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400,000 Whales, Dolphins, Porpoises Destroyed Annually

24/8/2018

3 Comments

 
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Author DR REESE HALTER*

Distinguished conservation biologist. Award-winning author & broadcaster.
Eco-stress physiologist Reese Halter specialises in Earth life support systems. The whales, turtles, manatees, dugongs, albatross, ravens, hummingbirds are his brothers and sisters. Visit DrReese.com


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*The fate of our brethren, the highly intelligent and sensitive cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises), is very grim. The hideous man-made Sixth Mass Extinction is accelerating more than 1,000 times faster than the previous five others.
Legendary biologist and animal activist Farley Mowat meticulously documented the human destruction of cetaceans in Sea of Slaughter. He estimated that humans murdered in excess of five million whales in 18th, 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.
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WHALING IN THE FAROE ISLANDS, DENMARK. PHOTO CREDIT: WIKIMEDIA
A more recent account by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) workers found that 2.9 million whales were slain between 1900-1999.
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PERUVIAN FISHERMAN MASSACRE DOLPHINS FOR BAIT TO CATCH ENDANGERED SHARKS. PHOTO CREDIT: JIM WICKENS
In 2003, Duke University and the University of St. Andrews researchers sounded the alarm on discarded fisheries gear slowly drowning 308,000 cetaceans annually. Instead of the world leaders addressing this ocean crisis they subsidize it by more than $250 billion per annum.
The World Animal Protection conservation group blew the whistle in 2017 on 640,000 metric tons of fisheries gear, mostly petroleum-based plastics, discarded annually. They estimated that the life span of those nets and hooked lines was 600 years.
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This week, a detailed account by Whale and Dolphin Conservation revealed that more than 40 countries savagely hunt 100,000 dolphins and small whales each year. Heartbreaking carnage. These glorious masterpieces are tortured and slowly executed, then disdainfully used as shark and tuna bait.
Some 13 million miles of longlines with a couple billion hooks indiscriminately kill 50 million sharks and another 50 million are ruthlessly annihilated annually. 100 million butchered sharks each year.

​…more than 40 countries savagely hunt 100,000 dolphins and small whales each year.“

The top annual offenders driving dolphins and small whales quickly to extinction are:
  1. Peru (15,000 for bait and shark finning);
  2. Nigeria (10,000 meat market and fishing bait);
  3. Brazil (several thousand for fishing bait);
  4. Venezuela (several thousand for meat and fishing bait);
  5. India (several thousand for meat and fish bait);
  6. Madagascar (several thousand for meat and fish bait;
  7. South Korea (several thousand for meat);
  8. Malaysia (several thousand for meat and fish bait);
  9.  Greenland (3,100 for meat) and
  10. Japan (about 2,300 for meat).
Over the previous two decades Denmark’s Faroe Islanders have hacked and sliced up more than 18,400 dolphins and small whales.
The worst cetacean-killer of them all is Japan. Japanese ocean-killers have exterminated 173,662 dolphins and small whales.”
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BETWEEN 2007 AND 2016, GREENLANDERS HARPOONED 232 ORCAS. PHOTO CREDIT: TOM LEE
Psychopathic.
As if this insatiable human lust for cetacean cruelty isn’t enough to sicken you, there’s more.
At the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting on September 4, 2018, in Florianopolis, Brazil, Japan intends on introducing and passing a motion to resume commercial whaling. Recently, Japan went on a Caribbean buying spree to attain votes ahead of the whaling meeting. Japan is well known for its overt bribing of government officials from industrialized developing countries in order to control the IWC.
Each year, Japan kills hundreds of pregnant minkes in both the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific. But that is not enough. They want more whale blood, not for human consumption, but rather, as dog treats

