Barack Obama Supports Lifting Whaling Ban
Written by Vegetarian Star on June 10th, 2010 in Animal Issues, Politicians.
Barack Obama has incited the criticism of activists after his proposal to lift a 24 year ban on commercial whaling in Japan, Norway and Iceland. The administration argues that doing so will save more whales and countries will not attempt to use loopholes to hunt them and instead be required to follow strict reporting procedures of their whaling activity to governments.
The proposal would allow the countries to continue hunting whales in reduced numbers and also wants them to participate in a whale DNA registry.
Environmental groups aren’t buying it, and have already pressured Obama to withdraw his support before the Whaling Commission votes on June 20.
“The moratorium has done more to save whales than the revival of commercial whaling ever could,” said Joel Reynolds, senior attorney and director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s marine mammal protection program, in a written statement. “We will do everything we can to stop it – and to persuade the Obama administration that it should too.”
Patrick Ramage, the whaling director at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said before the previous moratorium on whaling was created in the 80s, whales were being killed in as much as 60,000 a year in numbers. Ramage also says that number was reduced to about 1,700 after the moratorium.
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