Open Letter to the International Whaling Commission

Dr. Simon Brockington
Secretary
The International Whaling Commission
The Red House,
135 Station Road,
Impington,
Cambridge,
Cambridgeshire CB24 9NP, UK.
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 233 971
Fax: +44 (0) 1223 232 876
email: secretariat@iwcoffice.org

Dear Dr. Brockingon,

As the dates of the 63rd meeting of the International Whaling Commission approach, July 4-14, 2011, in the Channel Islands, we are writing to urge the IWC to take strong and decisive action to fully protect whales AND dolphins.

The slaughter of whales and dolphins for commercial, scientific or cultural purposes is inhumane and highly inconsistent with worldwide efforts to protect our planet’s oceans. Numerous reports have proven that whale meat is highly toxic with mercury. Furthermore, the March 11 tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan resulted in radioactive water being dumped into the sea. According to a June 15 article published by the Associated Press, two Minke whales caught off of the coast of Japan were found to have traces of radioactive cesium. In the interest of public health, it is time to end the international consumption of whale and dolphin meat.

Following the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling, the IWC has issued Japan, Norway and Iceland permits for scientific whaling. We strongly question the merits of this practice. Credible researchers around the world have managed to find ways to study whales without the use of lethal methodologies. Additionally, the fact that the whale meat from the alleged “research” is sold commercially further underscores the need to end research whaling. According to Darren Kindleysides of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, “Japan’s 20 years of “scientific whaling” has delivered thousands of dead whales and next to no useful knowledge of the whales they “study”. The meat is packaged and sold in the fish markets in Japan. This has more to do with sushi than science.”

Looking ahead to your upcoming meeting, we also note the questionable history of the government of Japan with regards to buying votes from international delegates to support the Japanese whaling agenda. The June 13, 2010 Sunday Times investigative article, “Flights, girls and cash buy Japan Whaling votes” http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7149086.ece uncovered a wealth of improprieties conducted by representatives of the Japanese delegation. We request that investigations be undertaken and that appropriate and harsh sanctions be levied against the guilty parties. Such behavior simply should NOT be allowed within the confines of an international regulatory body.

Having observed the annual Taiji dolphin drive hunt from September 1, 2010 to the close of the season in March 2011, we furthermore call on the IWC to afford much needed protections to dolphins. The drive fishery method employed by the Taiji Fisheries Union is among the most cruel practices known to mankind. Like whales, dolphins are intelligent beings. They live in pods and nurse their young. We have witnessed pods of dolphins herded into the cove and then slowly and painfully slaughtered over the course of many hours. Calves swim in the blood of their mothers and fathers. This nightmare simply must end.

We call on the members of the 63rd International Whaling Commission to fully PROTECT all whales and dolphins. The time to END whaling and dolphin hunting on planet Earth is NOW.

Reprinted in Full from Save Misty The Dolphin

Please feel free to copy this letter and mail or email to the address above.
Stay Passionate
#DophinsLoveUs
@Luv_Dolphins

Breakthrough Interview at #Taiji #TheCove

The following is a post from Steven Thompson, a Dolphin Activist currently at Taiji, Japan..it is certainly a huge step in the right direction:

Breakthrough interview with Mr. Sugimori, the head of the Taiji Hunters Union

Dear TDAG Friends:

I do hope you all read Elora's blog today and everyday.
eloramalama.wordpress.com/

Interviewing Mr. Sugimori never goes as planned. Today was the third time in a year. He knows me...perhaps I am the only western dolphin activist to ever engage him in conversation.

The plan was for Elora to interview Sugimori and for Yoshiko and I to help translate.

Sugimori seemed stressed. He has developed an eye tick since we last spoke. He has lost his caution too. He had never before let himself or his comments be filmed. This time he jogged out of the Hunters Union yelling to get out of his parking lot. The man called “Private Space” joined him.

I thought at the time he was yelling at me, but as soon as Elora left, his tone changed. Elora's blogs are making the rounds of Japanese media…I think Sugimori is afraid of the charming blonde haired eloquent 16 year-old high school student, Elora West.

