Good 50×70 2008

No one gains from whaling.

The International Whaling Commision was set up
in 1946 to promote and maintain whale fishery stocks
and is now the main protector of whales worldwide.

However it its role is being threatened by the amount
of money that the Japanese fisheries are using to buy
votes in the IWC to reintroduce commercial whaling.
While this cannot be definitively proven, when the IWC
passed the pro-whaling St Kitts Declaration two thirds
of the countries voting for it had received financial
aid from Japan.

This is derived from the Ministry of Fisheries which
has a $50 million US budget every year specifically
to promote commercial whaling.
While we can’t criticise developing countries
for accepting money for things that don’t directly
concern them, in 2008 commercial whaling is closer
than ever to becoming a reality again.

It is a situation without any benefit – the research
is a scam which has even suggested that whales can
live forever and the argument that whale meat
is demanded in Japan is a sham, as only 5%
of the population eat it regularly and 69% directly
oppose it.

It’s time for the rest of the world to make a stand
and protect these endangered species.