LETTER TO GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS REGARDING JAPANESE WHALING:

Dear _________,

As a concerned citizen of the world, I strongly request:

o The _______ government maintains a strong stance on the moratorium on
  commercial whaling.

o That, as a member of the IWC, the ________ government should reaffirm
  its commitment to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in the Antarctic.

I am particularly concerned about not only minke whales but also
endangered humpback whales that tourists have been watching for the last
20 years. These whales come right up to the boats in Australian waters
and will be easy targets for Japanese "scientific" whaling ships. Whale
watching has become a $273 million industry annually in Australia and
Japanese whaling in Antarctic waters will destroy this thriving
industry.

Japan's estimate of whale numbers is vastly incorrect since original
population numbers were exaggerated by a force of 6-20 according to
Professor Stephen Palumbi whose groundbreaking genetic studies show that
whale populations are down to 1% of former numbers. Obviously, all
whaling worldwide should stop immediately. No whale populations have
come even close to recovering from 200 years of commercial whaling.
Additionally, whales face serious environmental challenges (noise and
chemical pollution, seismic and naval sonar, entanglement in nets,
global warming seriously affecting plankton availability, ship strikes,
and habitat loss etc) in addition to being slow breeders with a high
infant mortality rate.

Another important consideration is the inherent cruelty involved in
killing whales. There is no humane way to kill an animal so large.
Because of this, whales suffer excruciating deaths, and for what reason?
It is not necessary for humans to eat whales for survival. Whales are
more than just "big fish" to be served up in fancy restaurants and
school lunch programs. They are highly intelligent, sentient beings.

Finally, the oceans are in a state of collapse. Whales are beneficial to
the ocean as their excrement feeds plankton which feeds all fish in the
sea and oxygenates the water. Without plankton all fish starve from lack
of food and suffocate from lack of oxygen in the water. Already plankton
is in serious decline all over the world. If whales are removed,
plankton levels will decline even further. If the ocean further degrades
to the point where it is dead (as are 160 areas known as dead zones
around the world), the availability of atmospheric oxygen will be
severely diminished since we rely on oceans for 70-80% of our oxygen.
Furthermore, the ocean will offgas CO2 in amounts far greater than all
global fossil fuel burning combined. This poses a life-threatening
impact for all earth dwellers. 

Japan must be made to understand:

a) the precarious state of the oceans' ecosystems today brought on
   mainly by overfishing and whaling;
b) the invaluable part whales play in keeping the oceans healthy;
c) why humans depend for survival on a healthy ocean; and
d) a healthy ocean overrides short-term profits from killing whales.

The IWC has repeatedly criticized and censured Japan over their
so-called "scientific" whaling program because it is totally unnecessary
for whale conservation to know the ages of whales in order to set catch
quotas. The IWC urges all members to use non-lethal methods but Japan
has consistently and flagrantly violated IWC rulings. Instead, Japan is
fixated on feeding millions of their people from an ever-dwindling ocean
supply to the detriment of the entire ocean. Are they even thinking of a
future for planet Earth or just immediate economic advantages?

If you fail to act now, whales may never recover - in fact they may
become extinct in the world. What a tragic loss that would be and a
testament to human stupidity and greed.

Sincerely,