I think he has reason to be afraid. Elora's writing and photos bring a powerful message to people all over the world. There has never been anything like it with the Taiji dolphin issues. She is the Joan of Arc for the Dolphin Movement. Follow her--Save the Dolphins!

After Elora got great video shots of the normally cautious Sugimori sputtering guttural frustration, she left to stand vigil with Scott, Jackie, John and Patricia.

I thought Sugimori was open to discussion. He definitely didn't want to let me or Yoshiko leave. He kept asking questions to engage us in conversation.

1. Don't you know that hunting dolphins is guaranteed by the national Japanese government? Don’t you know we have a right to do our jobs?

2. Why did you come here with that terrible Sea Shepherd group?

3. Can't you be independent from Sea Shepherd? We would take you seriously if…

4. Why do you talk about dolphins and not chickens? And what about kangaroos?

I tried to answer his questions but he didn’t seem to be listening. He just kept asking questions, the same questions. He was not yelling but he wasn’t really trying to discuss.

Then an actual threat to my livelihood: If you continue to fight against us, I will call your school principal, Steven, I know you teach in an Osaka high school. He wasn’t smiling when he said this. When I heard him, I wasn’t smiling either.

In retrospect, I realize that Sugimori was just trying, consciously or unconsciously, to dominate the conversation, bait me, and intimidate me.

It wasn't until I started asking compromise-based questions that his tone changed. We had a breakthrough.

Much debate has gone on behind the scenes. Basically, if we can get some form of agreement with the union, some lessening of the horror, we can start to unravel the mess that is the dolphin hunt and capture.

I asked Sugimori three lines of questions: mercury, baby dolphins, and money.

1. Can't we at least label the meat for mercury?

His demeanor changed. He actually answered the question: “if there were a mercury threat, the government would not let us sell the meat.” Wow. They don’t acknowledge the toxicity.

Would you like pregnant woman to eat the meat?

He sidestepped the question: the meat isn’t eaten very often.

So there is mercury in the meat?

If there is, it isn’t significant. The official tests showed low risk in Taiji.

This line of questioning…the mercury issue…started to come into clarity. This in itself is a breakthrough. With clarity we can more easily discuss the issue with solid scientific data.

--I believe, based on the research that I have read, that dolphin meat has mercury and other contaminates and that these chemicals are harmful to humans.

--The Dolphin Hunters believe that the meat is safe to eat.


2. Can’t we at least save the baby dolphins and the pregnant females?

This question seemed to take Sugimori off guard.

He stuttered…mmm…don’t you eat baby cows (veal).
I answered. It’s wrong to eat baby animals that have had no chance to live and it is inhumane to kill pregnant animals. No modern society kills females while pregnant. It would be an extermination policy.

Sugimori looked over at Private Space and asked: The babies are saved, right? …not killed… Private Space shrugged.

I continued: when the dolphins are run in from the open sea, don’t some babies get lost or run over with the boats? Don’t some pregnant females abort out of fear?

Sugimori and Private Space had no reply.

I started with the next line of questions realizing that BABY DOLPHINS is point to start a fresh dialog for compromise. With focused vision, I believe we can get the union to discuss ways that babies might be saved.

3. Finally: Money

If the union continued to corral dolphins for the aquarium trade but stop the hunt, how much money would they need to make up?

Sugimori hesitated seriously. I think he did not want me to discuss this answer.

I told him the answer: calculating approximately 2000 dolphins,: the Taiji annual kill limit, times approximately 300 US dollars per dead dolphin, the government supported price, equals 600,000 USD. There must be a way to make up this amount in an alternative way like dolphin watching tours. Let’s try a sample month with an organized watching tour and a real no kill policy. If in one month, you can get 1000 people at 100USD per person, we would match the current income.

Isn’t it worth a try? Let’s use this opportunity to discuss our views and to find solutions.

