Whale News From Green Vegans

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From: "E-The Environmental Magazine" <karen@emagazine.com>
Date: Jun 16, 2012 2:03 AM
Subject: Whale News From Green Vegans
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"Don't Forget... I Love You"  Makah Elder Alberta "Binki" Thompson Defender of Whales December 3, 1923 - April 11, 2012   Green Vegans Delegation to IWC 64 Panama  Toni Frohoff has a Ph.D. in Behavioral Biology and an M.S. in Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences. She has co- authored two books, has written papers for the IWC Scientific Committee and has contributed to legislation protecting marine mammals in numerous countries. Since the 1980s, Toni has conducted pioneering research on the impacts of human activities on the welfare and conservation of marine mammals in captivity and in the wild. She lectures internationally (e.g. TED Global, National Geographic and the Smithsonian Institute) and has consulted for diverse government and non-profit agencies (including the First Nations Department of Fisheries).    Tami Drake,  co-founder and International Director of Ocean Defense International, has worked on the Makah Whaling issue since 1999, lobbying in Washington D.C. and attending three IWC meetings specifically regarding ASW. Tami also co-founded America's Whale Alliance in 2005. This coalition of over 80 US groups was founded by Ocean Defense International in response to the apparent change of direction of the US government regarding its opposition to the resumption of commercial whaling. AWA's unprecedented "Stop Whaling!" bus tour, garnered incredible support from West Coast residents.      Will Anderson had lived in Alaska for seven years and traveled to two of the ten whaling villages, and campaigned against Arctic offshore oil drilling. He founded an office in Anchorage for an international environmental organization. His three decades of nonprofit experience includes hands-on advocacy and campaigning in dozens of environmental and species rights campaigns for several organizations. Will continues to focus his interests on promoting the vegan New Human Ecology.            ABOUT US     Green Vegans is an environ- mental and species' rights organization. We advocate and conduct campaigns to achieve Seven Results. Together, they create The New Human Ecology we seek. For more information, please visit our web page, www.greenvegans.org and our Facebook Page  https://www.facebook.com /GreenVegans Join Our Mailing List From Our Website! I WC 64 The International Whaling Commission  Needs You to Save Them Greetings! We are vegan environmentalists. Our purpose is to engage you, encourage you, and inspire you into becoming environmentally active. This is part of your vegan and vegetarian identity that protects other species and their ecosystems from harm.     Today, we draw your attention to the upcoming International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Panama where the fate of thousands of whales will be decided. There are an estimated five million vegans and vegetarians in the U.S. alone. So, please spread the word and grow the movement.   We will let you know how to "Save the Whales." Sign up on our website to receive periodic newsletters, make donations, and purchase our Green Vegan logo apparel: www.greenvegans.org. Friend our page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenVegans.   Our next note to you will include our Blog and Tweet information.   Green Vegans positions at IWC 64 GV supports the establishment of the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary and all resolutions which serve to increase protections afforded to cetaceans. GV conditionally supports the "Monaco Resolution" which attempts to mitigate massive unregulated catches of highly migratory species of cetaceans (whales and dolphins). Coastal whaling is decimating them. GV conditionally supports the Resolution on the Importance of Continued Scientific Research with regard to the Impact of the degradation of the marine environment on the Health of Cetaceans and related Human Health Effects. GV opposes Japan's lethal research programs, believing that all research objectives can be accomplished without killing whales. GV opposes the whaling conducted by Norway and Iceland outside of IWC regulations despite regular requests by the IWC to stop. GV objects to the bundling of Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling (ASW) quotas. The joint request by the United States, Russia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines warrant separation ("unbundling") so that they can be reviewed individually on their own merits.   GV believes that the ASW request by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) for a humpback whale quota should be denied. SVG kills pilot whales, and recently, orcas from speedboats almost on a weekly basis. SVG's has a history of targeting humpback calves and killing cow/calf pairs. GV asserts that the request by the US on behalf of the Makah Tribe should not be considered until it meets domestic requirements of completing an Environmental Impact Statement.   