Victory in Baja/Upcoming Hunt in Washington State: How you can help

[Guest guest]

(Posted at the request of the writer)

 

Dear whale advocate,

 

As we praise the Mexican government's wise decision to scrap plans for a

monstrous salt plant in a gray whale calving lagoon, it's time also to

reflect on the other potential threats facing whales in our own waters and

our government's role in protecting them, or their actions to the contrary.

 

While families of gray whales follow their ancient migration route North,

Japan is busy making plans to have them de-listed from the Convention In

Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) meeting this April. The species could

then, once again, be sold on the commercial market. At the same time the

Makah tribe in Washington state, with the aid of the U.S. Commerce

Department, the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Marine Fisheries are

gearing up for another " ceremonial " hunt in hopes of re-creating the

horrific scene played out last May, when a young female gray whale was

harpooned and shot to death. After a 20 minute struggle, her lifeless body

was dragged to shore behind a diesel-powered commercial fishing boat.

 

Far from being impertinent to Japan's commercial whaling design, both the

Makah and their relatives, the Nu cha Nulth of Canada's Vancouver Island

have made it clear they eventually hope to sell whale products commercially.

Chief Tom Happynook, founder of the " World Council of Whalers " , announced

to a Vancouver newspaper that he feels the Northwest coastal tribes could

" sustainably harvest " 1,000 whales annually.

 

Japanese whaling interests are currently touring the globe in an effort to

recruit new countries into the International Whaling Commission, hoping to

secure their votes and repeal the moratorium on commercial whaling at the

next IWC meeting. But it's not too late to heed these omens. The U.S.

whaling delegates played into the hand of Japan's commercial agenda by

proposing a new category of " cultural " whaling; however, the Makah tribe

has never officially been given their own quota nor recognized by the IWC as

 

having a valid subsistence need for gray whales.

 

Please help us spread the word. We must ensure that gray whales do not lose

their status at the upcoming CITES meeting; and urge members of the IWC to

continue supporting the moratorium. Perhaps we can convince the Makah that

their efforts to re-identify themselves as whalers will contribute to the

resumption of wholesale commercial slaughter, and that there are better ways

of honoring whales without resurrecting the act of whaling. Only with the

kind of collective effort so effectively rallied against the salt plant in

San Ignaccio Lagoon can we guarantee the safety of gray whales throughout

their historic migration route.

 

Jim Robertson

 

For more information please visit: http://www.seashepherd.org/

or http://www.stopwhalekill.org/