The U.S. government has put forward a proposal that would let the Makah tribe hunt grey whales off the Washington coast for the first time in 20 years.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the proposal on Tuesday, which would allow the tribe to hunt between one and three Eastern North Pacific grey whales each year over a 10-year period.
"This is a step in the healing direction from my community," said Makah councilman Patrick DePoe, whose tribe is based about 190 kilometres northwest of Seattle along the Olympic Peninsula. The Makah tribe has about 2,800 members, 1,100 of whom still live in the area.
"There's a lot of reference to whales in my community… It's our identity. This is who we are. We've always been known as Makah whalers."
If approved, the whale hunt would be the only of its kind in the mainland U.S. Only tribes in Alaska legally hunt whales as a source of food.
"(The Makah tribe) obviously ceased hunting for many years while grey whales and many other species were listed as endangered and protected," said Michael Milstein of NOAA. "Their population is probably as large as it's ever been."
There are about 27,000 grey whales on the West Coast.
This the closest the tribe has come to federal approval for resuming the whale hunt. Animal welfare advocates have spent decades trying to end whale hunts or stop them from resuming.
"This is big. It's not just big for me, it's big for our community," DePoe said.
The whale hunting proposal still needs to be approved by a judge. A court hearing is scheduled for mid-August, where a judge is expected to make a recommendation back to NOAA for a final decision.
The Makah could apply for permits to begin hunting as early as 2020, if their proposal is approved.
With files from the Associated Press
