More On Obama's Cop Out on whales

The following comes from Sue Arnold, Australians for Animals, a decades long campaigner against whaling. She well expresses my own feeling about Obama's decision not to sanction Iceland and my bewilderment at how save-the-whales groups could think his actions useful.

By Sue Arnold
Barack Obama has taken the easy way out. A report to Congress which
in effect sets a precedent for diminishing not only the IWC but all
multilateral environmental agreements which rely on trade sanctions
for enforcement.

The failure to issue trade sanctions against Iceland has profound
ramifications and ensures that the IWC is now a very toothless tiger.
The WTO rules supreme.

This is very serious. As for the groups who believe the instruction
relative to the Arctic and Iceland are useful, please explain exactly how?

Sue Arnold
Australians for Animals Int.

Whale Experts Says Obama Deal on Iceland a Cop-out

The quotation below is from Dr. Sidney Holt, a man who knows more about saving whales than any other living person. He is now in his mid-80s and knows IWC history personally going back fifty years.

Many enviro groups have hailed Obama's statement as a great step in whale preservation. I believe they are terribly mistaken and that is backed up by Dr. Holt's assessment which I publish below.

"It is the usual cop-out. Iceland has already responded, naturally, with threats to block the US bowhead catch/strike limit (at next IWC) in Panama. The rot started three years ago with the US Chairman trying to throw away 40 years of effort, much of it led by the US - Obama is simply continuing that in his own way. But he seems to be continuing the Bush administration's position on practically everything, often subtly worse. We should all be worried, but you in the US specially so. Sidney

The Voice of the Dolphins Published

My book, The Voice of the Dolphins, is now available at my eStore

http:www.createspace.com/3501299

It will be on Amazon in 4 days, Kindle in 3 weeks and in book stores.

Please let your friends and lists know about the book, where appropriate.

It covers decades of encounters with whales and dolphins in the wild, the fight to stop the slaughter of dolphins in Japan starting with Iki in 1979 and continuing through Taiji in modern times, the savagery of captivity, the huge dolphin die-off along the east coast in 1988 and the emergence of disease among dolphins deriving from suppressed immune systems due to chemical toxicity. Finally it connects contamination of the marine food chain to human disease including cancer.

Much of the book tells of marvelous encounters with dolphins and whales in the open sea, encounters that demonstrate the sentience, intelligence, curiosity and wonder of these creatures.

Sea Shepherds Drive Japan Whalers from Antarctic

Just received email from Paul Watson re Japan's retreat. "The Nissin Maru is heading eastward still and is in the Drake Passage moving towards the South Atlantic. I think they believe they can run the Bob Barker out of fuel. They can’t. The Bob Barker can follow wherever they go – East or West. I believe they are going around the continent and so I’m sending the Gojira and the Steve Irwin West to meet them. The three harpoon vessels are heading west also. Paul

Though many deserve credit for fighting Japan's whaling it is clear that Sea Shepherd ships drove the whalers out of the Antarctic by making it impossible to whale.

Current Threatens to Carry Oil to Keys

A current, associated with the Gulf Stream, has been found to be carrying oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil blowout disaster. The so-called Loop Current will move the oil southeast and towards the Florida Keys and Cuba.

BlueVoiceBreakingNews will track the oil spill, focusing on its impact on whales and dolphins. Many other excellent organizations are focusing on other areas.

We will not only cover direct impact on whales and dolphins but on the impact of toxic hydrocarbons on the long term health of these animals which are sentinels of ocean health.