GV believes the ASW request by Greenland should be denied based on the commercial aspect of the hunt and the inclusion of non-indigenous population in their needs statement.   Our Role at IWC 64 FRIENDLY GRAY WHALE Before the main session of the meeting opens July 2, we will be lobbying the delegations from 89 (if they all show up) countries many of whom are determined to kill as many whales as they can get away with. Now in the 64th year of the IWC, the power struggle between pro- and anti-whalers is at a fever pitch. There is vote-buying, corruption, back-room dealing, politics, a lot of great science, a commercial disregard for science, and a stalemate that blocks needed whale protections. The pro-whaling faction is led mostly by industrial Japan. The U.S. delegation is no longer the leader in anti-whaling because of the compromises and deals it makes to secure corrupted aboriginal subsistence whaling (ASW) quotas. The Latin American-led Buenos Aires Group has the potential to take the lead as they fight for a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary that Japan and its allies are intent on stopping - again. Humpback Whale and Calf Since 1997, Green Vegans board members have attended five IWC meetings. We lobbied at those meetings for everything that would protect whales from unnecessary harm. Unfortunately, the IWC does not protect the far larger number of small Cetaceans (smaller whales and dolphins).     Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling We also address aboriginal subsistence whaling (ASW) quotas. After those quotas are issued, the contracting governments divide the whales between themselves. These quotas have been allocated every five years. Now, in 2012 at the 64th meeting of the IWC in Panama, another quota decision will be made, this time for six years. We will not have another chance to influence these quotas until 2018. As proposed, up to 2,430 whales will be killed under ASW with more allowed to be wounded and escape.   Three species of whales are included in the joint ASW US/Russian/Saint Vincent and the Grenadines proposal: humpback whales; gray whales; and bowhead whales. The Greenland proposal includes four: fin, minke, bowhead, and humpback whales. The quotas to kill them include five areas from Siberia to the Caribbean. Aboriginal subsistence whaling is a highly controversial, divisive, and sensitive issue. Few organizations are willing to oppose it entirely. Because of this, important criteria that qualify hunts as subsistence are not closely examined by the IWC member governments.   When positions are taken at the IWC, distinctions are usually made regarding the appropriateness and need for ASW on a case-by-case basis. In recent years the IWC has accepted "cultural" need as sufficient when the IWC language itself requires demonstrated nutritional need. In addition, the ASW proposals are strategically lumped into one proposal, thus allowing the extraordinary differences in each case to be ignored.     For instance, the Makah of Neah Bay, Washington State, supported by the U.S. Government without due diligence with regard to the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act, have proposed a highly controversial resumption of whaling that has incurred significant opposition but will be included in the US/Russian/Saint Vincent and the Grenadines joint proposal. This makes the Makah hunt and other highly questionable proposals nearly impervious to challenge. Other ASW proposals are approved though they involve horrendously inhumane killing methods even by whaling standards.   The joint (bundled) US/Russian/Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ASW proposal targets humpback whales in the Caribbean. The Greenland proposal, though it does not allow it, would enable the continuation of whale meat being sold to the public in supermarkets. Saint Vincent/ Grenadines whalers have a history of wounding humpback whale calves to lure their protective mothers in for killing. As part of our advocacy at the IWC, we will address the ample documentation of the lack of necessity and cruelty of these hunts.   Our three-person Green Vegans delegation will provide a uniquely complimentary and insightful ability to respectfully and intelligently address these issues. While we have advocated for whales for a number of highly respected organizations for decades, we founded Green Vegans in 2009 to introduce a new perspective to deep ecology environmentalism and species' rights.     In our next posting via E Magazine services, we will give you the links and means to follow the developments at IWC 64 in daily reports from us and other organizations, and presumably link to a live televised-feed.    Support our efforts to stop all whaling. And remember to sign up on our website to receive periodic newsletters, make donations, and purchase our Green Vegan logo apparel: www.greenvegans.org   Friend our page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenVegans       Green Vegans /   The New Human Ecology.

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