Media Release Nov 19th 2007
The Japanese Whaling fleet left the port of Shimonoseki in Japan on Sunday the 18th for the Antarctic to kill over 1000 whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary under the guise of ‘scientific’ whaling. This kill includes 50 endangered fin whales, 50 endangered humpback whales and 935 minke whales. This is the biggest hunt since the moratorium on commercial whaling came into force more than 20 years ago and for the first time in almost three decades the Japanese want to include the humpbacks on their menu.
These are the very whales that hundreds of thousands of people enjoy every year during their annual migration past our shores and one of the main species that supports our $300 million whale watching industry.
Fed up with government inaction, whale conservation groups around the world are now are calling for consumers to boycott Japanese products and services.
American Jeff Pantukhoff, founder of the Save the Whales Again! Campaign just organised the Bondi human whale project on Friday the 16th of November where over 1500 people sat in the shape of a 300 foot humpback whale on Bondi beach to highlight the dangers facing the whales and dolphins by the Japanese. Jeff Pantukhoff said at the rally “We are calling upon Australian’s and citizens all around the world to NOT purchase any products made in the whaling nations of Japan, Norway and Iceland until they stop killing dolphins and whales! We’ve done it before, its time to Save the whales Again!”
Filmmaker, whale activist and founder of Byron Whale Action Group, Dean Jefferys, just sailed from the Gold Coast in Queensland, 700 kilometres, to Sydney on board the 62 foot Pelican One catamaran as part of the Flight of the humpback project to highlight the plight of the whales. Jefferys arrived in Sydney just in time to participate in the Bondi human whale project. Jefferys was arrested last year trying to deliver a letter to Mitsubishi during a boycott Japanese products protest.
Jefferys said "One aim of the journey was to educate people about these whaling issues by streaming interactive internet video from the catamaran to my website http://www.flightofthehumpback.org and communicating with media along the way and publicising the various political parties positions on whaling. Currently Labor's position is far better for the 50 threatened Humpback whales than the Liberals. Labor said if elected they will take Japan to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and track Japans activities in Australian Antarctic waters with a navy ship. So there are now two very simple activities individuals can take to help the whales. One is to elect a change of government next weekend and another is to boycott Japanese products and services. I cant understand why Japan is prepared to disgrace itself internationally to satisfy the desires of a few power hungry old whale killers and eaters. Maybe the CEOs of the big Japanese companies will start to lobby the Japanese Prime Minister on our behalf when they start loosing millions of dollars in sales and tax revenue due to an international boycott campaign."
Howie Cooke from “Surfers for Cetaceans” who recently returned from a dolphin slaughter protest in Taiji Japan said “Surfers, diver and sailers experience the wonderment of the ocean and know the joy of being welcomed by the marine mammals. We cannot stand by and watch Japan slaughter thousands of innocent whales and dolphins from the Japanese waters and the north pacific all the way into the pristine wilderness of the Antarctic southern ocean whale sanctuary. Japan must hear and respect world opinion and give up their untenable bloody and cruel acts of genocide, killing and capture, against the whale and dolphin nations. We will continue to defend the right to freedom and peace of whales and dolphins, our fellow surfers and joyful friends of the ocean”.
For more information http://www.savethewhalesagain.com/wm_master.html
Credit photos to "Peter Carette ICON Images"
