At the witness stand in the Amsterdam courtroom, Trafigura steers the truth as ruthlessly as it steered the Probo Koala. Trafigura’s defence lawyer declared that all the damages caused by refining at sea of Petroleos Mexicanos’ hyper sulphurized naphtha and all the health risks from the desulphurization waste could be only a “myth” spread by ecologists, journalists, and politicians. In his opening defence he stated that “It has not been proven that the events in the Ivory Coast [the spreading of Probo Koala’s waste in Abidjan] cause serious harm to the health of the population, or that they could have done”.

Robin des Bois remains very sceptical about the evolution of the compromise on research at the heart of the IWC. A number of delegations and NGOs have made it their priority and deplored that in the convention’s actual state Japan, Iceland and Norway remain out of its’ control. Robin des Bois prefers this situation to that of the International Whaling Commission being controlled by Japan, Iceland and Norway.

Robin des Bois hopes that France and other European Nations unite with Australia when they bring their claim to the International court of Justice in The Hague, aiming at banning scientific whaling carried out by Japan in the Austral Ocean. In this way the Japanese whaling fleets’ next campaign in the Antarctic will be increasingly contested.

Arriving confident and ready to fight, promoters of the so called “compromise” document are today taking a low profile. Two days of “private meetings between commissioners” safe from the eyes and ears of NGOs proved fruitless. Japan, Norway, Island and Korea were successively heard by groups of 5 countries during thirty odd sessions over two days. The process was compared by some delegates to “speed dating”.

Now some countries feel, that they should start anew, others believe that they should take into account the documents on the agenda as basis for future work. The European Union prefers the latter. Formalities on how to move the discussion forward during this “new period of reflection” will be taken before the end of the debates.

Subjet : BP Oil Spill

The cumulated amount of oil in the ocean is estimated to range between a low bracket of 300,000 and high a high bracket of 500,000 tons. The Gulf of Mexico has a surface area of 1,500,000 km²; on May 2nd fishing was prohibited within a closed area of 17,000 km². Today, the no take zone extends to 225,000 km². The sale of potentially contaminated seafood must be forbidden to avoid any risk of poisoning Americans.

Yet, other mammals feed exclusively on seafood in the Gulf of Mexico and its adjacent seas. According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), 29 species of marine mammals are present in the Gulf of Mexico. In “normal” conditions, they are exposed to the risk of collisions and to acoustic disturbances caused by maritime transport and the numerous offshore oil and gas platforms. Amongst marine mammals, the most vulnerable are the Manatees. Threatened with extinction, these pacific and slow moving sea cows are already victims of propellers from ships and recreational crafts. Manatees are extremely sensitive to oil spills and to the saturation of their preferred food : underwater meadows of sea grass.

Subjet : BP Oil Spill

The cumulated amount of oil in the ocean is estimated to range between a low bracket of 300,000 and high a high bracket of 500,000 tons. The Gulf of Mexico has a surface area of 1,500,000 km²; on May 2nd fishing was prohibited within a closed area of 17,000 km². Today, the no take zone extends to 225,000 km². The sale of potentially contaminated seafood must be forbidden to avoid any risk of poisoning Americans.

Yet, other mammals feed exclusively on seafood in the Gulf of Mexico and its adjacent seas. According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), 29 species of marine mammals are present in the Gulf of Mexico. In “normal” conditions, they are exposed to the risk of collisions and to acoustic disturbances caused by maritime transport and the numerous offshore oil and gas platforms. Amongst marine mammals, the most vulnerable are the Manatees. Threatened with extinction, these pacific and slow moving sea cows are already victims of propellers from ships and recreational crafts. Manatees are extremely sensitive to oil spills and to the saturation of their preferred food : underwater meadows of sea grass.