Judge: Makah should be allowed to hunt gray whales

MAKAH INDIAN RESERVATION, Wash. – An administrative law judge has recommended that the Makah tribe be allowed to return to hunting gray whales.

It’s a major step in the Olympic peninsula tribe’s decades-long effort to resume the ancient practice.

The Makah last legally hunted whales off the Washington coast in 1999, but its hunts have been tied up in legal and scientific review since then.

The judge’s recommendation would allow hunters kill up to 25 whales over 10 years, with restrictions that could further limit the number of whales taken.