http://www.care2.com/news/member/509544259/801233 http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=139581 Net Gain for Endangered Dolphins Environment (tags: habitatdestruction, oceans, water ) Shannon - 11 seconds ago - panda.org The rarest marine dolphin in the world - down to 111 individuals following decades of entanglement in fishing nets - is to receive protection over more of its range from the New Zealand government following several years of sustained WWF campaigning.

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http://www.care2.com/news/member/509544259/801231 http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=86024131095 Scientists: Acidifying Oceans Add Urgency To CO2 Cuts; 'May Mean The End Of Coral Reefs' Environment (tags: habitatdestruction, pollution, science, water ) Shannon - 4 minutes ago - underwatertimes.com STANFORD, CALIFORNIA -- It's not just about climate change anymore. Besides loading the atmosphere with heat-trapping greenhouse gases, human emissions of carbon dioxide have also begun to alter the chemistry of the ocean--often called the cradle of l...

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ALERT: Support a Total Ban on Seal Products
Animals  (tags: abuse, abused, AnimalCruelty, AnimalWelfare, animaladvocates, animalcruelty, animalrights, animals, animalwelfare, conservation, cruelty, death, endangered, environment, ethics, extinction, habitat, killing, law, pets, protection, sadness, slaughter, suff )

Angel
- 18 minutes ago - stopthesealhunt.co.uk

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2008-2009 Sea Shepherd Whale Defense Campaign: Operation Musashi
Environment  (tags: sea shepherd, whales, whaling, Japanese Whaling, Japanese Deathstar factory ship, destruction, bogus research, Operation Musashi, conservation, endangered )

In a Mirr
- 15 seconds ago - seashepherd.org

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Could a little legalized commercial whale hunting actually help save the animals? That's one idea floating around this year's meeting of the International Whaling Commission in

The still unofficial proposal involves backing off a 22-year-old moratorium that bans all but a small amount of whaling for scientific and sustenance purposes.

Some problems with the ban as it stands include Iceland and Norway openly defying it to kill several hundred whales a year and Japan's liberal and allegedly dishonest use of "science" to justify its annual hunt of up to a thousand whales.

If these countries are permitted to whale a little, the idea's proponents argue, then their hunts can be monitored and the effects of these hunts better understood.

"It would resume our science-based methods for determining how many whales can be safely harvested from a particular population," said Andrew Read, a marine conservation biologist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Read has served on the IWC's scientific committee for more than a decade. He notes that any member country can already issue itself a permit to take as many whales as it wants for "scientific" research, as Japan does.

Susan Lieberman is the director of the World Wildlife Fund's global species program. She said whaling itself does not help conservation, but a compromise that ended unregulated killing would be worth considering.

"I think governments have an obligation to try to see if they can bridge the gap here," she said.

Read the Full Article: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080626-whale-hunt.html

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IWC Votes Against Greenland Indigenous Whaling
Environment  (tags: whales, whaling, IWC, meeting in Chile, Humpback whales, Greenland, indigenous whaling ) The International Whaling Commission has voted against a plan to kill humpback whales for traditional food. Australia and other anti-whaling countries secured the numbers to reject the first vote at this year's meeting.

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Int'L Whaling Commission Postpones Talks on Building Whale Sanctuaries
Animals  (tags: whales, whaling, IWC, meeting in Chile )
news.xinhuanet.com

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Lukewarm Meeting on Whaling in Chilly Chile
Animals  (tags: whales, whaling, IWC, meeting in Chile, protection, environment, animalwelfare, wildlife, research ) 
seashepherd.org

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The global body responsible for whales and whaling has opened the door to the eventual partial lifting of the commercial whaling ban.

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) adopted a reform path aimed at finding compromise between pro- and anti-hunting countries.

Delegates at the Commission's annual meeting in Chile agreed the current impasse should not continue.

Governments will try to agree a package of measures by next year's IWC meeting.

