meat is murder

It’s been quite a week…
we’ve had pig farmers storming London because pig farming is expensive and they don’t earn enough money (stop doing it then), Japan fighting for support of whaling within the IWC (for a change), and the Sea Shepherd crew have reported at being shot at by Japanese whalers.
As usual at meatismurder, a caveat must be added to the whaling stories below - we report on the death of whales with the same passion and concern as we would report the death of cows or chickens as they are all sentient beings who deserve to not be caught in a machine of profit and greed.

Some 500 pig farmers and pig industry workers descended on Whitehall today to hand in a petition about the crisis threatening their industry.

Demonstrators from the National Pig Association protest in London
Demonstrators from the National Pig Association protest in Whitehall to demand a fair price from supermarkets

The campaigners include Jimmy Doherty, the TV pig farmer and friend of Jamie Oliver who is having to cut his rare-breed herd of breeding sows from 95 to 30 because of the rising price of feed.

Pig farmers say they are losing about £26 on every pig sold for slaughter in Britain because pig feed has gone up from around £130 to £225 a ton in the past year.

But while wholesale grain costs have doubled they claim supermarkets have not increased farm gate prices accordingly.

Winnie the Pig, a veteran of a similar campaign in 2001, also joined the Pigs are Worth It! rally outside Downing Street.

From the Telegraph

Japan has denied claims it fired bullets at anti-whaling protesters in the Southern Ocean.

Environmental activist group Sea Shepherd accuses Japanese Coast Guard officers of firing stun grenades and rifles during clashes today in the Southern Ocean.

Captain of the Sea Shepherd ship, Paul Watson, says he found a bullet lodged in the the bullet-proof vest he was wearing and that one of his crew was hit by a grenade and received minor injuries.

But Japan’s Government denies that, saying it only launched “noise balls” - loud explosive deterrent devices - after repeated attacks on its whaling ship by Sea Shepherd.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Tomohiko Taniguchi says no shots were fired.

From ABCNews

Japan is looking for new supporters of its pro-whaling stance ahead of a major meeting on the future of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

A one-day seminar on Monday brought delegates from 12 developing countries, most of them not IWC members, to Tokyo to discuss “sustainable use” of whales.

An official told the BBC that Japan hoped these nations would join the IWC.

On Thursday, the IWC begins a three-day meeting in London aiming to plot a new course for the fractured organisation.

We want the idea of sustainable use to be understood by as many countries as possible
Ryotaro Suzuki
Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Officially charged with the effective regulation of commercial whaling, many of its member countries would prefer its central remit to become conservation of the “great whales” and their close relatives such as dolphins and porpoises, with virtually all hunting banned.

But Japan, Norway, Iceland and their allies in the pro-sustainable use bloc argue that there is no reason in principle why whales cannot be hunted like other wild creatures, provided quotas are small enough to be sustainable.

Japan believes the western love of whales is culturally specific
In recent years, both camps have sought to bring new member countries into the IWC to bolster their numbers.

At the 2006 annual meeting, the pro-whalers achieved superiority for the first time in 20 years with the passing of a resolution asking for the eventual return of commercial hunting.

By last year’s meeting, enough new anti-whaling countries had joined to give this bloc the upper hand once more.

Both blocs continue to lobby potential new allies - hence Japan’s decision to host Monday’s seminar looking at the sustainable use of cetaceans.

Some of the 12 countries attending, such as Palau and Cambodia, are already IWC members; but most, including Angola, Eritrea and Micronesia, are not.

From the BBC

All it takes is some time to read and an open-mind and people realise that something needs to be done about what is happening out of sight to put bodies on a plate.

Supermodel PETRA NEMCOVA has become a vegan after reading up on the planet’s fish problems.

The stunning Czech Republic catwalk star reveals she gave up meat and dairy in February (07) because she wants to set an example and help save ocean life. Nemcova explains, “I became quite green… I have a very strong connection to nature… and I read that if we fish the way we fish, in 2048 there will be no more fish left, which is pretty soon. So it’s a statement.”

The scientists themselves say it - the further up the food chain, the greater the risk of organic pollutants to the consumer of fish. As great big wacking eaters of fish it looks like people have reason to be concerned.

Environment | Pollution risks to people slip through net in tests on fish:

A new class of organic pollutants in the environment which could pose risks to people’s health has been identified by scientists. The chemicals, used in a wide range of pesticides and cosmetics, have been unwittingly ignored by regulators, who have assumed them to be safe. Organic chemicals such as dioxins, PCBs and the pesticide DDT are dangerous because once they get into the environment they stay there. Even small amounts in food can build up over time and contribute to health problems in later life such as cancer.

