Greenpeace activists call on Gorton's to use their influence to stop whaling.
This does not mean an end to the so-called scientific whaling
program,but it does mean we've driven home a very important point:
whaling isbad for business.
Our campaign has put Nissui in the spotlight, a one-third
shareholderin Kyodo Senpaku, which owns and operates the whaling
fleet. Thatimplicated two of the world's largest seafood companies
with links to the whalingbusiness: Gortons in the US, wholly owned
by Nissui, and Sealord in NewZealand, 50 percent owned by Nissui.
You took our campaign fromthe high seas to the high streets (or the
bounding main to the mainstreets, if you're North American). Ocean
Defenders from New Zealand toNew York sent thousands of emails to
these companies, calling on themto use their influence to end
whaling and warning them that consumersdo not support the
activities of their parent company.
Globally, Ocean Defenders sent a total of 100,000 emails to
Nissui-related companies.
Nissui lost seafood supply contracts in Argentina after
activistsplaced stickers denouncing whaling on Nissui products in
supermarketsand sent more than 20,000 emails.
By linking to our Gorton's information page, online activists
droveinformation about Gorton's relation to whaling activities up
into thenumber two slot for Google searches on "Gortons."
"This is a gorgeous example of the power of consumers in
today'sglobalised markets," said Adele Major of the Greenpeace
Internationalweb team. "We've moused them into submission."
Bad for business
Last week, a retreat was announced: Nissui will divest
theirsharesin Kyodo Senpaku to "a public interest entity" and will
stopcanning and selling "scientific research" whales on the
Japanesemarket. We'll get back toyou when we know what that
"public interest entity" is going to be, butwe suspect thisis code
for "government subsidy program."
"While Nissui and the other share holders have taken the
cowardly wayout by divesting rather than ending Kyodo Senpaku's
whaling, this is avictory for consumers. After only a few months of
consumer protest, thefragile commercial interest in whaling has
collapsed. Whaling is badfor business," said Shane Rattenbury, our
expedition leader in therecent campaign in the Southern Ocean
against whaling.
Only profit from whaling: buying the IWC
Whale-killing may be bad for business, but money is still at the
heartof the Japanese Government's bid to bring about the return
ofcommercial whaling. Despite the overwhelming international
rejection ofwhaling, the government of Japan has spent billions of
Yen on buyingvotes at the International Whaling Commission. This
year the Japanesedelegation believes it will be able to secure a
majority of votes endthe international moratorium on commercial
whaling.
The question remains: what will the powerful anti-whaling
governmentslike Australia, the UK, the US and Germany do at June's
IWC meeting,will they stand by and let Japan buy the IWC?
Not if we have something to say about it. The Ocean
Defendershave just forced a major corporation to divest its shares
inwhaling. To be a part of our next move, make sure you're signedup as an
ocean defender. You'll get our insider's ezine full
ofinformation about how you can help protect the oceans, save
whales, andbe a part of this global force. It's all free.
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