Makah whaling permit: Environmental-impact statement issued

The National Marine Fisheries Service has issued a draft environmental-impact statement assessing a proposal by the Makah Tribe to hunt gray whales.

The document, more than 900 pages long, does not make a recommendation about whether the tribe should be allowed to hunt. That won't happen until after a series of public meetings, where officials will provide an overview of the environmental-impact statement and offer opportunities for comment.

The tribe has a right to whaling under a treaty with the United States, and killed its first whale in 70 years in 1999, but it must get a permit to legally hunt. The Makah did not have permission to take the whale killed in September by five tribal members.

The environmental-impact statement is one step toward getting the permit. It discusses a harvest of as many as 20 whales in a five-year period with restrictions on the timing and locations in the Strait of Juan de Fuca near the reservation at Neah Bay, and alternatives to the proposal.

The comment period closes July 8.

Two public meetings in Washington are scheduled:

• May 28 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., Vern Burton Memorial Community Center, 308 East Fourth St., Port Angeles.

• June 2, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., Lake Union Park Armory, Great Hall, 860 Terry Ave. N., Seattle.