As a result, more than 140 countries have endorsed a treaty to try to remove a dozen of the most dangerous chemicals from the environment. But Canadian scientists have found that there is a flaw in the models used to predict which substances are dangerous. Regulators normally do this by watching the chemicals that accumulate in fish. But Frank Gobas, at the Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, said fish flushed out chemical pollutants from their bodies in a different way from air-breathing animals and birds. Professor Gobas has identified a new class of chemicals which fish seem to be able to get rid of but which could accumulate and cause problems in people. “These … chemicals, representing a third of organic chemicals in commercial use, constitute an unidentified class of potentially bioaccumulative substances that require regulatory assessment to prevent possible ecosystem and human-health consequences,” he writes today in Science.

Organic pollutants are made up of complex molecules which do not break down easily, building up in the food chain through bioaccumulation. This means that the level of the chemicals in an animal’s tissues rises the higher up the food chain it is - larvae might eat some contaminated algae, a fish eats the larvae, and bigger fish eat smaller fish. Those at the top of the food chain, such as swordfish and polar bears, have been found to contain the highest doses of pollutants. ”

Sea Shepherd, the direct action marine group, made the news earlier this year when they came up against Japanese whaling ships (and won) at a time that Japan was pushing to have the ban on commercial whaling lifted again. However it’s not just the whales that Sea Shepherd are concerned with. This latest piece of news from them shows the efforts they are going to save sharks from the disgraceful shark fin industry.

20/06/2007

Sea Shepherd Galapagos Sting Results in Seizure of Over 18,000 Shark Fins

Two-month Long Undercover Investigation Reveals Illegal Shark Fin Trade

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and operatives of the Ecuadorian Environmental Police seized a total of 18,673 shark fins and arrested four suspects who are now being detained. “This successful sting is the result of several months working covertly with the cooperation of General Bolivar Cisneros, Chief Commander of the Ecuadorian National Police,” said Sea Shepherd Galapagos Director Sean O’Hearn-Gimenez.  “Sea Shepherd traced potential exit points in the illegal shark fin trade that occurs in the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador.”

“This is a cruel and senseless act.  Some shark populations have declined by more than 90% in the last 30 years.  Many of the sharks are finned in and around the Galapagos Marine Reserve and this has a direct impact on Ecuador’s tourism industry,” stated O’Hearn-Gimenez. “Using longlines, the shark finner will use a long hook to haul the shark into the boat and then club it in the head knocking the shark unconscious.  At this point the shark is finned alive and is thrown back into the water and left to bleed an agonizing death.”          

In Ecuador, exportation and commercialization of shark fins is against the law.  Sea Shepherd will be filing a lawsuit as well as conducting a forensic analysis of the shark fins in order to determine the biological makeup of the sharks and to determine whether any of the species are also listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Sea Shepherd will also oversee the incineration of the fins.

 
 
Top left to right: District Attorney Lenin Fierro counting shark fins, assistant district attorney,
and Dr. Pachaca of the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment; Biologist Carlos Villon (Crime Scene Technician) and Dr. Pachaca (wearing glasses)
Bottom left to right: Marine Biologist Carlos Villon and assistant district attorrney;
burning the shark fins so that they do not enter the illegal market

“We have invested seven years in the Galapagos so far,” said Sea Shepherd Founder and President Captain Paul Watson. “We have established a solid working relationship with the Galapagos National Park and enforcement authorities in Ecuador. This important bust and seizure of shark fins is a heavy economic blow to the criminals engaged in this destructive and illegal trade.” O’Hearn-Gimenez will oversee the incineration of the shark fins to ensure that they do not re-enter the black market. Sea Shepherd Galapagos continues to work with the Environmental Police in Ecuador with the objective of putting an end to the illegal shark fin trade.

Click here to learn more about our efforts to save ocean wildlife in the Galapagos!

Japan’s efforts to get good old-fashioned whale killing back on the agenda have had another set back. Damn! the meatismurder admin had just invested in some scrimshaw stocks as well.

Japan’s long-term strategy to see a re-introduction of commercial whale hunting has suffered another rebuff.

Its motion asking the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to review whale stocks was defeated.

Approval for the motion, discussed at the CITES summit in The Hague, could have led to a resumption in a legal trade in whalemeat.

A similar proposal on fin whales by Iceland was also defeated.

The CITES conference follows hard on the heels of the International Whaling Commission annual meeting, which saw Japan suffer reverses on a number of issues.

“It’s a one-two punch for the whales,” said Patrick Ramage, global whale programme manager with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw).

“In the space of a week, the two leading institutions charged with protecting wildlife have rejected efforts by Japan to weaken protection for our planet’s great whales.”

Following suit

Historically, CITES has followed IWC advice on whale stocks. Because the IWC maintains a global moratorium on commercial hunting, international trade in whalemeat is banned.

