Tell Obama To Say NO! to Commercial Whaling

FROM Greenpeace

Tell President Obama to instruct the U.S. Representative to the International Whaling Commission (IWC), Monica Medina, to vote AGAINST commercial whaling. ACT NOW!

CONTACT

Sign an online petition

And/Or make direct contact:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20500
(202) 456-1111
web email form

Monica Medina
US Commissioner to the IWC
202/482-3567
email

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

In an altogether baffling move, a small working group of the International Whaling Commission has proposed the reinstatement of commercial whaling in order to save the whales.

Greenpeace activists witness the killing of whales in the Southern Ocean by the Yushin Maru and the Kyo Maru No.1 ships of the Japanese whaling fleet. Photo © Greenpeace / Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert

This proposal is not about saving whales, however, as much as it's about saving the whaling industry. It would allow whaling to take place in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary, not only letting the slaughter of whales there to continue but legitimizing it as well. And by legitimizing all whaling, the proposal would secure the future of whaling instead of seeking to phase it out. With a single stroke, this proposal would reverse nearly three decades of progress in protecting endangered whale species.

The claim that this proposal to reinstate commercial whaling will save whales is without merit. In fact, the proposal would set quotas – the number of whales each country is allowed to catch – based on political need, not scientific evidence. Nothing could be more disastrous to fragile whale populations than caving to political pressure rather than listening to scientists about the best way to protect healthy whale populations.

We made huge progress in saving the whales once and for all back in the 80s when we stopped commercial whaling. We can save them from this threat too, but we need your help. The US will announce its position on the proposal at a meeting of the IWC in Florida the week of March 1, 2010.

Thank you for everything you do for animals!