Help Stop the Secret Plan to Expand Whaling!

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Help Stop the Secret Plan to Expand Whaling!

Threats to whales have increased markedly in the sixty-three years since the IWC was founded. Marine pollution, entanglement in fishing gear, boat collisions and emerging threats such as ocean noise pollution and global climate change threaten their survival.

On top of all these, persistent efforts by the last three countries engaged in whaling for commercial purposes ---Japan, Iceland and Norway--- to resuscitate commercial whaling and revive the international trade in whale meat, mean our planet's great whales face more threats today than at any time in history.

In the face of these threats, the Obama administration has an unprecedented opportunity to end the dangerous drift in U.S. policy at the IWC, to lead the 80 non-whaling member countries to modernize the Commission, and to creatively engage and encourage Japan, Iceland and Norway to join the emerging global consensus for whale conservation in the 21st century.

Tell the new Obama administration to stop the secret Bush plan and renew U.S. leadership for whale protection. Send your letter now!

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Dear (recipient name),

On behalf of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), I write to express my deep concerns about a secret plan to expand commercial whaling in the 21st century.  This plan, developed in closed-door meetings convened by longtime Bush administration appointee and U.S. Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) Dr. William T. Hogarth, would allow new and expanded whaling by the Government of Japan.   Its adoption would pose grave risks to the future of our planet's great whales and the International Commission established to protect them.

Dr. Hogarth's decision to convene closed-door meetings to negotiate deals for more whaling with the Government of Japan and a small group of countries are entirely incompatible and inconsistent with the announced policies of the new Obama administration, the past practices of the Whaling Commission, and the longstanding U.S. goals of strengthening the commercial whaling moratorium and modernizing the IWC.

Threats to whales have increased markedly in the sixty-three years since the IWC was founded.  Marine pollution and habitat destruction, entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with high-speed vessels and new and emerging threats such as ocean noise pollution and global climate change threaten their survival.

On top of all these, persistent efforts by the last three countries engaged in whaling for commercial purposes ---Japan, Iceland and Norway--- to resuscitate commercial whaling and revive the international trade in whale meat, mean our planet's great whales face more threats today than at any time in history.

In the face of these threats, the Obama administration has an unprecedented opportunity to end the dangerous drift in U.S. policy at the IWC, to lead the 80 non-whaling member countries to modernize the Commission, and to creatively engage and encourage Japan, Iceland and Norway to join the emerging global consensus for whale conservation in the 21st century.

As a first step, I encourage you to throw the Bush plan for increased whaling into the recycling bin and then renew and re-direct United States leadership at the International Whaling Commission.

You will receive an email confirming that your message was sent. Check the box if you would also like to receive a copy of this letter.

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