However, with the IWC mired in deadlock and with no sign of the 21-year moratorium being lifted, Japan has viewed CITES as another route to opening the whale trade.

A CITES assessment that some stocks were robust enough to withstand a degree of international trade would signal they were also robust enough to sustain some commercial hunting.

A number of governments and NGOs supported Japan’s bid to have CITES re-evaluate whale stocks, with Eugene Lapointe of the World Conservation Trust (IWMC) commenting: “CITES has its own rules, its own criteria, and it’s just normal that the listing of species is re-assessed.”

The majority of delegates disagreed, and the resolution was defeated. Japan had offered to fund the re-assessment exercise.

Deep waters

The introduction of the commercial whaling moratorium in 1986 was supposed to be accompanied by an IWC global review of whale stocks. The fact that it is a long way from completion is a major factor behind Japan’s frustration.

But Mark Simmonds of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, who attended the recent IWC scientific committee meeting, defended the long timescale.

“I can assure delegates that the scientific review is indeed comprehensive,” he said.

“But it’s not a simple matter to assess species which spend so much time in the water, sometimes far offshore; and where individuals are often virtually indistinguishable from each other.

“With these factors in mind, it is unreasonable and unfair to suggest that CITES could produce something more thorough than the IWC scientific advice.”

The meeting passed an amendment saying that CITES should not re-assess whale stocks while the commercial moratorium remained in place.

The industrialised clearing of a living environment has a bad effect it on. Shock horror news.

Excessive fishing in the Black Sea has triggered major changes in the marine ecosystem, scientists suggest. The collapse of fish stocks altered the sea’s food chain, triggering a “regime shift” that allowed a species of invasive jellyfish to bloom, they said. But curbing fishing will not be enough to return the habitat to a stable state unless pollution and biodiversity controls are also adopted, they warn. The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A long-term study by Georgi Daskalov, from the UK’s Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), and colleagues found that excessive fishing had resulted in a series of shifts in the sea’s ecosystem over the past 50 years. “Ecosystems exist in a dynamic balance of predator and prey,” explained Dr Daskalov. “Changing relationships within the food web, such as removing top predators through fishing, can tip the scales and lead to large-scale changes in ecosystem make-up, scientifically referred to as regime shifts.” Alien invasion By analysing the population trends of the sea’s fish and plankton, the team identified two major shifts over the 50-year period. They found that overfishing before the 1970s effectively removed top predators - including dolphins, mackerel and bluefin tuna. Without predation, small plankton-eating fish, such as anchovy and sprat, increased in number. As a result, the fishing industry changed its focus. “Modern fisheries developed, and during the 1970s and 1980s these stocks were overfished as well,” Dr Daskalov told BBC News. “By the early 1990s, there was a collapse of these stocks.” This triggered the second regime shift in the Black Sea’s marine ecosystem, he explained. An invasive jellyfish-like organism, the comb jellyfish ( Mnemiopsis leidyi ), was able to thrive in the fish-scarce waters. A European Environment Agency report in 2005 found that comb jelly, which arrived in the Black Sea via ships’ ballast water, accounted for 90% of the sea’s entire biomass at one point. “Initially, the jellyfish was blamed for the fish stock collapse,” Dr Daskalov recalled. “Our hypothesis is that overfishing and the collapse of the planktivorous fish was favourable for the Mnemiopsis leidyi to develop in huge quantities.” He said the jellyfish boom was a result of an abundance of zooplankton (microscopic animal organisms), whose numbers increased because they were not being eaten by the fish. Balancing act Overfishing of the top predators and the smaller plankton-eating fish changed the relationship between the sea’s organisms. The resulting adjustment among the different levels of the food chain, known as “trophic cascades”, helped explain why the regime shifts occurred, Dr Daskalov suggested. He said the relationship between the planktivore fish and the comb jellyfish was the most important in terms of stabilising the marine ecosystem. “The control is that the fish are better suited to take advantage of a lower abundance of zooplankton, but jellyfish need high levels in order to reproduce in vast numbers.” As stocks fell, many left the fishing industry. This allowed the populations of plankton-eating fish to stage a recovery and compete with the jellyfish for the zooplankton. However, Dr Daskalov warned that the strategy of limiting catches was not enough. “Recognising that fishing influences not only the fish stocks but also the ecosystems is essential for modern-day management. “Given the current situation worldwide of largely overfished stocks and degraded environments, management must aim to restore ecosystems into balanced states.” He said this would include reducing human impacts, increasing biodiversity and improving the quality of the environment. “Partial recovery is not a stable objective because further changes, such as unfavourable climate or alien species, may drive the system into the next catastrophic loop.”