In a long-awaited ruling, NOAA said Thursday that it will allow the Makah Tribe to resume whaling off its tiny reservation in northwestern Washington state.
While the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits the killing or hunting of whales, NOAA said it had approved a waiver that would permit the tribe to hunt and kill up to 25 Eastern North Pacific gray whales over the next decade.
The decision marked a victory after a protracted wait for the tribe, which requested permission from NOAA in 2005.
NOAA Fisheries chief Janet Coit said the agency’s final rule “represents a major milestone in the process to return ceremonial and subsistence hunting” to the tribe.