No Australia or New Zealand on the "Good Guys" list as Chile declares for Whales

Chile Seeks to Intervene Against Japanese Whaling
Wednesday, February 16, 2011

.........Chile is clearly willing to help the whales and show the world that it maintains its strong position against the illegal whaling activities perpetrated by whaling fleets. If only all southern hemisphere nations would do the same.

However this turns out, two things are certain: 1 - By all accounts thus far, the government of Chile seems determined to enforce applicable conservation laws, and 2 - Sea Shepherd is honored to assist the Chilean authorities and will continue to work closely with governments like Chile to defend, conserve, and protect marine wildlife.

Importantly, Chile is not the only South American country to take a strong stand against illegal whaling. This past Monday, many member nations of the International Whaling Commission urged Japan to stop its so-called scientific whaling in Antarctic waters and to respect sanctuaries for the species. Among them were Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay, all of which are also members of the anti-whaling Group of Buenos Aires (GBA). GBA nations stand united and reaffirm their commitment to whale conservation, maintaining a moratorium on whaling-related trade, and respecting the integrity of internationally recognized whale sanctuaries.

Sea Shepherd is proud of these countries, and very proud to have established the basis of cooperative conservation work with the Chilean authorities.

Sea Shepherd now calls upon the governments of Australia and New Zealand to take note of this precedent set by Chile—and to demonstrate the same willingness to enforce conservation laws in their own waters. Click header for more.

Latest:

The Whalers Have Stopped Running East and are now Returning West
Wednesday, February 16, 2011

After heading eastward at full speed for 2,000 miles, and just before entering Drake’s Passage into the Southern Ocean, the illegal Japanese whaling factory ship the Nisshin Maru recently made a complete u-turn and is now heading due west back the way it has travelled over the last week. First Officer Peter Hammarstedt of Sweden, onboard the Bob Barker following the Nisshin Maru, reported that the whale poachers acted suddenly once they reached the position of 64 degrees 4 minutes south and 074 degrees 10 minutes west at 1700 (GMT). The whalers also decreased their speed and are heading westward at 11 knots, down from a speed of 14 knots they were traveling as they headed east. Click header for more.