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May 22, 2000
Clinton/Gore Administration appeals "Dolphin Safe" label provisions
According to a press release from Earth Island Institute, the appeal, if successful would weaken federal standards by allowing tuna labeled "dolphin safe" to be captured by chasing and encircling dolphins with purse seine nets in order to trap the tuna swimming below.
Earth Island along with other groups charged that the Commerce Department ignored the findings of its own scientists--that net encirclement is harmful to dolphins--and was proposing to weaken US requirements for the "dolphin safe" label in order to accommodate foreign "tuna millionaires" and free trade. Forbidding encirclement has probably saved hundreds of thousands of dolphins from dying in tuna nets.
The lawsuit to retain "dolphin safe" standards was filed in August 1999 bu 87-year-old environmentalist David Brower, biologist and dolphin activist Samuel LaBudde, Humane Society of the United States, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Defenders of Wildlife, International Wildlife Coalition, Animal Welfare Institute, Society for Animal Wildlife Coalition, Animal Welfare Institute, Society for Animal Protective Legislation, Animal Fund, Oceanic Society, and Environmental Solutions International.
Over seven million dolphins have died in tuna nets over the past 40 years, but the number killed annually after 1990 was reduced by 97% when the original "dolphin safe" standards, which forbade setting nets on dolphin went into effect.
May 6, 2000
SEA SHEPHERD TO INTERVENE AGAINST WORLD'S LARGEST WHALE HUNT Flagship departs U.S. for Faroe Islands
The Ocean Warrior, flagship of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, today
left its berth in Ft. Pierce, Florida, making for Europe and a campaign of
direct intervention against the slaughter of thousands of pilot whales in
the Danish protectorate of the Faroe Islands this summer.
After crossing the Atlantic, the 180-foot vessel's volunteer crew will make
port in England, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Shetland Islands,
gathering support to stop the hunt.
Each year, between 1,000 and 2,000 pilot whales, along with bottlenose
whales, dolphins, and orcas, are driven into shallow bays in the Faroes by
small boats, then butchered alive in an operation called a "grind hunt."
The people of the Faroe Islands have the highest standard of living in
Europe, and have no subsistence need for whale meat, most of which is dumped.
" 'Operation GrindStop 2000' will be the largest direct-action campaign
against the Faroe Islands slaughter in more than a decade," said Ocean
Warrior Captain Paul Watson, president of Sea Shepherd. "We conducted the
last significant campaign against the Faroes whale hunt in 1986. Though we
weren't able to end the hunt then, we succeeded in diverting a number of
pilot whales away from the killing bays and focusing the world's attention
on the slaughter."
Over the past year, major European corporations including Tengelmann (with
a large interest in A&P Supermarkets), Aldi, and Edeka have terminated
their seafood contracts with Faroes suppliers at Sea Shepherd's urging. The
food stores, chain outlets, and restaurants participating in the boycott
now number in the tens of thousands. A land campaign of demonstrations,
boycotts, and media events will be taking place while Ocean Warrior is in
the Faroes. Activists are identifying those companies who share complicity
in the hunts through their continued commerce in seafood, the Islands'
economic mainstay. Ben & Jerry's, due to its recent purchase by Unilever,
is likely to be a primary target.
In the 1986 campaign, Faroese gunboats pursued Sea Shepherd's vessel and
engaged in a tear-gas attack in an unsuccessful attempt to seize the ship
and arrest the crew. This year, Denmark has dispatched a Danish warship to
the Faroes. The Danish government is not allowed to support whaling of any
kind under the rules of the European Union, and the grind hunt itself is
illegal under the terms of both the Bonn Convention and European Wildlife
Convention.
"We will not be deterred by threats or actions," said Captain Watson. "One
way or another, we will stop the sport slaughter of these whales once and
for all."
Sea Shepherd is inviting and strongly encouraging environmental and
conservation organizations, animal welfare groups and individuals to
actively participate in the campaign. We are working hard to insure a
cooperative effort among groups and individuals. We believe that together
we can bring an end to the most brutal, inhumane, pointless, wildlife
slaughter in the world.
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