Save the Whales, Again

Written by Sandra Marshall | 03 June 2010

On Saturday, May 23 rallies to Save the Whales Again took place up and down the western coast of the U.S.  Approximatley 400 people gathered at Morro Rock to Save the Whales and to signed a petition to  President Obama asking him to keep his promise to oppose commercial whaling and support the moratorium. 
Speakers included: actor Timothy Bottoms, County Supervisor Bruce Gibson, Santa Maria City Council and 33rd Assembly District Candidate Hilda Zacarias, California Coastal Commissioner Sarah Christie, Morro Bay City Council Noah Smukler, Internationally renowned cetacean lecturer Dean Bernal, Sea Shepherd crew Antarctic campaigns Mandy Davis, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary PJ Webb, The event was sponsored by Sierra Club, Tierra Foundation, New Times, Western Alliance for Nature

What you need to know

In the quarter century since the whaling moratorium was enacted, several species of whales have made a slow recovery from the brink of extinction. Countries like Norway, Iceland and Japan have continued whaling and spent that time lobbying vigorously for an end to the ban. Now the U.S. is considering whether to support the plan.
Last April, a small working group of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) drafted a proposal that would allow the commercial hunting of whales for the first time since 1986, when the IWC enacted a ban on commercial whaling. It would legitimize commercial whaling by suspending the moratorium in exchange for loosely enforced quotas based on recent catch data, not sound science. The proposal would leave enforcement of these quotas to the very same nations who have been violating the current moratorium on commercial whaling, creating the potential for fraud and mismanagement. Shockingly, it would give Japan license to kill whales in the Southern Whale Sanctuary in addition to its coastal waters, putting sensitive whale populations and non target species at great risk.
The IWC will meet and vote on this proposal in June and the Obama administration has not yet indicated what position they will take. President Obama campaigned on a promise to continue to be a leader in conservation, saying in 2008 that “allowing Japan to continue commercial whaling is unacceptable.” We need to hold him to that pledge. Voice your opposition to resuming commercial whaling. Send a message to the Whitehouse:
Mr. President, Keep your promise and oppose the resumption of commercial. Help us save the whales from the cruel fate of whaling and possible extinction. Go to the website www.wanconservancy.org/whales

CALIFORNIA GRAY WHALES

The California Gray Whale is the most ancient Baleen whale on Planet Earth and the last surviving population of a species which once inhabited many of the world’s oceans.
Gray Whales are in trouble. For the fourth consecutive year, calf counts are very low, so low everyone involved with whales is concerned. In San Ignacio Laguna this season, the tranquil waters were almost empty of cows and calves.
As part of the “deal” to allow the resumption of commercial whaling, the IWC Scientific Committee will meet on May 30th to decide on quotas for the Gray Whale. The IWC members have drawn up an agreement which could see a quota of 140 Gray Whales a year being hunted and killed for 10 years without periodic review and without current abundance estimates. 
National Marine & Fisheries Service (NMFS) has told the California Gray Whale Coalition it will not be advising the Scientific Committee of the low calf counts nor providing details of the recent abundance estimate. NMFS will not recommend that the Scientific Committee make no decision on quotas until such time as the relevant current research data is available.
Please tell your congressperson to oppose the setting of quotas for the California Gray Whale without a current abundance estimate and without the ability to review those quotas for 10 years. Help save the whales.