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JAPAN ILLEGALLY WHALING INSIDE THE SOUTHERN OCEAN WHALE SANCTUARY. PHOTO CREDIT: TIM WATTERS/SEA SHEPHERD
In addition to all this human-induced mayhem, cetaceans face deadly ship strikes by 100,000 ocean vessels daily as well as constant propeller noise pollution. Hundreds of thousands of crab pot lines entangle cetaceans and slowly, painfully kill them. Fish farm microbes and viruses poison them along with as many as 51 trillion pieces of ocean plastics.
Worst of all, 242 decibels of incessant global seismic surveys every 10 seconds for weeks or months on end that deafen them, as humans scour the sea beds for every last drop of climate-wrecking subsidized fossil fuels. A deaf whale is a dead whale.
Already, deadly fossil fuel pollution has claimed 337 giant sei whales in the largest mass stranding of filter feeders ever recorded. The whales were victims of man-made fossil fuel heat. They ate squat lobsters laced with domoic acid from a heat-induced red tide along the shores of Patagonia.


At this current rate of unrelenting persecution the cetaceans have no chance of survival. Not only is this amoral and criminal, it is suicidal for the human race. Without the whales, dolphins and porpoises the oceans will collapse.
It’s time for each of us to double-down and reaffirm our morals and love of Nature.
“Ethics is nothing other than Reverence for Life. Reverence for life affords my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting and enhancing life, and to destroy, to harm or to hinder life is evil,” wrote Dr. Albert Schweitzer.
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  • Do not purchase cetacean-killing country products or services.
  • Refuse to support their tourism.
  • Refuse to support the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
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*all blogs and the views expressed are entirely the writers own and Living Ocean waives any responsibility for views expressed.
3 Comments

The last straw.....Lillian

3/6/2017

0 Comments

 
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Plastic straw use is generating extreme waste for unnecessary convenience. In recent times we have come to expect straws in our drinks when we dine out (even though we rarely use them when we stay in). In the US alone more straws than there are people get thrown out each day according to the Last Plastic Straw [link website].

It is time to take action. Hundreds of straws were found along our coastline at the monthly beach cleans held by Living Ocean last year. So it thrills the Living Ocean team to hear of local individuals actively promoting their avoidance, such as Farley MacDonald of the Facebook page ‘Convenient for who?’ and Bruce Raymond part-owner of fast food cafe Pineana. We are no longer ignorant to the impact that plastic is having on our oceans and the sea life within. In August 2015, a video went viral that showed the removal of a plastic straw from the nose of a sea turtle. To date, it has had over 11.7 million views. While we often hear about the impact that plastic bags and littering is having on our sea-life, we don’t witness it first hand. As difficult as the video is to watch, it is a moving reminder of the cost of our convenience.
*Warning: video below has graphic content that may be disturbing to some viewers.
Straw use is generally completely unnecessary and saying “no” to their use is, in my view, an easy enough place to start. I was surprised by comments on a recent anti-straw film doing the rounds on social media. The predominant reasons people did not want to give up straws were concerns with tooth sensitivity when drinking cold drinks and hygiene with drinking directly from the glass. I’m not sure I agree that a much-handled straw (unwashed since creation in a factory setting) would be a more hygienic option, but overall I was shocked by how attached we have become to these single-use, so-called “disposable” conveniences. At the end of the day, no matter how you look at it, the ultimate hygienic solution for the die-hard straw fan is to carry your own reusable glass or metal straw in a pouch. And if you are that concerned about the hygiene of a glass when dining out, I recommend you throw in your own knife and fork at the same time.