To secure the agreement of whaling nations, it is likely that the essential ingredients of that package will have to include the partial resumption of commercial hunting, perhaps limited to coastal waters.

Some conservation groups approve of the endeavour because they believe it could lead to a reduction in the total number of whales killed each year, and greater regulation of hunting.

Political realities

Moves to reform the organisation have been led by IWC chairman, William Hogarth.

"It has to work," he told delegates.

"We are the premium body set up for the conservation of whales, and we have to step up to the plate."

But while better conservation of whales is the prime aim of Dr Hogarth's country, the US, others including Norway, Iceland and Japan will be looking for recognition that sustainable whaling is legitimate.

Japan has played a prominent part in preliminary discussions over the past year, and is fully behind the reform initiative.

Officials say nothing is ruled out as part of a final package, even the possible end to its annual Antarctic hunt which is conducted under a clause permitting hunting for scientific purposes.

"We wish to see the end of special permit (scientific) whaling," said New Zealand's conservation minister Steve Chadwick.

"The commission has taken a big step forward by setting up this diplomatic process, but it will not be easy; the path ahead is formidable.

"Ninety-two percent of New Zealanders oppose commercial whaling - that is a political reality."

The task facing Ms Chadwick's government and others in the anti-whaling camp is to strike a deal that they can sell to their publics while also being acceptable to Japan - and to Norway, which hunts as many whales as Japan each year and which probably has more to lose from a change to the status quo.

Unified opposition

Just about the only note of discord so far in this usually fractious meeting has come over subsistence hunting in Greenland.

Nations such as Japan are permitted to hunt whales for scientific purposes

The Arctic state has asked to add humpback whales to its annual hunt, which already includes minkes, fins and bowheads.

Greenland is still a territory of Denmark, which speaks for it in the IWC.

But Denmark is also a member of the EU. And for the first time this year, EU states attending the IWC are supposed to agree a unified position on key issues before debates begin.

Some, notably the UK, were ferociously opposed to the humpback quota.

They considered that Greenland had not offered meaningful evidence that its people needed the extra meat - a condition for the awarding of subsistence licenses - and were concerned by a recent report from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), showing that about 25% of the meat from the existing hunt was sold through supermarkets.

At a meeting on Monday night the EU agreed to oppose the quotas. Danish delegates walked out in protest; and without EU backing, the application is almost certain to fail.
 

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New IWC Rules Anger Anti-Whaling Groups
Animals  (tags: whales, whaling, IWC, meeting in Chile, endangered, animalwelfare, animalcruelty, protection, environment )

In a Mirr
- 2 minutes ago - abc.net.au

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June 24, 2008—Amid protest, the 2008 meeting of the International Whaling Commission opened in Chile, where the host nation proposed a permanent ban on whaling in its waters.

VIDEO: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080624-whales-video-ap.html

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SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) Members of the International Whaling Commission say they have put off the most controversial issues on their agenda because of a deadlock between pro- and anti-whaling nations.

The commission says it will name a working group to overcome the differences. Its report will probably come next year.

Commission President William Hogarth says the agreement is ''a step forward.''

Tuesday's agreement follows bickering between whaling countries such as Japan and critics such as Australia. Japan favors limited commercial whaling while some other nations want an outright ban on whale kills.

http://www.kcbs.com/topic/ap_news.php?story=AP/APTV/National/a/i/Chile-Whaling

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/06/17/eawhale117.xml

Given its size, it is no mean feat to leap out of the water with grace but this humpback whale manages it with aplomb.

Nicknamed Batman because of the marks on its underside, it put on this acrobatic display while on its annual migration past Port Stephens in New South Wales.

more...

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http://www.care2.com/news/member/537645068/779529

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Save The Harp Seals! Sign Petition!!
Animals  (tags: harp seals, killing, Canada, animals, AnimalWelfare, environment, habitat, protection, wildanimals, wildlife )

Cher
- 2 hours ago - thepetitionsite.com

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Daily news # 13 can be found here

http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=7516&pst=881036

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