Whaling Summit at the Channel Island Jersey
The 63rd annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will take place from July 11th to 14th on the Channel Island Jersey. Robin des Bois would like to take this opportunity to express strong concerns about the deterioration of sanitary state of whales following the tsunami and nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi which hit Japan and the North Pacific.
Whaling Summit at the Channel Island Jersey
The 63rd annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will take place from July 11th to 14th on the Channel Island Jersey. Robin des Bois would like to take this opportunity to express strong concerns about the deterioration of sanitary state of whales following the tsunami and nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi which hit Japan and the North Pacific.
1- Radioactive Pollution
Iodine-131, cesium 137, strontium 90, plutonium are among the identified radionuclides which are spreading across Japanese soil by atmospheric emissions. The Northwest Pacific has become primary recipient for not only liquid discharges coming from Fukushima but also for atmospheric fallout. The sources of whale contamination are multiple: permanent contact with artificial radioactivity, ingestion of contaminated plankton, prey and waste, and the transmission of radioactivity to calves during nursing periods. The external and internal effects of this contamination are potentially mutagenic (mutation of the gene pool), teratogenic (abnormal development of the embryo) and carcinogenic, all very serious impacts on whale populations whose future before the disaster of March 2011 was already menaced.
“Baleinafric”
57th International Whaling Commission Ulsan, Korea. June 20-24, 2005.
With Japan playing the pied piper, a new factor of Intra-African unification and cooperation is in the making. Benin, Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea, Mauritania, Morocco, and Senegal all support the Japanese initiative to develop whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary. Togo, Mali, and Gambia are in the process of integration into the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Only South Africa voted against JARPA II (see press release in French “J’harponne II”, June 7, 2005).
