Greenpeace vow to disrupt Japanese whaling

[Guest guest]

Greenpeace vow to disrupt Japanese whaling

 

Source >

http://news./s/nm/20051118/sc_nm/environment_greenpeace_dc

 

Fri Nov 18, 9:33 AM ET

 

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Greenpeace activists will put

their lives on the line to disrupt this year's

Japanese whaling hunt as part of a 14-month campaign

to save the world's oceans, the group said on Friday.

 

 

" Greenpeace will get out there and put ourselves

between the whale and the harpoon to defend our

oceans, " Shane Rattenbury, head of the group's Ocean

Campaign, told reporters in Cape Town's harbor.

 

The activist group will leave South Africa in two

ships within the next few days to search the vast

Southern Ocean to confront the whalers and stop the

hunt, he said.

 

The 6-ship Japanese fleet left for the Antarctic last

week and plan to double its target catch, spearing

more than 900 minke whales, and 10 fin whales -- an

endangered species second in size only to the blue

whale.

 

Tokyo maintains that whale meat is an important part

of its culinary tradition, but anti-whaling nations

and environmental groups condemn as cruel and

unnecessary the practice of hunting the giant marine

mammals.

 

Rattenbury said uncontrolled commercial whaling over

the past century had wiped out 90 percent of the

planet's whales, and has brought many species to the

brink of extinction.

 

" We are facing a growing wave of ocean extinction, our

seas have reached a tipping point with scores of

species of fish, birds and mammals edging toward

extinction, " he said.

 

The planned confrontation with the whalers is the

first phase of a campaign that will see Greenpeace

vessels sail the world to gather research and drum up

support for a campaign to declare 40 percent of the

world's oceans protected areas.

 

Japan abandoned commercial whaling in 1986 in line

with an international moratorium and began what it

calls a research program the following year, but meat

still ends up on plates in gourmet restaurants.

 

The

International Whaling Commission passed a non-binding

resolution at a meeting in June that urged Japan to

scrap research whaling altogether, while Japan lobbied

for commercial whaling to be allowed again.

 

It threatened to withdraw from the commission and form

a new regulatory body with other whaling nations such

as Norway.

 

Sara Holden, Greenpeace spokeswoman, told Reuters the

group was confident of finding the whalers despite the

massive search area -- an estimated 32 million square

kilometers, or twice the size of the United States.

 

" We found them before and we fully intend to find them

again, " she said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click.

http://farechase.