Just what is Gore's position on global commercial whaling, you ask...

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SEA SHEPHERD INTERNATIONAL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 29, 2000

 

GORE ENDORSES GLOBAL COMMERCIAL WHALE HUNT

" Plenty of whales out there; killing a few isn't really going to make a

difference. "

 

On the eve of a crucial vote at the annual meeting of the International

Whaling Commission in Australia, an official of the Al Gore presidential

campaign has said that Gore is in favor of dropping the global ban on

commercial whaling that has been in place since 1986.

 

Sean McLaughlin, a policy advisor for the Gore campaign, made the statement

this morning to Sandra Abels, founder of U.S. Citizens Against Whaling, a

grass-roots Washington State group formed to oppose the " cultural " whale

hunt of Washington's Makah Indian tribe, which Gore has previously endorsed.

 

" First McLaughlin said 'There are plenty of whales out there; killing a few

isn't really going to make a difference,' Abels said. " Then he told me that

Gore is for whatever would mean killing less whales, even if that means

eliminating the global ban so that whaling activities could be 'better

regulated.' I requested that he put that in writing and he agreed to fax me

an official statement. Then he called back and said he didn't think it would

be 'appropriate' to do so. "

 

Gore, running heavily on his environmental record, has little to show in the

area of whale conservation. In 1994, Gore backed the " Revised Management

Scheme " - a step toward the return of commercial whaling by setting

theoretical quotas on whale species prior to actually permitting a hunt -

saying it was a necessary compromise in order to create the Southern Ocean

Whale Sanctuary in the Antarctic. It wasn't: Environmentalists prevailed,

the RMS was defeated at the International Whaling Commission, and the

Sanctuary was created without Gore's compromise deal. This year, whaling

nations are again pushing the RMS as a way to " control " present violations

of the global ban and expand them to full-scale commercial whale hunting.

The Clinton/Gore Administration has failed to impose sanctions against

Norway, Japan, and Canada for repeated violations of the whaling ban since

1993.

 

" Perhaps the Cinton/Gore administration would be so kind as to let the

American people in on the secret of exactly what is US policy on whale

hunting, and how the American IWC delegation intends to vote when the matter

comes up in Australia next week, " commented Sea Shepherd International

president Paul Watson.

 

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Sea Shepherd International

P.O. Box 2616

Friday Harbor, WA 98250

(360) 370-5500

http://www.seashepherd.org

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