Fw: WHALE HUNT MUST BE HALTED WHILE COAST GUARD ACTIONS INVESTIGATED

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Sea Shepherd Conservation Society <seashepherd

seashepherd <seashepherd

Thursday, April 20, 2000 10:56 AM

WHALE HUNT MUST BE HALTED WHILE COAST GUARD ACTIONS INVESTIGATED

 

 

> WHALE HUNT MUST BE HALTED WHILE COAST GUARD ACTIONS INVESTIGATED

> Boats rammed, activists injured by USCG vessels as whale is harpooned

>

> The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society joins other whale activists in

> calling for the immediate suspension of the Makah Indian tribe's whale

> hunting agreement with the US government while the aggressive actions of

> the US Coast Guard at the site of the hunt are investigated.

>

> A Coast Guard vessel struck a jet ski outside Neah Bay, Washington, this

> morning, running over the vessel and leaving activist Erin Abbott in the

> water for several minutes before picking her up. Abbott was medi-vacd to

> Olympic Memorial hospital with a shoulder injury.

>

> Abbott was maneuvering between the hunters and the whale, and effectively

> prevented a lethal harpoon strike on a Gray whale. On Monday, the Coast

> Guard repeatedly rammed and seized a World Whale Police vessel.

Crewmember

> Julie Woodyer, a director of the Vancouver Humane Society, was thrown to

> the deck. She was treated for back pain at a local hospital and released.

>

> The Coast Guard has imposed a $250,000 fine and six years in prison for

> violations of a 500-yard " exclusion zone " around the hunters by activists

> attempting to prevent the killing of whales. Several activists have been

> arrested for violating the zone and their vessels seized.

>

> Contrary to early media reports, the whale Abbott was protecting was not

> killed. The harpoon came out and the whale escaped before hunters were

able

> to bring their customized .50-caliber rifle to bear. After running over

> Abbott and her jet ski, the Coast Guard radioed an Ocean Defense

> International vessel on the scene that they intended " to be more

> aggressive " in enforcing the exclusion zone, reported ODI crewmember

> Tami-Drake Miller.

>

> " The Coast Guard needs to brought under control, " said Sea Shepherd

> president Paul Watson. " Their determination to enforce an illegal hunt and

> help the Makah kill whales has escalated to the point of injuring

activists

> on the water. The hunt must be suspended immediately and a full

> investigation of the USCG's actions initiated. "

>

> The US Department of Commerce obtained an aboriginal Gray whale quota from

> the International Whaling Commission in 1997, but avoided a ruling on the

> Makah's eligibility to hunt under the conditions of aboriginal subsistence

> whaling as determined by the IWC. The US Administration's unilateral

> assignment of the quota to the Makah without the consent of the IWC

> constitutes a violation of international conservation law.

>

>

>