We bumped into two very important members of the IWMC, which is the International Wildlife Management Consortium. That all sounded well and good, and we could see that they were printing documents featuring diagrams of whales. They spoke French, and luckily so does Fred, and he asked if we could perhaps have a copy of their document. "I don't want to give ammunition to Greenpeace," we were told, and in a flash of friendly handshakes and D&G sunglasses, they left. Ammunition hey? Back at base tonight, no-one was surprised. I just googled the IWMC. According to their website:

IWMC is a global coalition of experts and wildlife managers promoting the conservation of habitat and wildlife resources and advocating the use of science-based techniques in managing environmental issues.

It seems to me though, and this is a personal opinion, that once again "conservation" here is used as a euphemism to disguise the fact that animals are viewed as "resources". I've seen this numerous times now, notably also on the Ulsan Whale Centre's website describing the need to "conserve" and "sustainably use" whales. "Management" of environmental issues seems to be getting rid of them - literally. I was a bit incensed that they accused Greenpeace of not being scientific, especially since a large consensus of world scientists - including at the IWC - are on our side. They are just lucky my French consists of two nursery rhymes and the words to "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", or they might have got an earful from me. (Then again, perhaps if I had've attempted to sing to them that would have put them out of business for the next few days at least).

Mission accomplished, Fred headed to the Ulsan Grand Park where we had a stall set up with KFEM as part of the Whale Festival (two doors down from the Japanese Whaling Association, so there was much fun to be had) and I went back to the Embassy to check out the celebrations surrounding the whale museum.

The Embassy itself is looking great, with a mini-golf course for kids, living quarters (complete with kitchen cupboards) and a little tent city outside for all our activists. The air in Ulsan is suffocating though - not only is it unbearably hot in the Embassy, it's more polluted than I remember. The days are humid and warm and a haze hangs constantly over the city. One of our activists was nearly hospitilised with a severe allergic reaction to petrochemicals which broke out within 10 minutes of his arrival! I am getting a rash on my arm but everyone assures me it will go away as soon as I step on the plane. I can see why these people hoped to turn to whaling to revitalise their city. However I think slowly we are convincing them that whaling is not sustainable and that whale-watching could be a better answer.

Anyway - back to the Whale Festival. Around the Embassy is a colourful marketplace to celebrate the Ulsan Whale Festival ... although it's true reason for celebration is apparent right from the front gate. Despite the cheerful dolphin-shaped balloons and trucks full of donuts, there was a woman selling whale meat from a plastic bag on the ground at the front gate. Her companion wouldn't let me photograph the meat, which even had balleens (the whale's "teeth") in it.

Among the usual trinket stalls, hotdog stands and fortune-telling monkeys there are many stalls holding stuffed squid, live squid and fish destined to be eaten alive, and bowls of plastic-covered whalemeat chunks. The others have told me of the smell of cooking dolphin and whalemeat overwhelming them as they walked through the dusty fairground. (They also said the music coming out of there keeps them awake at night, and I have to admit I heard the worst version of "Yesterday" I've ever heard as I wandered innocently past the donut stand ... ok not quite past it .... ok I bought quite a lot of donuts but that doesn't excuse the song.)

The locals seemed to enjoy the festival though, and there are some beautiful ceremonies taking place and a real sense of community. To their credit, they have tolerated our presence in the midst of this admirably. We managed to bring a lot of people through the Embassy today, and even diverted some of them from their original plan of a whalemeat lunch. This evening after I had purchased a stock of ginseng drinks at the supermarket to ward off my jetlag, an old man approached Ilja and I as we crossed the road. "Greenpeace?" he asked. We nodded. He gave us a thumbs-up and a toothless grin. "I remember you!" he exclaimed in delight and went wandering off smiling towards the Embassy. We felt encouraged.

This evening we had an update on the political situation at the IWC. The news isn't good - three nations previously not interested in whales have mysteriously decided to join at the last minute... and we also found out that our African friends from the airport were representing one of them.

But we are far from despairing and rumours continue to abound that Korea and China will vote against Japan. Fingers crossed ...

Adele