Chile’s Anti-Whaling Coalition Calls On Government To Act Says silence on Japanese whaling implies complicity

Days following the sinking of an anti-whaling ship near Antarctica, Chilean anti-whaling demonstrators are calling on the government to denounce Japan’s “scientific whaling” and to take action to prevent further killing of the species.

Saturday, a group assembled outside the Japanese embassy in Santiago to protest that country’s continued whaling activities and to voice anger over the Chilean government’s lack of action on the issue. It was an act in solidarity with the Ady Gil; a ship belonging to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society which was rammed by a Japanese harpoon vessel and subsequently sank late last week in the Southern Ocean. Activists have since called for a criminal investigation into the incident, during which a crewmember aboard the Ady Gil was injured.

“The organizations here today express their outrage at the silence maintained by the Chilean government as a new season of so-called ‘scientific whaling’ begins, which this year included the killing of nearly a thousand Antarctic minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpback whales,”  the Chilean protestors said in a statement released Satuday. It was signed by a coalition of local organizations: EcoAnimal;  Centro Ecoceanos  and Centro de Conservación Cetacea (CCC)… Read Full Article by Eva Salinas