British group wins reprieve for whales

[Guest guest]

US APPEALS COURT OVERTURNS MAKAH WHALING RULING

 

A United States federal appeals court overturned the ruling that allowed

Washington State's Makah Indians to re-start killing whales. The Ninth

Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favour of the Yorkshire based Breach

Marine

Protection (BMP) and other plaintiffs, holding that the National Marine

Fisheries Service (NMFS) violated environmental laws in its rush to grant

the

Makah the ability to kill whales. In 1999, the Makah killed a female baby

Gray whale under this US government authorisation.

 

" Can the Federal Defendants now be trusted to take the clear-eyed hard look

at the whaling proposal's consequences required by law, or will a new EA

(Environmental Assessment) be a classic Wonderland case of

first-the-verdict,

then-the-trial? " the Court asked.

 

" This is a major victory for the whales! " said David Smith, BMP's Campaigns. " The ruling is justification for four years of work and many

thousands of pounds spent. It has been a long, hard road through the US

court

system, but justice has finally been done " .

 

Initially, the maiming and slaughter of thirty four Eastern Pacific Gray

whales was at stake. But when a 'consensus' of Commissioners at the 40

country strong International Whaling Commission meeting (including the UK)

in

1997 allowed the United States to claim they had IWC authorisation to kill

Gray whales, this set a new precedent for whaling world-wide.

 

" Anyone indigenous to an area that had a history of whaling could now claim

the same 'rights' as the Makah. " Smith said in 1997. " It's called 'cultural'

whaling, the name for a loophole that nations looking to kill whales can

drive a coach and horses through. Here in Yorkshire they whaled from Hull

and

Whitby; I'm indigenous to this area, shall I now claim a 'cultural right' to

slaughter whales in the North Sea? "

 

The global implication of Makah whaling that was one of the motivations

which

took Breach Marine Protection 6,000 miles to courts in Washington State and

San Francisco. " Another was that none of the big, household name

'anti-whaling' groups were prepared to take up the issue in any meaningful

way " said a BMP spokesperson today. " A lot of groups made a big thing of

this

issue in their newsletters but that's where it stopped. The likes of WWF,

Greenpeace and others saw this as a political hot potato that would burn the

fingers of their friendship with the almighty Americans " .

 

Both these groups have already backed attempts by the US government to

weaken

US " Dolphin-Safe " Tuna import laws. Indeed, a report to the NMFS, unearthed

under the US Freedom Of Information procedure whilst preparing the Appeal,

alleges that Greenpeace US actually sent a letter of support to the Makah.

 

Last year, Breach Marine Protection was banned from both IWC meeting and the

UK Whale Forum for a peaceful protest it undertook in support of Gray whales

at the IWC headquarters in Cambridge. Three requests were made by BMP, the

IWC was asked to:

 

a) place the Makah whaling issue on its agenda at Grenada (IWC meeting) in

isolation.

 

b) the Commissioners take a clear, public, open and pressure free vote

purely

on the USA Makah whaling proposal.

 

c) now that Gray whales have been killed by the Makah before the IWC

meeting,

the IWC holds the USA Government fully responsible for undermining the IWC -

an international Convention - and the international community, and uses any

redress open to the Commissioners under to it International Law or by

applying IWC sanctions against the USA.

 

These very reasonable requests sought a democratic vote (something that

should have happened in 1997) of IWC Commissioners on one of the most

controversial issues the IWC has ever considered. But instead of democracy,

a

behind-closed-doors meeting of IWC Commissioners acted as accusers, judge

and

jury, allowing BMP no representation and banned it from IWC meetings. Later,

the UK Commissioner wrote to BMP also banning it from UK Whale Forum

meetings

for the same peaceful protest.

 

" The United States Court proves that the US acted illegally by allowing the

Makah to kill whales. Breach Marine Protection acted to uphold the law by

demonstrating at the IWC headquarters, we will now be seeking reparation

from

both the IWC and the British government for defamation brought on by their

bans " BMP said today.

 

For immediate release.

 

Note: the next IWC meeting opens in Adelaide, Australia on the 3rd. July.

 

More, contact:

 

David Smith

0973 898282

 

3, St. John's Street, Goole, E. Yorkshire, DN14 5QL, UK

Tele: +44 (0)1405 769375

Fax: +44 (0)1405 769439

24hr.: 0973 898282

e-mail: BreachEnv

 

http://www.Breach.org: incl. the World-Wide Sign-On Petition in support of

the 'Peoples Resolution on the Abolition of Inhumane Commercial Slaughter of

Whales' (now with over 10,000,000 group sponsored and individual

signatures!)