WDC Blog - From the Front Line

Now I might be a bit slow on the uptake sometimes but I always thought that if you were setting out to protect dolphins you should always remember that they are not trees.

In fact they are not any type or species of tree or any other stationary or non-moving living creature or, indeed, any inanimate object that does not stray from its starting point.

So if we wish to protect a tree we can put a line in the earth around it and then make sure that nothing comes near it with appropriately worded signage. We can also think about ensuring that the tree gets the appropriate nutrients and water. So it’s not just what is around the tree that counts but what comes into contact with it from its neighbourhood; so no polluting rivers or toxic substances in the nearby soil.

Okay so that’s 101 in tree conservation. So why, when we would sensibly do that for a non-walking tree, does the UK Government go and offer for oil exploitation blocks of ocean that sit right next to where they say they are protecting some of the only remaining bottlenose dolphins to be found around the UK. That will be the same dolphins that definitely don’t stay in their Special Area of Conservation (SAC), but range along the Moray coastline that the UK Government is offering up for exploration

But hey! The dolphins have their SAC to retreat to, - because, of course, they will immediately recognize the line in the sea that the UK Government has drawn whilst it applies its ‘tree based’ conservation policy to the seas around us.

A few days ago (12th February) I noted that the Asahi Shimbun had reported that the Japanese whaling industry has been operating at a considerable loss. Well, I've managed to track down the orginal article and its very revealling.

The article states that the Institute of Cetacean Research, the Japanese Government quango of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, is 'struggling to pay back its interest-free loans to the government'.  In 2006 the ICR failed to pay back 1 billion yen, and the Government were forced to extnd its loan period through 2007 to 2010.

In its accounts for 2006 the ICR reports a loss of 700 million yen.

The Ashai Shimbun reports that incresed crticism within Japan is now being seen as people begin to further question the Japanese Government's insistance on maintaining an unprofitable industry with tax payers money    

Several years ago WDCS raised concerns about the issue of suspiciously high levels of Mercury and other contaminants in whale and dolphin meat products available in Japan. However, Japanese officials seemed committed to ensuring that nothing would disrupt their zealotry in trying to get commercial whaling endorsed; for some not even the safety of their own people seems to have been an issue. Now others are willing to speak out and take responsibility for their countrymen.

At a time when some governments seem as committed to give in to Japanese blackmail (we shall kill more whales – like humpbacks, if you don’t give us what we want - is how it normally goes) it should be remembered that Japan is changing and that pro-conservation governments simply have to hold strong and Japan will change around them, even if its leaders are still stuck in the past.

The International Herald Tribune is reporting on the debate in Taiji where, at the urging of two town council members, schools promised to stop serving pilot whale for lunch, and some local supermarkets removed it and dolphin from their shelves.

The article notes the reluctance of the Japanese press to cover the issue, but the true impact is what the article goes on to say, that even in this bastion of whaling, ‘Most of those under 40 no longer eat the meat, according to many residents. "We're not saying that consumption of dolphin should disappear, but I think it's inevitable that it will," said Ryono, the council member. "As the older generation disappears, so will demand for dolphin meat."’

It's an incredibly busy time in the fundraising team at WDCS.  As you'll have read we are full steam ahead in our campaign to protect the very special dolphins of the Moray Firth from the proposed oil and gas developments in their home.

It's our job to raise the money that enables the amazing campaigns team to get out there and do the research and lobbying that is needed to protect these animals.

Anyway, to get to the point (which is usually the first rule of fundraising!), we're all really excited that TV presenter Nigel Marven is going to be running the London Marathon on April 13th to raise funds for the Protect Our Dolphins campaign.  He's doing this primarily because he feels as passionately as we do that these incredible animals deserve protection, but also, so he says, because he's 'thickening in the middle' and wants to get fit again!

This campaign needs all the support we can muster and so if you feel like doing your bit, and helping Nigel Marven shed a few pounds at the same time, please sponsor him by clicking here:

www.justgiving.com/nigelmarven

It's a really simple form and will only take a few minutes, but could save the lives of the dolphins of the Moray Firth.  Thank you!

