The environmental movement is facing one of its biggest-ever reverses, over one of its most cherished causes: Save The Whale.
The leading pro-whaling nation, Japan, with a remarkable diplomatic “coup d’état” is self-assured to clutch control of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), formed in order to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry, and so hasten the return of commercial whale hunting, which has been officially banned worldwide since 1986.
Despise the international moratorium and the instituted southern ocean whale sanctuary in 1994 whales are still hunted down and killed, in the cruel and inhumane same ways as ever
Apart from the whaling concern Roger Pain wisely sated in a press release by the IFAW that “military sonar, fishing gear entanglements and global warming all pose a huge threat to whale populations struggling to recover from historic commercial whaling. The added toll of Japan ‘s growing commercial whaling will simply be too much for many whale species. This continuing slaughter, and the ominous Japanese effort to gain international approval for commercial whaling, are serious threats to the survival of whales, and should be opposed in every way possible before it’s too late.”
I have a personal and professional interest in the subject, I always felt attracted by all the debate about the whaling issue, after met Sidney Holt in Ireland who later revised and article of mine published last year about the IWC its history and controversy and reading the book Whaling Season by Keiran Mulvaney I felt like I had definitely bitten the hook.
Convening with Milko Schvartzman from Greenpeace and accompanied him on our dusk to dawn encounters with the politicians and media of Montevideo (Uruguay ‘s Capital) set the ground for the work I’m doing now in Europe with the campaign I’m trying to lead in the best way I can. The outcome of our efforts is still to be known, but we are up against a ghastly adversary – Japan.
Next IWC meeting will be on the 16th June at St. Kitts, where not only the future of whales will be decided but also from the oceans and science has a total.