Will Obama Sell Out Whales on Earth Day?
"Save the Whales" has been a flagship motto of the environmental movement for decades, but on this year's Earth Day, White House officials will be meeting with foreign representatives to discuss lifting the ban on commercial whaling.
It's already been a rough year for marine life, with sharks, coral, and the Atlantic bluefin tuna losing out on protections at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna. With whales already threatened by Japanese "research," climate change, ship strikes, and pollution, the last thing they need is the bounty of legal quotas on their heads.
The majority of Americans agree that commercial whaling should be stopped. Even George W. Bush upheld the whaling ban. So what's with the Obama administration engaging in back-room deals to sell out vulnerable whale populations?
It started last month with secret talks in Florida, which led to the closed-door meeting scheduled for Earth Day. As it is, Japan kills over 1,000 whales every year, claiming that it's for research, while selling off the unscientific, edible parts. Norway and Iceland also never really stopped whaling. The logic behind lifting the ban seems to be that the best way to close this loophole is to make it legal. That's like saying you can stop theft by leaving the doors unlocked.
The deal being discussed on Thursday would allow the whaling nations to go ahead and hunt whales if they agree to stricter monitoring of their operations ... which is a joke — if the international community can't get these countries to follow a moratorium, how will they get them to participate in whale DNA registries and keeping tracking devices on their ships? And here's the clincher: After 10 years of supposedly restricted whale hunts, these countries can go back to unlimited whaling. As Patrick R. Ramage from International Fund for Animal Welfare says, "it's a whaler's wish list."
The Earth Day meeting is a slap in the face for environmentalists and endangered species activists. But the White House can still set things right by calling for a permanent ban on whaling instead of lifting the moratorium. During his campaign, Obama said, "Allowing Japan to continue commercial whaling is unacceptable." Tell Obama to do the right thing and save the whales.
Photo credit: ahisgett
Stephanie Feldstein
is a Change.org Editor who has been part of the animal welfare and rescue community for over a decade, and most recently worked for an environmental organization.
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