Guest Comments by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – An anti-whaling protest is scheduled for November 5 (2:30 p.m.) at the Japanese Embassy. The main objective is to raise awareness about Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary. We want to add Cape Town's voice to the chorus of world protests.

The objectives are to gain exposure for the message and to build awareness. Please wear black and participate outside the embassy. Bring banners, and get your creative juices flowing to signify the deaths of whales and of the world's oceans.

In 1986, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) enacted a moratorium on commercial whaling. Since then, three nations, Iceland, Norway and Japan, have brutally slaughtered more than 25,000 whales under the guise of scientific research and for commercial purposes. The IWC lacks capacity to enforce the moratorium. But our voices can change things.

Again this year Japan will use grenade-tipped harpoons to brutally and illegally kill more than 1,000 whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary near Antarctica. The whalers exploit a loophole in the international moratorium that allows catching whales for so-called “research” purposes.

The world's oceans have been so severely diminished that there's a strong chance they may die. The world no longer can show sympathy for any “cultural needs” that destroy endangered species.

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