TDAG is committed to finding solutions to end the hunt. Thank you for joining. Thank you for sharing☺

Sincerely,
Steven Thompson
TDAG Co-Founder

Please Join the Worldwide Day of Protest

October 14th in Front of Your Local Japanese Embassy or Consulate
Go Here for Details:
WORLDWIDE RALLY ~ Organized by Richard O'Barry The Cove #SaveJapans Details> http://bit.ly/bgcnrg

Thank you for visiting my blog and supporting our efforts to save the oceans and the dolphins that swim in them ~
Jackie
http://www.twitter.com/jackiesbuzz
@JackiesBuzz 

Twitter Project / Stop the Hunt / Save Japan's Dolphins

What This Project Is About:
I have partnered with Mr. Paul Steele @Paul_Steele to produce a Youtube Video


to involve as many peeps on Twitter or whatever your Social Media site is to show their support to end this horrible Annual Dolphin Slaughter at the Cove in Japan. The completed Youtube video will be sent to all of the Japanese Ambassadors and Government Officials around the world along with the results of the petition that many of you have already signed. Go here if you have not signed yet:
petition to #JAPAN'SCOVE: Stop the Brutal #DolphinSlaughter  http://act.ly/2ca

Why?
The world needs to keep the pressure up and let the fishers in Taiji Japan know that they need to end this brutal massacre.  Most people in Japan do not know what is happening in their own back yard as this annual hunt has remained a guarded secret for centuries.  Until Richard O'Barry and his Academy Award winning movie "The Cove" was made most of the rest of the world was ignorant to what was happening as well!!

If you have not seen a screening of "The Cove" here is a link for you to watch it: WARNING: It is disturbing and graphic and you will never view the world the same again. Netflix "Instant Streaming"
http://www.netflix.ca/

This inhumane slaughter goes on for 6 months at the Cove..with the hunt date starting September 1st.  At this point in time, world pressure and the presence of activists and The Sea Shepard  have slowed down the slaughter as the fishers do not like being in the spotlight.  Yesterday, 80 Dolphins were herded into the Cove and several of them have been put into pens to be sold to Aquariums around the World.


We not only have to stop this barbaric slaughter, we have to put pressure on the World Aquariums to stop buying these beautiful creatures.

What Can You Do to Be Involved:
It is very simple....be creative and respectful...we would love it if you translate the message to your own language -

Step 1: send us a photo of you holding a sign with the following message:

Stop the Dolphin Slaughter at the Cove in Japan or Save Japan Dolphins or Save Baby Dolphins or your own phrase
Your Name and Your Country (Can just be your first name only if you prefer)
Your Twitter Name or Youtube Channel or Facebook or whatever site you use if you are not on Twitter but want to be involved

OR A short Video Clip of you with the same info keep it short and to the point pls. and polite :-)

Step 2: Please send your pictures or video clip here: dolphins@bell.net

Step 3: Please tweet out and share on the sites that you belong to. Invite your friends to join

Paul will be editing in links and pictures depicting what is happening at the Cove along with your pictures.

Step 4: Once completed we will upload to Youtube and then we ask that you like and comment on the video. Paul and I will tweet out when it has been uploaded

 We are very fortunate to have the new song by the Watanabes ( a group residing in Japan ) "Whales Can Sing" as a backdrop to this video.  You can listen to it here: http://bit.ly/c2qKhz

Your sign can be hand printed, whatever you wish to create.
Here is an example of something that you can use: I created this in a Word Document, printed it down and this is what will be in my picture.  just go to Wikepedia to find the flag of your country and insert where I have the Canadian Flag:
___________________________________________________________________________________

STOP

THE DOLPHIN HUNT

Save Japan's Dolphins

CANADA

@JACKIESBUZZ

__________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for your support of our efforts to end this tragic annual event.

Deadline for submissions: EXTENDED to Oct. 4th in light of what has taken place at Taiji "The Cove" Japan this morning re: 15 brutally slaughtered

If you have any questions kindly forward them to dolphins@bell.net

Jackie Bigford
@jackiesbuzz