Gore's response to whaling flap

[Guest guest]

SEA SHEPHERD INTERNATIONAL

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 30, 2000

 

GORE DEFENSE OF U.S. POSITION ON WHALING DOES NOT CONVINCE

Response to Sea Shepherd omits details on next week's crucial IWC vote

 

The Gore 2000 Campaign has disavowed yesterday's statements to whale

activists that indicated the United States would approve the attempt to

ratify the " Revised Management Scheme, " overturning the global ban on

commercial whale hunting. A Gore campaign worker had told a Washington State

activist that the Vice President would be in favor of eliminating the global

ban so that whaling activities could be 'better regulated.' The

International Whaling Commission is meeting in Adelaide, Australia, next

week to deliberate on the state of current protections for whales, which are

coming under increasing pressure worldwide.

 

In a statement sent to Sea Shepherd International today, Gore said " I

strongly support the international ban on commercial whaling, " and

maintained that he was " a leading advocate in the creation of landmark

sanctuary protections for whales under the IWC. As President, I will

continue to advocate new sanctuary protections under that body. "

 

The statements the Gore campaign now disavows as unofficial and unauthorized

closely echoed the recent sentiments of IWC Secretary Ray Gambell, who urged

removal of the ban in favor of expanded " regulated " commercial whaling in a

June 12 BBC interview.

 

In an October 5, 1993, memo to the Prime Minister of Norway, Gore promised

" We are willing to join you in working in good faith within the IWC to

complete all aspects of the Revised Management Scheme in 1994. " Gore secured

provisional adoption of the hunt protocol at the May 1994 meeting of the

IWC, creating a furor in the environmental community.

 

" The Vice President's support for the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in 1994

was a quid pro quo deal that appeased Norway, avoided mandated sanctions for

their ongoing whale kills, and didn't protect any whales, " said Sea Shepherd

President Paul Watson. " Mr. Gore's statement today had nothing to say on the

main point we asked him to clarify - the U.S. position on the Revised

Management Scheme - and his record is not encouraging. "

 

" Al Gore's statement is a fluffy way of saying the Clinton/Gore

Administration will continue to work to undo 30 years of conservation

efforts, as it has been doing since they took office, " said U.S. Citizens

Against Whaling founder Sandra Abels, who spoke with the Gore 2000 campaign

on Thursday. " Actions count, and we have seen nothing from Mr. Gore to

counter his campaign worker's statement to me that there are plenty of

whales out there for the killing. "

 

Gore recently served as the Administration's champion for the revived gray

whale hunt of Washington's Makah Indian tribe, claiming the tribe has a

" subsistence need " for whale meat, which the IWC has refused to recognize.

Earlier this month, an appeals court found the federal government's approval

of the Makah hunt to be in violation of the National Environmental Policy

Act due to probable bias and ordered the preparation of a new Environmental

Assessment.

 

" We are receiving reports from this week's preliminary IWC committee

meetings that the delegations are under heavy pressure from the United

States and are being instructed to 'sit on their hands' rather than cite the

U.S. for unilaterally permitting the Makah whale hunt, " said Sea Shepherd

Information Director Andrew Christie. " We don't need to know what Mr. Gore

promises to do to protect the whales if he's elected President; we need to

know what he's going to do next Monday. "

 

The International Whaling Commission will meet in full session July 3 - 6.

 

#

 

CONTACT:

Andrew Christie, SSI 360-370-5500

Mark Messenbaugh, Gore 2000 Inc. 615-340-3279

Sandra Abels, USCAW 206-361-0736

 

 

 

Al Gore's statement on whaling:

 

I strongly support the international ban on commercial whaling in the IWC.

I am pleased that, thanks in part to the leadership of the Clinton-Gore

Administration, we were able to defeat " back door " efforts by other nations

(e.g. Norway and Japan) at the April 10-20, 2000 meeting of the Convention

for International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to resume commercial

whaling by removing protections for whales in the CITES. You have my

commitment that, as President, I will fight to maintain the ban on

commercial whaling, and to block any effort to decrease protections for

whale species protected by the CITES. I will also continue to fight

against any efforts by Japan and others to expand " lethal research " whaling

under the scientific research loophole in the IWC.

 

I would also point out that I was a leading advocate in the creation of

landmark sanctuary protections for whales under the IWC. As President, I

will continue to advocate new sanctuary protections under that body.

 

 

Paid for by Gore 2000, Inc., Nashville, TN 37203.

Contributions to Gore 2000, Inc. are not tax deductible for Federal income

tax purposes.

 

 

 

Sea Shepherd International

P.O. Box 2616

Friday Harbor, WA 98250

(360) 370-5500

http://www.seashepherd.org

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