April 21, 2000 - Neah Bay, Washington, USA

Whale Hunt Must Be Halted While U.S.Coast Guard Actions Investigated

Boats rammed, activists injured by USCG vessels as whale is harpooned

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society joins other whale activists in calling for the immediate suspension of the Makah Indian tribe's whale hunting agreement with the US government while the aggressive actions of the US Coast Guard at the site of the hunt are investigated.

A Coast Guard vessel struck a jet ski outside Neah Bay, Washington, this morning, running over the vessel and leaving activist Erin Abbott in the water for several minutes before picking her up. Abbott was medi-vacd to Olympic Memorial hospital with a shoulder injury.

Abbott was maneuvering between the hunters and the whale, and effectively prevented a lethal harpoon strike on a Gray whale. On Monday, the Coast Guard repeatedly rammed and seized a World Whale Police vessel. Crewmember Julie Woodyer, a director of the Vancouver Humane Society, was thrown to the deck. She was treated for back pain at a local hospital and released.

The Coast Guard has imposed a $250,000 fine and six years in prison for violations of a 500-yard "exclusion zone" around the hunters by activists attempting to prevent the killing of whales. Several activists have been arrested for violating the zone and their vessels seized.

Contrary to early media reports, the whale Abbott was protecting was not killed. The harpoon came out and the whale escaped before hunters were able to bring their customized .50-caliber rifle to bear. After running over Abbott and her jet ski, the Coast Guard radioed an Ocean Defense International vessel on the scene that they intended "to be more aggressive" in enforcing the exclusion zone, reported ODI crewmember Tami-Drake Miller.

"The Coast Guard needs to brought under control," said Sea Shepherd president Paul Watson. "Their determination to enforce an illegal hunt and help the Makah kill whales has escalated to the point of injuring activists on the water. The hunt must be suspended immediately and a full investigation of the USCG's actions initiated."

The US Department of Commerce obtained an aboriginal Gray whale quota from the International Whaling Commission in 1997, but avoided a ruling on the Makah's eligibility to hunt under the conditions of aboriginal subsistence whaling as determined by the IWC. The US Administration's unilateral assignment of the quota to the Makah without the consent of the IWC constitutes a violation of international conservation law.