Safe Passing Update Newsletter (SPUN)
September 14, 1999   #4a
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This is a non-Makah hunt related item but an important whale related item that needs urgent attention.

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Commercial Whaling Again
Japan and Russia break worldwide ban on whale meat trade

Here are the details as known by Ocean Protection Coalition.

On Monday, September 13, thirteen tons of beluga whale meat (36 whales) from the sea of Okhotsk has been traded from Russia to Japan and arrived at the port of Hakkodate in Hokkaido Japan. This is the first of a much larger order by Japan that could reach as many as 900 tons. The result being a blood bath of hundreds of whales. The implications of this first shipment are enormous - there are many countries, particularly in Latin America, Asia, and the Caribbean, that would undoubtedly follow suit if Japan and Russia successfully open international trade in small cetacean meat. Poorly known coastal populations of all kinds of species could be targeted and decimated if this initial shipment is allowed to stand unchallenged.

Now is the time to take action. We will not stand by and allow this massacre to continue.

Join us in protest of this extremely urgent matter:
Seattle Consulate General of Japan
601 Union Street
September 17, this Friday
11:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Representatives from many environmental and animal rights groups will be speaking at the event. Gather as many people as you can and bring protest signs. Make our voices heard.

For information, email OPC@SAFEPASSING.ORG

Please forward this information to all relevant lists.

Erin O'Connell (freewhales@hotmail.com)
Mark Olsson (mark@safepassing.org)

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