of law before anyone else will commit to what happens next.

In the environmentally sensitive Northwest, hunting whales is a topic that makes politicians nervous. And right now, they are diving for cover.