In 2009, 1,163 Minke whales were reported killed by Japan, Norway, and Iceland. Since 1986, nearly 38,000 Whales (5 different species) have been reported killed. The fate of thousands of these Minke Whales are at stake as of this morning, the 64th annual International Whaling Commission meetings begin in Panama City.
...Call on (your elected officials) to tell President Obama that this is unacceptable and will hurt the Administration in an election year.
"At this year’s IWC meeting , Denmark will argue (for Greenland) that they want to take almost double the number of endangered fin whales (10 to 19) and increase the number of humpbacks they kill without a review for at least six years."*
Please TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY as described here, and check back on this page for reports and actions to save the Whales.
First, Contact President Obama:
Another breaking decision is happening here at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Panama. THE US DELEGATION IS MANIPULATING THE SCHEDULE HERE TO PUSH THROUGH THEIR BUNDLE TODAY, effectively blocking environmentalists’ attempts to stop commercialized “subsistence whaling” and whaling subsistence that is not. President Obama’s administration through the Council on Environmental Quality in the Whitehouse is about to destroy the moratorium on commercial whaling that was passed at the IWC in 1986. It appears that the U.S. is making deals with Japan in order to secure several "aboriginal whaling" quota requests, some of which are clearly commercial whaling operations and one which is not aboriginal in any sense of the concept. The US has pushed for the “bundling” of several proposals (together known as the Russia/US/Saint Vincent and the Grenadines proposal) to slip in illegitimate proposals and appease Japan.
ACTION: Please tell President Obama to stop supporting the resumption of commercial whaling under the guise of aboriginal subsistence whaling now. Tell him to direct the US commissioner at the IWC to “unbundle” the US whaling proposal so that each request to kill whales can be judged individually - and - to withdraw US support for Greenland’s commercial “aboriginal” whaling slaughter. The vote on aboriginal whaling begins Tuesday, July 2.
Email and Call now. Tell them you oppose this sell-out of whale protections. [email protected] AND 202-456-1111.
AND please call Congress with the same message:
Go to https://www.contactingthecongress.org/ to find the contact numbers and email addresses for your Senators and Representative. Then call them today and again on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Details are posted in our Media Release at www.greenvegans.org.