Whales~~~~~

Previous whale news             Subsequent  whale news                  home


April 24, 2001

Caribbean whaling report and ACTION REQUEST  from CFN-TALK

This past March the Caribbean whalers were at it again. They tortured and killed another humpback pair. Caribbean waters are also a haven for small cetacean hunts by local fisherman and poachers "who have yet to be identified." In the Caribbean they kill bottlenose dolphins, pilot whales, spotted dolphins, Fraser's dolphins, pygmy killer whales,pygmy sperm whales and in recent years mother and calf pairs ofhumpbacks.


Please call or fax in your comments about the Caribbean Slaughter,
(include your intention to take your tourist dollars elsewhere until the killing ends) to the following:

Minister of Foreign Affairs St Vincent...ph 809-456-2060 fax
809-456-2610

St Vincent/Grenadines Tourist Office Canada....ph 416-924-5796 fax
416-924-5844

St. Vincent/Grenadines Tourist Office St Vincent.....ph 809-457-1502
fax 809-456-2610

St. Vincent/Grenadines Tourist Office United States.....ph 800-729-1726
fax 212-949-5946

Thank you for all you do in helping to further the cause of peaceful
oceans!

March 20, 2001

US Navy plans more lethal sonar tests

The navy has announced plans to resume testing its horrendously loud submarine detecting device known as SURTASS/LFS (Surveillance Towed Array Sensory System Low Frequency Active Sonar).  Previous tests have killed whales off the coast of Europe, Hawaii, and the Bahamas.  The navy is claiming that it has taken "steps" to protect marine mammals.  These appear to be using fish sonar and posting lookouts to avoid stepping up the decibels in the vicinity of whales and to avoid testing in three areas  areas frequented by whales.


The sounds are so powerful, however, that they have the potential to harm whales hundreds of miles away.  Also affected are sea endangered sea turtles, dolphins, and marine life in general.


This risky technology...represents a potentially devastating and  wide-ranging threat to our planet's marine life," according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)..

The National Marine and Fisheries Service is seeking comments from

the public.  Write to: 

Donna Wieting, Chief,

Marine Mammal Conservation Division, Office of Protected Resources,

National Marine Fisheries Service,

1315 East-West Highway,

Silver Spring, MD 20910-3226.


More information available from:

Kenneth R. Hollingshead (301) 713-2322, ext. 128.


More information on this website:  Hawaian court decision plus commentary from Lanny Sinkin;  The US Navy's $100 million mistake by Lanny Sinkin   Civitas submission in previous comment period


-----------------


A gruesome article from the BBC News,

"Harpooned whales seldom die instantly." Taffy Williams on cfn-talk
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1218000/1218720.stm


March 12, 2001  from Norwegian newspapers
Norway demands that the commercial whaling moratorium be rescinded and will have the factory ship ban for sperm and orcas lifted
as well - GREENPEACE rages

By Otto Jakobsen and Per Ellingsen
Monday 12 March 2001

Norway has through a yearly series of reservations maintained a reservation on the IWC's resolution on commercial whaling. The government and whaling bureaucrats hold that these resolutions go against the 1946 whaling convention.

For this meeting of the Commission Norway will make a simultaneous
clear call that both the paragraph on the ban on factory ship for sperm whales, orcas and baleen whales should be removed.

Completely since 1982 --when the paragraph on commercial whaling
came-- we have reserved our opposition resolutions. At that timeit was resolved that by 1990 we shall undertake stock registries, now Norway is alone in this accomplishment. The condition of this resolution is thereby done, and the paragraph should therefore be removed, said the
Norwegian whaling Commissioner UDs Odd Gunnar Skagestad.

He underlined that Norway currently has no concrete plan to begin to whale on other species, but that there are possibilities.  For a series of species have today large stocks and are thus not a problem for hunting, said Skagestad to Dagbladet.

Only Russia has, besides Norway, a reservation to the paragraph on a zero quota on whaling. But Japan also support Norway's view.

If it shall succeed that Norway gets a lifting of the whaling moratorium and subsequently the ban on factory ship whaling for sperm, orca and baleen whales can we be far from a whaling operation on several species of whales from factory ships both in shore and farther out. Considering Norway's role in the prey operations in world's oceans, that is shocking, said Frode Pleym of Greenpeace to Dagbladet.

The international environmental organization runs a strong campaign
against Norwegian whaling.

Thanks to Kate O'Connell for translation


previous whale news             subsequent whale news                    home