17 dead whales and dolphins in Berlin
Posted by Stephanie (in Germany)
We're at the end of a long road of collecting dead cetaceans around Europe. We've met a lot of scientists with grief in their voices from years of dealing with the issue of dolphins as bycatch from fishing. Our demonstration in Berlin - where we displayed 17 dead whales and dolphins - was strong and successful one. Journalists called asking with disbelieving voices: "Every two minute a whale? That can't be..."
17 whales die as bycatch every half an hour, worldwide. We pointed out the big threats cetaceans face these days. First we were a bit disappointed that the police didn't allow us to show more, but in the end, each whale told its own story. The little porpoise-calf missing part of his face due to a collision with a ships propeller, the white-sided dolphin with a chopped tail - done by a fisherman to make him sink - the porpoise with bad net marks, but still having a friendly expression in his face, almost amazed.
For me, the last weeks meant a lot. I hadn't been aware about the scale of the problem of bycatch. Numbers are increasing, the animals are so badly wounded (broken beaks, missing fins or flukes, bodies cut open etc.) that scientists bringing up the question of ethics. I also didn't expect to be holding a dying beaked whale, while watching military vessels still on the horizon.
Today we got almost exclusive positive response from the general public visiting the place, being interested, sad and keen to sign the petitions. We had a huge media response that included a wide range of also international media e.g. Italian, Turkish, Japanese, US and also several international online agencies and services besides AP and Reuters. The German media interest was also big, with several live broadcasts taking place
We were able to link this demonstration to three political aspect to serve
our whale and also our oceans campaign:
- The need for new thinking in fishery policy in order to minimize bycatch
- The need for a network of protected areas for our oceans
- The IWC meeting next week in Alaska needs to deal with all threats and all species of whales and dolphins and that like minded governments are also responsibility for this diaster at sea. We also need to keep the moratoria in place due to the general pressure on these animals and our seas.
I agree with my colleague Thomas who said: "I can tell you that from today's experience that we can not do better than bringing evidence of environmental crime such as bycatch to the places where our inactive politicians are just bullshitting."
The 17 dead whales and dolphins are now on their way to Stockholm and then to Amsterdam.
- Stephanie
Take Action: Join the Big Blue March and support the whales »