The BBC have a wonderful programme in its Natural World series on dolphins rescuing humans, but its only available on their I-player for a few days more. If you get a chance, watch it, - its quite amazing.

It also touches on the ethics and morality of the way we humans relate to these non-human persons.

It would seem that no only is whaling an anachronism to us in WDCS, it seems the Japanese public are just not buying the Government’s arguments, or the whale meat, either. After several years of trying to promote the sale of whale meat the The Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), responsible for Japan's lethal so-called "scientific whaling", is flooding Japan with cheap whale meat that it cannot sell, according to the reports in the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.  

WDCS has been advocating for several years that the subsidies used for whaling were a waste of taxpayers money and indeed creating a false impression of demand in what was actually a declining market.

Norway did the same in the 1990s, but it would now seem that the Japanese ministries may not all be on the same side. Maybe the Finance Ministry has run out of patience with their colleagues in the Fisheries Ministry and their crusade to impose whaling on the world. The same Japanese media reports suggest that the ICR is struggling to repay $37 million in government subsidies.

Any other business would be bust by now. So just accept the truth ICR, you are out of the whaling business. Maybe you could make more money from whale watching! WDCS would be happy to help the transition.

So if you saw my last post, hopefully you went to YouTube and watched our new campaign video focused on the UK government doing a u-turn on protecting the Moray Firth dolphins. Right now, I'm the one "looking after" our presence on the YouTube site, and I have to tell you, it's a happening place - but not necessarily for all the reasons you might think.

Online video has become a big thing in the past 3 years, as have social networking sites. Let’s face it; it’s fun to share, contact your friends online, and maybe make some new ones. The trouble is, that’s not all that people use it for.

Right now there is a propaganda war being fought on the digital battlefield between conservationists like WDCS and pro-exploitation and pro-whaling factions. The tactics are a good deal more subtle and insidious than you might think. Propaganda isn’t new, protagonists have been using it since way before the printing press was invented, but the social engineering tactics behind it have got increasingly sophisticated over recent years.

If you do a search for “whaling” on YouTube, you’ll find a great many videos condemning the Japanese so-called “scientific” whaling program – but you’ll also find an increasing number of videos posted by pro-whalers accusing conservationists of everything from poor science to cultural imperialism, and most disturbingly, of racism. The tactic is designed to move the focus of debate from whaling to race relations, and the comments are deliberately incendiary to provoke a heated response – thus playing into the whaler’s hands and giving them license to play the victims in this sorry charade. WDCS isn’t playing that game – but the unwary can be caught out and pulled into a debate about Japanese vs western culture which is really not the issue at stake.

Sure, WDCS uses YouTube and other sites to campaign through– we want our message to reach as many people as possible, so in that regard you might consider it as “propaganda”. However, I can tell you that WDCS is very strict on publishing in any medium, and we have to qualify everything we say. We don’t publish unless we can prove it.

Each of us as individuals has to decide what to do with the information presented to us. In this age, we are bombarded with information from all different angles. The trick for organizations – governments, companies, NGOs and those who want to exploit whales for commercial gain – is to ensure that it is their interpretation of the information that is the one most widely believed; that’s what propaganda is about. There are many different tactics involved; some are genuinely honest; many are not. The choice of tactics used depends on your morality and ethics but also sometimes it would appear, your end goal and how far you are willing to go in order to secure that goal.

WDCS will always endeavour to tell the truth, as the evidence suggests (although of course, we would say that, wouldn’t we). The “truth” depends greatly on your point of view, but “our truth” is founded on scientific and conservation principals and as a charity we have high standards set for us by regulators. We don’t need to use diversionary or FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) tactics for our campaigns, because fundamentally we believe that what we’re doing is right.

If you have to lie to the public, selectively choose information to pass on, or even seek to mislead, that’s a pretty good indicator that what you’re doing is wrong. So just because someone keeps saying there are 700,000 minkes in the southern oceans doesn’t mean its true. Why not look at the evidence yourselves. It’s interesting what you might find.

After two weeks of no sleep, excessive caffeine and going prematurely grey, the Protect Our Dolphins viral video is complete! Check it out;

There is poetic justice in last night’s football results;

Wales 3 : Norway 0

 As a Welshman, that makes me rather happy.