Appeal for funds

[Guest guest]

Please distribute this as widely as possible. Our support is essential.

ODI was on the water during the last Makah hunts and will be again, with our

help. And with our help, they'll be at IWC this year, helping to stave off

the return to commercial whaling.

 

Dian

 

Urgent: Anti-Whaling Activists Need Your Support

 

Makah to Commence Whaling This Month

 

The Makah Whaling Commission announced that they will once again begin

whaling off the waters of Washington coast as early as the second week in

April. Along with targeting migrating whales, the whale hunters will now

tow their canoe with a speed boat armed with a .50 caliber anti-tank gun

into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and slaughter non-migrating feeding whales.

The Makah objected to hunting only migrating whales because of " safety "

issues (the safety of the whalers, not the whales). Plus, feeding resident

whales are an easy target. The residents stay in one location feeding, and

many are habituated to boats, some to the point that they approach and rub

on them. The resident whales have a population of approximately 200.

 

Ocean Defense International will once again meet the whalers on the water

and defend the whales. We are committed to the safety of all whales. We

are outraged at the continued violations by the US government of

international and domestic law. ODI is in need of financial donations for

fuels and supplies to be remain on the water. Information on how to donate

is below.

 

Makah Whaling - ODI and Whaleman Foundation to Attend IWC 54

This May, The United States government will once again attempt to obtain a

quota of gray whales for the Makah tribe for the years 2003-2007 at the

meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Shimonoseki, Japan.

 

The US Government is now preparing a draft EA on Makah whaling. The final

EA will not be completed before IWC 54. They will request a quota for the

Makah without completing the required environmental analysis, once again

violating domestic and international laws.

 

Killing whales in US waters with US support and funding is a matter of

great national and international importance raising complex domestic and

international conservation and legal issues which have not be addressed in

the two previous Environmental Assessments prepared by the US Government.

In permitting the Makah to kill gray whales, the Government has transformed

the US into a whaling nation which undermines the US' longstanding role as

the strongest voice against whaling in the international forum.

 

ODI and the Whaleman Foundation will attend the 54th annual meeting of the

International Whaling Commission (IWC) and will continue our fight to stop

Makah whaling. Makah elder, Alberta Thompson will join us. We will urge

the member nations of the IWC to take a hard look at the actions of the US

with regard to Makah whaling and to take appropriate action on this issue to

ensure the statutes of the IWC are upheld, while illegal precedents are not.

 

We will also be advocating to keep the global moratorium on commercial

whaling in place, stop Low Frequency Active Sonar and advocate for small

cetaceans. We are members of the Global Whale Alliance who is fighting the

return of commercial whaling without compromise (see

www.globalwhalealliance.org) We are involved in the many issues effecting

cetaceans, but are among the very few NGO's who will speak up against Makah

whaling.

 

We need your financial support to attend this meeting. Please send the

most generous donation you can to help us continue this important work

(information on where to send donations below). All of us are volunteers.

No one is paid for their time. We need funds to defray the cost of airfare

and hotels in Shiminoseki.

 

What We Accomplished at IWC 53 - London

 

ODI and the Whaleman Foundation and Friends of the Gray Whale attended the

53rd meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in London which

ended on July 27, 2001. This was the second meeting for ODI and Whaleman as

non-governmental observers. We were the only NGO's at the IWC actively

opposing Makah whaling.

 

One of our goals at this meeting was to break the silence solicited and

received by the U.S. in 2000. Michael Tillman, then Commissioner of the US

delegation, requested the " like-minded " delegations to remain silent on

Makah whaling until the Makah's quota came up for renewal at the IWC in

2002. He told the " like minded " that the US would support them on " their

issues " if they remained quiet. We were able to meet our goal of breaking

that silence.

