The Makah, a tribe of about 1,200 members, has been waiting since 1999 to resume its traditional hunt of gray whales after a federal court ruled that the tribe needs to secure a waiver from the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

It is waiting on an environmental impact study from the National Marine Fisheries Service. The North Pacific Gray Whale was taken off the endangered species list in 1994 and International Whaling Commission scientists said earlier this year that a small hunt should not affect the population.

"Their action was a blatant violation of our law and they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," the tribal council said.

"The tribe has demonstrated extraordinary patience in waiting for the legal process to be completed in order to receive our permit to conduct a whale hunt."

One of the five men arrested for the hunt, Wayne Johnson, a Makah whaling captain who was involved in the tribe's legal hunt in 1999, told the Seattle Times that he was not sorry.

"I'm not ashamed. I'm feeling kind of proud," Johnson told the newspaper. "I should have done it years ago. I come from a whaling family."

The Makah argue that it secured the right to hunt whales and seals in an 1855 treaty with the US government when it reduced the size of its traditional lands.

At the IWC meeting in Anchorage, the Makah tribe had its quota to catch up to 20 gray whales over the next five years renewed even though permission to engage in a hunt was still bogged down in the US court system.

Greenpeace, which is not against indigenous whaling if the whale population can support it, said it is "unfortunate" that the law was skirted and the hunt may make it difficult for the Makah to resume hunting gray whales.