Phew! The Compromise went Plonk!
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.
Black Whales
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.
Black Whales
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.
Black Whales
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.
Whales Sandwiched by IWC
An array of contradictory propositions is on the table of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Agadir.
The propositions are presumably to help the IWC to abscond the stagnation and the status quo that certain involved parties—NGO’s and member states—have criticized. “The implosion” of the commission is waved year after year as a scarecrow. What if it was the opposite! Outside the convention, Japan could no longer put forward article 8 authorizing hunting for scientific ends and would be clearly the only pirate in the Antarctic or other sanctuaries where their fleet dares to hunt whales.
