A hero of Whales? I think so, do you??

Alfonso Chavez, Lima Peru
June 2008

On Friday June 20 an adult humpback whale was seen very close to the shore in the Punta Sal beach in the north of Peru, and it was obvious that the whale was heavily entangled with fishing net.

While local fisherman were getting ready to kill the whale and cut it for food, Alfonso Chavez, who is an experienced free diver, with the help of his boat captain Jorge, got close to the whale. Alfonso dove into the water and the whale was very calm while Alfonso started to cut the net with his knife. Alfonso was in the water working for about two hours, clearing the head and lateral fins.

He had almost finished cutting the last part of the net on the whale’s tail, when apparently it made a fast move with its tail and hit him on the back of his head. The blow to his head made him unconscious for an instant, but he managed to remove his weight belt and get to the surface. Here, he was rescued and taken to Lima by an ambulance airplane.

Alfonso was very lucky because he had only suffered damage to a couple of cervical discs. The poor whale could not recover, and the next day the whale was finally sacrificed by the local fisherman and cut into pieces.

For his efforts, Alfonso will receive a Save The Whales T-shirt.

(this is a extract from savethewhales.org)

Save the Whales

http://www.savethewhales.org/

Check out the link above, it's a great site and you can sign the petition and show your support for saving the Whales!!

A different point of view???

Hi, followers,

Have a listen and see what you think, video is 3 mins long and provides a good argument!
Replies welcome, I would love to know what your feeling are on this one?

Agree?

Disagree?

Aboriginal Whale Hunts?

Check out the link below - Ever heard about this? News to me!!

Aboriginal Whale Hunting?

I'm not certain but I would not have figured that Aboriginals hunted Whales? Could anybody help explain further?

UPDATE: This week's IWC Conference

At this week's IWC Conference (International Whaling Commission) which is the annual meeting of whaling nations, there was a motion proposed to declare the South Atlantic waters a Whale Sanctuary which was defeated with 38 for and 21 against (the IWC requires three quarters of a majority to pass any motion)

For more on this article, follow; IWC as reported by Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News, Panama City 

'A Japanese statement said that as there is already a global moratorium on commercial whaling, adding a sanctuary here was unnecessary - "building a roof on top of a roof".

'Denmark, on behalf of its territory of Greenland, has submitted a bid to increase the number of whales hunted by Inuit people.'

'But some other nations, including EU members, are concerned by a recent report that found whale meat on sale to tourists, raising questions over whether the Greenlanders really need quotas as large as those they currently have.'

Did anybody expect Japan to fully agree or support any motion proposed at this conference?

Would you accept the offer to taste Whale Meat? Have you tasted?