02 April 2010
- Rotterdam, Netherlands — At around 4:30
this morning, our activists took action
against commercial whaling and trade in
whale meat by blocking a container ship
with fin whale meat onboard bound for Japan
from Iceland. (Live updates.)
The activists chained
themselves to the mooring ropes of the container
ship NYK ORION, which has meat from 13 endangered
fin whales onboard in seven containers.
Greenpeace is calling on the authorities
to seize the containers and urging the protection
of whales at the upcoming meeting of the
International Whaling Commission.
Following our protest
this morning, Rottderdamport police have
promised that a whale meat shipment en route
to Japan from Iceland will remain at the
port. The ship's owner has decided to off
load the Fin whale meat rather than become
complicit in the trade in an endangered
species.
The whales and the law
The fin whale can grow
to 27 meters in length and is the second
largest whale, less than 50.000 are estimated
to remain in the North Atlantic. The international
trade in fin whales and other whales is
banned under CITES - the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora
and Fauna. The Netherlands is one of the
175 signatories to this treaty. Japan and
Iceland refuse to comply with CITES and
continue to trade in whale meat. Just two
weeks ago, strong lobbying efforts by Japan
helped defeat the protection of the endangered
bluefin tuna at the CITES meeting in Doha,
Qatar.
In June, governments
will gather at the International Whaling
Commission (IWC) meeting in Agadir, Morocco
to decide whether Japan’s commercial whaling
will continue. we're urging IWC members
to protect whales, not the whaling industry
and end trade in whale products. The activists
in Rotterdam today are sending a clear message
to the Dutch government: if it is involved
in whale trade, it is playing a role in
the unacceptable downfall of fin whales.
Governments this year should protect whales
once and for all and bring the senseless
whale trade to a close.
Iceland's credibility
problem
Iceland’s whale hunt
will likely continue beyond this year. Just
this past Monday, the Icelandic government
released the findings of a study into whaling’s
economic impacts there. Iceland has concluded
that there is an economic case for ongoing
whaling and that less whales will mean more
fish for its commercial fisheries.
In doing so, the Icelandic
government is undermining its credibility
as a nation with relatively responsible
fisheries management and ignoring the reality
that the world has moved beyond whaling.
However, the report does recommend reassessing
the decision to continue whaling should
it have negative impacts on the nation's
image. By exposing Iceland’s whale meat
trade today in Rotterdam, we hope to change
Iceland’s position and end its unnecessary
whale hunt.
You can send your own
message by signing the Iceland pledge.
Meanwhile in Japan,
two Greenpeace activists are on trial for
acting to expose major corruption in the
Japanese government funded whaling programme.
We believe that Japan should not be rewarded
for decades of reprehensible behaviour at
the IWC and in the Southern Ocean Whale
Sanctuary. Instead, the Commission should
demand that the Japanese government reopen
the official investigation into our allegations.
The activists today
are on the front-lines of the movement to
end commercial whaling and trade in whale
meat. In a few months, world leaders will
again have the chance to end whaling once
and for all. Hopefully, they will act to
save the whales rather than manage them
for the benefit of a few tiny whaling industries.