 

We challenge the assertion by the US delegation that they obtained a legal

quota for the Makah Tribe from the IWC in 1997. The US took great pains at

the 1997 IWC meeting to ensure that the IWC would not reach a definitive

ruling whether the Makah Tribe qualified for the subsistence exception to

the whaling moratorium. Instead, for the precise purpose of avoiding such a

ruling, the US submitted a joint quota proposal with Russian natives, whose

subsistence needs had been recognized. Ignoring outrage expressed by IWC

delegates, the US deemed the Makah hunt IWC approved and gave the go ahead

for the hunting to begin.

 

The U.S. had maintained that the whale hunt quota it handed to the Makah in

1997 is legitimate because the IWC had not questioned it since -- a

situation creating, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

has put it, de facto acceptance. Last year's IWC meeting at least put an end

to that charade.

 

When asked about the status of Makah whaling during the Aboriginal

Subsistence Whaling working group at the IWC on July 19th, why didn't the

US tell the truth about the new quota granted to the Makah? Why did they

skirt the issue by stating simply that the hunt was suspended in 2000 due to

a court order? Why didn't they tell the member nations that they had eased

the restrictions on the Makah hunt and that they would commence whaling in

the very near future?

 

At the meeting of the working group on Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling, the

Commissioner from Austria asked the US about the status of Makah whaling.

The US responded that, based upon a court decision, the Makah hunt had been

closed in June 2000 with no whales taken (Report of the Aboriginal

Subsistence Whaling Sub-Committee 4.2.2 - IWC/53/8). This was a blatant

attempt to stop the discussion on the subject and bolster their de facto

argument.

 

However, during the plenary session the following week, Andres Rozental,

Commissioner from Mexico, refusing to adhere to the code of silence mandated

by the US delegation, raised the subject of Makah whaling. Mr. Rozental

stated, on the record, that while the US had told the Aboriginal Subsistence

Whaling Sub-Committee that the hunt had been stopped by court order, he was

aware that the US had actually given the go ahead to resume hunting and kill

resident whales. US Commissioner, Rollie Schmitten responded by saying that

they issued the final EA allowing a limited tribal hunt that wouldn't harm

the eastern Pacific stock of gray whales. He insisted there was no

biological reason to restrict the hunt.

 

The Austrian Commissioner then asked: " As I remember in Monaco, we agreed

to this hunt under the conditions that cultural, subsistence and nutritional

need is proven. Therefore, my question. Does the Environmental Assessment

report take into account the cultural, subsistence and nutritional need? "

Rollie Schmitten responded: " Finally, to the question from the delegate of

Austria, the Environmental Assessment has considered the issues of cultural,

subsistence and nutritional needs. "

 

However, a word-by-word review of the entire 92-page EA shows not a single

mention of the Makah tribe's nutritional need. The phrase " nutritional

need " never appears in the document. The word " nutrition appears twice, on

pages 38 and 39, but in reference to the gray whales' nutrition, or lack

thereof, not the Makahs'.

 

Sadly, the US Government's record in the whole Makah affair has been

riddled with deceit and deception. The U.S. is re-writing international

rules in permitting the hunt, creating a slippery category of " cultural

subsistence " which could allow any coastal population to reach back into its

past to find a period when it hunted whales to survive, then resume the

practice despite the global ban on non-subsistence whaling.

 

Ocean Defense International is a non-profit, all volunteer organization

formed to combat the destruction of the oceans and its inhabitants. We

embrace the principles of non-violent direct action and veganism. Through

education and action we intend to stress the importance of a life free of

exploitation for all animals.

 

Please send donations for IWC 54 to The Whaleman Foundation. P.O. Box 1670

Lahina, HI 96767. www.whaleman.org

 

Please send donations for the Makah Spring 2002 campaign to Ocean Defense

International, P.O. Box 51, Seiku, WA 98381. To donate money for fuel by

credit card, please call (360) 963-2311. For more information on the Makah

whale hunt, please contact Tami Drake at (360) 697-6881. Please visit our

website www.oceandefense.org for more information on whaling and ocean

issues and for information on non-cash donations for our campaign such as

food. We are also in need of a video camera to document activities on the

water. Please help us continue our work.

[Guest guest]

would someone please me to this list? !! thanks....gaia

 

peace, love and hempiness!