BOOKS: Sightings: The Gray Whales’ Mysterious Journey
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:
Sightings: The Gray Whales’ Mysterious Journey
by Brenda Peterson & Linda Hogan
National Geographic Society (1145 17th St. NW, Washington, DC
20036), 2002. 286 pages., hardcover. $26.00.
Defenders of gray whales migrating along the Pacific coast of
Mexico, the U.S., and Canada won two important court decisions
within 18 days as 2002 closed and 2003 began.
First, on December 20, a three-judge panel of the Ninth
U.S. circuit Court of Appeals ruled in San Francisco that Makah
tribal treaty rights granted in 1855 do not supersede the intent of
Congress in enacting the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The verdict
requires the National Marine Fisheries Service to conduct an
extensive environmental impact review before authorizing the Makah to
hunt any more gray whales.