Ominous before IWC (Update Oct. 28, 2016)
66th IWC – International Whaling Commission
Portoroz – Slovenia
24-28 October 2016
Ominous :
- October 27, 2016. Daly, California. The male blue whale with skull fractures runs aground at the foot of the cliffs. 65 ft in length.
On the TRAIL – Special Edition. 66th IWC – International Whaling Commission
On the Trail – Special Edition. 66th IWC
For 3 years, the NGO Robin des Bois (Robin Hood) has been publishing in French and in English the quarterly bulletin “On the Trail” on the poaching and smuggling of animal species threatened with extinction. Information come from a thousand sources, institutions, local medias and NGOs on the spot throughout the world. Each event is analyzed, related with a maximum of practical details and further developments are traced through time.
Sperm whale is the great forgotten one in the work of the IWC at Portoroz. Yet, in Europe the most prestigious, the most mysterious, the most performing, the most literary and the most coveted among cetaceans is on the front line of the casualties, of those waste-suffocated and those disorientated by vibrations and noises from offshore activities, maritime traffic and submarine explosions of ammunition.
Viva Botswana and boo to the European Union, chant the elephants
Press release n°6
CITES – Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
17th Conference of the Parties. Johannesburg – South Africa
September 24 to October 5, 2016
At least 26 elephants were beheaded end of August in the Chobe National Park in north Botswana and at the heart of an immense territory where 150,000 no border elephants are roaming. Botswana didn’t wait for this massacre to understand that a new situation- the advent of elephant poaching in countries of southern Africa- calls on a new stance. Robin des Bois, no matter what will come out of following events and other positions Botswana may have, admires this courageous and contagious standpoint. In supporting the listing in Appendix I of the elephants who season after season are crisscrossing its territory, Botswana shows also concern for the elephants of Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Sea tide turns green except the Banggaï who remains red
Press release n°5
CITES – Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
17th Conference of the Parties. Johannesburg – South Africa
September 24 to October 5, 2016
Sharks
Sharks fall victim of targeted and accidental catches from the fishing industry. The fins are subjected to intense international trade and aimed at the Asian market. Once the fin cut off, the carcass is the most often thrown back to sea; it is rare that the meat be used.
The silky shark was listed in Appendix II of CITES with 111 votes in favour, 30 votes against, 5 abstentions. Their name comes from their soft skin. Found in the tropical ocean and coastal waters, populations in the Atlantic have dropped by 90% since the 1950s.
The chameleon WWF
Press release n°2
CITES – Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
17th Conference of the Parties. Johannesburg – South Africa
September 24 to October 5, 2016
– With a flurry of mailings and pathetic declarations, the WWF floods the world with calls for help to save elephants. The surface speech is in red and black tones as it should, emotionally correct, touching its members and supporters.
– Behind the scenes of ministries and conventions, the WWF has been campaigning for 26 years so that the legal ivory trade remains ajar. The WWF has its foot in the door and does not pull out. To the bloodshed and cruelty of poaching, the WWF wants to add the poison of legal trade and opposes to the return of all elephant populations in Appendix I of CITES, which would ban international ivory trade. Unfortunately, this murky speech is taken over by the majority of countries of the European Union, Belgium and Germany in the lead.
