IWC 63 Thursday late afternoon
Nothing is still happening.
We were recently treated to some loud commentary from the press gallery where Black of the BBC was interviewing himself (presumably for the BBC). He commented that Jersey was seemingly not in the UK (which we knew, see loyal toast yesterday). Then went on to describe the situation of the Western gray whales - which are endangered and the story of Flecks - a gray whale who was tagged and followed far away from the accepted migration route to the 'wrong' side of the ocean.
Richard Black of the British Broadcasting Corporation or BBC in the press gallery.
The only real reason that we mention this is that there are many important issues embedded in the reports from the Conservation and Scientific Committees and we are never going to hear about them at this rate.
Meanwhile here are some pictures from the IWC this afternoon.
The lone Australian - Pam Eiser
Vane and Sue
The paparazzi find Vicky
The distinguished Colombian delegate, Fernando Trujillo
During the reception last night, we used a couple of quotes from the famed visionary naturalist, writer and conservationist Gerald Durrell. Durell died in 1995 but his legacy lives on in his centre is a famous attraction and training centre here in Jersey.
Here are those quotes both from his book 'Two in the Bush' published in 1966:
'Firstly what does conservation mean? It is not merely the saving from extinction of such species ... You cannot begin to preserve any species of animal unless you preserve the habitat in which it dwells. Disturb or destroy that habitat and you will exterminate the species as surely as if you had shot it. So conservation means that you have to preserve forest and grassland, river and lake, even the sea itself. This is not only vital for the preservation of animal life generally, but for the future existence of man himself — a point that seems to escape many people.
and
'We have inherited an incredibly beautiful and complex garden, but the trouble is that we have been appallingly bad gardeners.... We now stand so aloof from nature that we think we are God. This has always been a dangerous supposition.
17.02
The Chairman is sighted. There is now a group, they are drafting and they will come back at about 18.30. It takes longer than we expected, he apologises.
We wait.
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