While straw use is a global issue, we can make the greatest difference by advocating for change in our local communities, encouraging cafes and restaurants to not immediately offer straws, and if requested to provide an alternative to plastic. Local northern beaches mum, Farley MacDonald, has started a petition to the Northern Beach Council to say no to ’single use’ plastic straws on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Farley has always lived on Sydney's Northern Beaches and so feels a very strong connection to the area.  “Over recent years I had been fighting, fairly quietly, against single-use plastics,” says Harley. "After having my little boy in March last year however, I decided it was time to get louder. I was spending more time (than in a long time) out and about and the amount of rubbish, in particular single-use convenience items, was staggering. I started picking up as much as I could and one item that stood out amongst the rest, was plastic straws. The more I thought about these convenience items, the more I realised just how unnecessary they are! After taking part in 'Clean Up Australia' this year and finding over 100 plastic straws under a 5x4 metre raised seating area on Narrabeen Beach, I decided enough was enough ... the final straw, so to speak! …And so I launched the petition.” Please show you support for the cause and jump over to change.org to sign the petition. 
Pineana (Pine - ana), a plant-based asian inspired salad noodle bar in Avalon, is paving the way for other such food outlets in our local community, to say “no” to the plastic straw. Driving Pineana’s ethos to “eat fresh, feel good, do good” is part-owner, local surfing legend, Bruce Raymond and his partners, long time vegans, Tom Luedecke, his wife Anick and Adam Guthrie. As an ocean devotee, he is passionate about protecting our oceans and creating a business of low-environmental impact. They believe that a plant based diet is the best contribution we can make for a better planet: for your own health, the health of the environment, and to be humane to all species. From the outset, Bruce has been in contact with organisations and passionate locals, such as Living Ocean and Wander Lightly, as he endeavours to establish a sustainable business practice.
​

In their bid to offer a healthy, more environmentally friendly alternative to your typical fast food outlet, Bruce and the Pineana team have faced some challenges. One of which has been to find a suitable alternative to the plastic straw. While ultimately Bruce would like to encourage customers to say ‘no’ to the straw or bring their own straw with an incentive based system, for now, they also need to offer an alternative. He put the problem to Pineana's packaging supplier, Kent Paper in Balgowlah.
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“We requested a straw that is sustainable, practical and economical,” says Bruce. "Kent Paper Balgowlah jumped on board and were more than happy to source merchandise to satisfy the move to sustainable packaging. Kent discovered a solution that ticks all the boxes - the Eco-Straw! The Eco-Straw is a game changer for our beaches, it’s totally biodegradable. It means less waste ending up in the ocean, in the food chain and in landfill. It’s one simple but mighty step local businesses can take to limit our environmental impact on the Northern Beaches – and beyond.” Austraw, the creaters of the Eco-Straw, report that an oxo-biodegradable additive is used at the manufacturing stage of the Eco-Straw which turns the ordinary plastic into a material with a different molecular structure. They advertise that after a period of useful life the product will break down in the presence of oxygen, eventually becoming carbon dioxide, water and biomass without leaving fragments in the environment. 

While the Pineana business model is fast food based, they are now offering washable bowls for customers dining in. Bruce says they have been listening to feedback from local customers and environmental organisations about their concerns. “We’re currently using PET 1 lids on our takeaway bowls and corn starch take-away cutlery.  While these are not the perfect solution, they are a start. We also offer a 10% discount on our Pineapple Crush or coffees, for customers providing their own re-useable cup or straw (stainless steel, bamboo etc). We think this is being proactive in rewarding people who make the effort, and we will help amortise their cost for purchasing the reusable product in this way.” Bruce also points out that they chose to have plant based salads for the huge environmental benefits this offers and they hope to get that message out also. 

The Pineana team have worked hard to create a fresh, healthy menu that has no animal products and that does not compromise on taste. Bruce has always been interested in his health and well being, but became more conscious following a quadruple by-pass surgery at the age of 39. Since then he has consulted with specialists who have advocated the health benefits of a meat free diet. His current business partners have long championed the benefits of a plant based diet. Adam Guthrie, a qualified chef and plant based health coach is living proof that wellness starts with food choices. He went from having a heart attack at age 39, to getting off all medications and completing one of the toughest endurance events in the world, an Ironman Triathlon. Adam now has a certificate in plant based nutrition and in addition to co-founding Pineana, writes for EatWell and Wellbeing Magazines. Following the birth of Bruce's first grandson last year, he felt even more strongly about avoiding meat and fish, not just for the fact that a plant-based diet is healthy and more humane, but also in a bid to be more mindful of our environment for the benefit of future generations. ​​
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  • LIVINGOCEAN
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