Communities & Whale Watch Industry Call On New Zealand Government To Take Action

(Auckland, New Zealand – 12 May 2007) The Pacific Island and Maori communities, leaders, musicians, conservationists and the whale watch industry will unite today for the 2007 National Day of Action to Protect Whales.

As humpback whales begin their yearly migration along New Zealand’s coasts, hundreds of people are expected to gather at Manukau City Square today for the Safe Journey Rally, protesting Japanese whaling and calling on the New Zealand Government to take action protect these whales, soon to face Japan’s harpoons.

“Time is running out for our humpback whales. On this Day of Action, people of the Pacific Island region are calling on the New Zealand and Australian Government to act now to protect our whales, protect our whale watch industry, and protect our communities,” said Mick McIntyre, Director of IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) Asia Pacific.

Whale watch operators will also join the protest, as they look to protect the future of a booming whale watch industry which generates close to $120 million for the New Zealand economy and $28 million to the South Pacific economy each year.

The National Day of Action follows the recent findings of the Sydney Panel of Independent International Legal Experts, which clearly outline the legal channels the Australian and New Zealand Governments can take to stop the Government of Japan from whaling, under any guise, in the Southern Ocean.

This study, commissioned by IFAW, concludes that Japan’s rapidly expanding ‘scientific’ whaling program breaches the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Antarctic Treaty System, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling.

Day of Action events will be held in Manukau City, Tauranga and Kaikoura.

Events are also being held in Tonga and in twenty towns in Australia, as part of a wider Day of Action, demonstrating the importance of whales to our region. A minute’s silence in commemoration of whales killed in the Southern Ocean will be observed at midday and will link all of the Day of Action events.

The National Day of Action to Protect Whales is supported by the Whale and Dolphin Watching Association of Australia (WADWA) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

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