DW - 4/7/2017

by Rich Mallon-Day - 1/1/1900Japanese Whaling 5 ships returned 3/31 left port in November 2016 333 Antartic Minke whales Shimonoseki - port in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's electoral district exploiting a loophole, for "Scientific Research" in the 1986 International Whaling Commision moratorium on hunting whales International Court of Justice ruled in 2014 that Japan should halt Antartic Whaling Japanese Fisheries Agency described the mission as "research for the purpose of studying the ecological system in the Antarctic Sea". Humane Society International executive vice-president Kitty Block - "Each year that Japan persists with its discredited scientific whaling is another year where these wonderful animals are needlessly sacrificed. It is an obscene cruelty in the name of science that must end. There is no robust scientific case for slaughtering whales. Commercial whaling in this or any other guise does not meet any pressing human needs and should be relegated to the annals of history" US congress is preparing a resolution calling for an end to Japanese whaling, which will state that there is no humane way to kill whales and that existing methods – most notably a harpoon that explodes inside the mammal – cause tremendous suffering. Norway whaling demand for whale meat is dropping while numbers killed is increasing. meat is fed to farm animals and to japan numbers of whalers is decreasing as they are retiring only make 30-60% of quota 90% of whales are pregnant females Thomas Cook second largest travel company Peter Fankhauser, the company's chief executive, said: "Our industry has not changed fast enough. By taking these attractions off sale, we are sending a message that we won't accept anything less than full compliance with the welfare standards our customers would expect." Ocean World in the Dominican Republic and Sealanya in Turkey, which offer dolphin swimming experiences and shows Ocean World audited in 2009 by World Animal Protection, found dolphins held alone in a shallow tank for 30 minutes, surrounded by 20 people, forced to "hug" and "shake hands" with each tourist in turn. 39% of the dolphins had been captured in the wild. Virgin Holidays no long promote new animal shows "Echo" is alive last sighted in September seriously entangled in fishing gear. first whale watch trip for the New England aquarium to the tip of Cape Cod several right whales and a humpback Laura Howes - Director of Marine Education and Conservation for Boston Harbor Cruises idetified "echo" "Echo" first identified in 1988 Right Whales Monday April 3 an aerial survey of the Gulf of Maine spotted a mother right whale and calf off cape cod Center for Coastal Studies. Only 3 calves were born this year and the birth rate has been declining since 2000. raising water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine are changing the circulation patterns in the Gulf and may be effecting the abundance of the copepods that the whales feed on. St Vincent Orca whaling 40 Tourists with Thompson Crusis were aboard a Whale and Dolphin Watch, operated by Fantasea Tours, boat off of St. Vincent. The tour boat had located 4 Orcas and the passenger excitment turned to horror when a small fishing boat motored up and harpooned 2 of the Orcas. Thompson Crusises canceled all future tours with Fantasea Tours and is considering no longer sailing to St. vincent in the future. St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves stated that legislation will be passed banning the killing of Orcas. Japanese Aquariums 2 Japanese Aquariums, Enoshima Aquarium in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture and the Shimonoseki Marine Science Museum Kaikyokan, in Yamaguchi Prefecture, withdrew from the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums . JAZA had been urged by the World Association of Zooz and Aquariums to end the practice of acquiring dolphins from the annual Taiji Drive Hunt. JAZA said that although it believes the drive hunting of dolphins isn’t cruel, it will shift its focus to breeding dolphins in captivity. Currently 30 JAZA member Acquariums have a total of 250 dolphins 50% of them were acquired from the Taiji dolphin hunt. Acquariums in the Middle East and China also buy dolphins captured in Taiji. The press in Japan does not cover the Taiji drive hunt controversy and the majority of th eJapanese people are unaware of what is happening.