Iceland has rejoined the trinity of whale killing nations along with Japan and Norway. The three rogue whale killing nations have thumbed their noses at the international community to continue a criminal barbaric practice that has been outlawed under international law.
Last year
Sea Shepherd's Operation Ragnarok contributed to the decision by Iceland to halt it's whaling operations in 2007.
Yesterday,
Asda Einarsdottir, a spokesperson for Iceland's Ministry of Fisheries
reported that 40 Piked whales (Minkes) will be killed. The good news is
that they will not be targeting Fin whales.
- "....Minke sashimi is a quite popular starter in Reykjavik restaurants,'' Einarsdottir said.
Monkey brains are also popular in some Chinese restaurants but that does not make it legal or acceptable.
Iceland's
contempt for world opinion is underscored by the fact that last year
they announced the end to whaling operations, stating that there were
no markets for whale meat. This allowed the public to be taken in by a
blatant lie.
- "That announcement was nothing more than a
calculated lie in an attempt to repair damage to Iceland's reputation."
Said Captain Paul Watson. "The Icelandic whaling industry is a criminal
operation supported by government lies and corruption. The civilized
world needs to boycott all things Icelandic including tourism,
Icelandic sweaters and Icelandic vodka. It's appropriate that Icelandic
vodka is labeled "black death." This is a nation that inflicts
suffering and death illegally on defenseless sentient beings."
In
2007, The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society undertook "Operation
Ragnarok" which included sending our ship Farley Mowat to Iceland to
disrupt Icelandic whaling activities.
The voyage was cut short
when the ship which had departed from Australia stopped in Bermuda.
Iceland had announced the they would end whaling operations which ended
the necessity for the Farley Mowat to continue on to Iceland.
Unfortunately
the Farley Mowat is under seizure in Eastern Canada and not in a
position for us to take it to Iceland immediately. The Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society is looking at a strategic response to Iceland's
illegal actions which at this point cannot include direct intervention
for practical reasons.
However it appears that the whale war
between Iceland and Sea Shepherd has been resurrected and therefore
Operation Ragnarok will be resurrected at the first practical
opportunity.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is preparing
the Steve Irwin to return to the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary in December
2008 to once again disrupt the illegal Japanese whaling operation.
Captain
Paul Watson and a Sea Shepherd delegation will be attending the meeting
of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in June 2008 in Santiago,
Chile.
Anthony Marr's commentary:
In
spite of the existence of Interpol, etc., Sea Shepherd is the only
organization I know, NGO or GO, that executes any international law
enforcement on the high seas. This is to say three heroic Sea Shepherd
ships fighting three thousand vallainous ships openly flaunting
international laws regarding fisheries, driftnets, longlines, and of
course whaling. There might be some international high seas policing
regarding piracy and oil dumping, etc., I'm not sure (Capt. Watson, do
you know?), but certainly none for whaling, regarding the Norwegians
who blatantly say, "So commercial whaling according to the IWC is
illegal. Well, we're going to whale anyway. What are you gonna do about
it?" that's for sure. Where Japanese whaling is concerned, the IWC
"scientific research" whaling loophole should be closed without delay.
This
said, let's face it, Captain Watson and people like myself belong to
the generation that is about to pass its baton on to the next. All
power to the long term continuance of Sea shepherd, but the
villainous-ships-versus-heroic-ships ratio will only increase.
IN
view of the long term, I launched a global petition about a month ago
for a U.N. created and administered $120 billion/year Global Green Fund
by a corresponding 10% reduction of the $1200 billion/year global
military budget. This petition states that countries could contribute
to the Global Green Fund in $ form or in using their military forces
for executing environmental projects, including using the navies for
international high seas law enforcement and anti-poaching (which
Norwegian whaing clearly is, and Japanese whaling really is, as well as
illegal forms of fishing) operations.
Please take a moment and go to
sign the petition, make a powerful comment,
and pass it on!
Meanwhile, Sea Sepherd is all we've got, and deserves all our support.
Anthony Marr, founder
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.MySpace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.ARConference.org
Without warning the Icelandic government authorized Icelandic whalers to begin their killing on May 20th in direct defiance of the global moratorium on commercial whaling.
