Anti-whaling

In 1972 the United States passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act as the first article of legislation to call specifically for an ecosystem approach to natural resource management and conservation.

In particular the 1971 Pelly Amendment to the US Fishermen's Protection Act gives the US President legal authority to prohibit importation of fish products from any nation that is diminishing the effectiveness of fisheries conservation programs.

Paul Spong, a New Zealand scientist who once studied the intelligence of orcas and friend of Canadian author Farley Mowat, helped convince then Greenpeace director, Robert Hunter, that the organization should confront Russian whalers in the Pacific.

The activists were unable to stop the Russian whalers but the airing of this event on television was significant in raising public awareness by making the Save the Whales movement front-page news for the first time.

[18][21] A newly formed Hawaii based Greenpeace organization joined in the Pacific campaign against Russian whalers with a fast former sub-chaser called the Ohana Kai.

The activist group had not managed to arrange for a large mother-ship to support their Zodiacs as they chased whalers tens of miles out into shark filled waters in small inflatable boats carrying loads of excess fuel.

Through an international network of contacts and with financial assistance from environmental organizations, Nick Carter traced documents of insurance, ownership, billing, import and export and more.

Carter's evidence exposed the MV Sierra as a diesel powered hybrid catcher-factory ship hunting throughout the Atlantic in violation of many national laws, and completely without regard for international whaling regulations.

[25][26][27] To maximize profits, Sierra's motley international crew (which even staged a mutiny that left one Norwegian captain wounded and marooned in Angola) used cold harpoons without expensive explosive tips, which prolonged the suffering of the animal, and often kept only the prime-cuts of meat while dumping most of the whale carcass.

The design of the ship itself, a catcher-factory hybrid complete with freezers to preserve the meat, enabled Sierra to operate in a cost-effective manner without a large fleet that would draw attention.

Andrew M Behr, director, Sierra Fishing Company, in an interview by London's ObserverNick Carter was officially recognized by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) for his investigative role in exposing pirate whaling as well as other illicit trade in wildlife after his death in 2000.

With the contributions in Europe and a grant from the World Wildlife Fund, the Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, was deployed in 1978 to confront Iceland's whalers in the North Atlantic.

[26][27][32] [33] Craig Van Note, of the Monitor Consortium (a group of conservation organizations based in Washington), provided Watson with vital information on the location of the Sierra from a global network of sources.

After several months of efforts to have the Sea Shepherd released, and with most of its valuable equipment stolen, Watson and engineer Peter Woof scuttled the ship to prevent her from falling into the whalers' hands.

Paul WatsonIn February 1980, just as the Sierra was nearly completely repaired and refitted to continue whaling, unknown saboteurs hired by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society[34] used magnetic limpet mines to blow a hole in her side and sank the pirate whaler in Lisbon harbor, permanently ending her career.

Nick Carter's continued efforts, in addition to investigations by Greenpeace and other groups, also uncovered pirate whalers in South America with an operation in Brazil labeled as a "Japanese whaling colony" by environmentalists.

Nick Carter, his colleague Nan Rice, and many other conservationists personally urged Colin Eglin to act while international environmental organizations pressured the government for an official inquiry.

A replacement part was found, smuggled into Spain, and walked past the Spanish guards by Greenpeace members laughing and acting as if returning from a bout of drinking.

[40] In 1981, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party sponsored a motion long supported by organized environmental lobbying to compel Spain's IWC delegates to vote for a moratorium and immediate halt to whaling.

The tiny island country joined the IWC and Holt watched from an NGO observer's seat as Lyall Watson led the Seychelles delegation to propose and succeed in establishing an Indian Ocean whale sanctuary.

A letter from the Japanese ambassador explained this grant would not be extended to the tiny island nation due to its position in the International Whaling Commission and stated this decision would be reversed if the attitude of the Seychelles government changed at the IWC.

[37][44] In January 1979, a Greenpeace investigator, Campbell Plowden, narrowly avoided arrest by the Chilean DINA (secret police) as he gathered information, including photographic evidence, on the whaling operation in San Vicente, Chile|.

[37][46] The investigation continued in Japan's Tsukiji market where Campbell Plowden and Rebecca Clark found whale meat, packed by Marine Enterprises Co. Ltd (a South Korean front company), that had originally come from Taiwan.

This led Plowden and Clark to the Marine Enterprises processing plant to gather proof of Taiwan provided whale meat repackaged as a product of Korea for shipment to Japan.

[37][46] In late February 1980, just days after these findings were reported to the United States government, Japanese customs agents seized 300 tons of Korean whale meat as illegally imported from Taiwan.

[37][46] In February 1978, an endangered blue whale washed ashore near the town of Conchan, Peru and died from massive harpoon wounds as Peruvian conservationist, Felipe Benavides watched.

Most notably, Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society continue separate campaigns of direct action against whale hunts conducted by Norway, Iceland, and Japan.

, the Australian government, as an anti-whaling member of the IWC, set a November 2010 deadline to stop Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean or face an international legal challenge.

[needs update] In a compromise aimed at ending a deadlock between anti-whaling nations and whaling countries, such as Norway, Iceland, and Japan, the IWC would permit limited commercial hunting.

[2][65] Other more formal ways of affecting change are political campaigning, diplomacy, negotiation and arbitration, and lobbying are methods of influencing decisions made by the government (in groups or individually).