Indigenous leaders want to protect whales by granting them legal personhood
"What we're trying to achieve here is to provide whales with certain rights," Takoko told Morning Edition. "Those rights include the right to freedom of movement, natural behavior, development, cultural expression – which includes language – to a healthy environment, healthy oceans, and indeed the restoration of their populations."
“Where have all the right whales gone?” Phys.org asks. Marine researchers are attempting to answer this question by mapping the density of the endangered North Atlantic right whale. The goal is to prevent the whales’ exposure to commercial fishing and often-deadly vessel strikes. Read about the researchers’ efforts to save “the dwindling number of right whales from preventable injury and fatality.” https://flip.it/VdFF4o #Science#Whales#Animals#EndangeredSpecies
"#Indigenous leaders of #NewZealand, Tahiti and the Cook Islands signed a historic treaty that recognizes #whales as legal persons in a move conservationists believe will apply pressure to national governments to offer greater protections for the large mammals"
Scientists say recent east coast whale deaths were most often caused by fishing gear, ship strikes or disease.
These findings haven’t stopped opponents of renewable energy projects and fossil fuel front groups from spreading misinformation about the whale deaths as part of their work to obstruct clean energy projects.
Keeping #dolphins, #orcas and other cetaceans in #captivity is cruel. Depriving them of the vast open spaces and social bonds that they would normally have in the wild, and confining them to small, concrete #tanks to perform tricks for dead fish is highly unethical for these complex marine mammals. No matter how sophisticated the enclosure, no man made facility can ever hope to replicate the wild world of dolphins and whales.
ASK CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES TO END ALL TIES TO DOLPHIN CAPTIVITY
Dolphin Project is requesting that #CarnivalCruiseLines — Carnival Corporation & #PLC end their collaborations and partnerships with the #DolphinCaptivity industry. The dolphin captivity industry is responsible for the immense #suffering and premature #deaths of #dolphins and other #whales across the world.
END ALL IMPORTS & EXPORTS OF DOLPHINS ACROSS U.S. BORDERS
#CaptiveDolphins and #whales are transported across the world to #aquariums and #MarineParks. These animals are ripped away from their families and all they know, forced to live in barren concrete #tanks. Transportation is a stressful process for these animals. The journey itself poses significant risks. Stress-induced illnesses and health problems are an issue and in the worst cases it can lead to #death.
#Dolphins are free ranging, social, sonic, and highly intelligent #MarineMammals. The vastness and #BiologicalDiversity of the open #sea, in which dolphins and other #whales have developed over more than 50 million years, cannot be duplicated in a tank or an enclosure in the sea. Consequently, the complexity of dolphins’ behavioral repertoire cannot be accommodated in #captivity. Based on today’s knowledge of cetaceans’ sophisticated physiology and highly developed emotional sense,
one must conclude that confining #dolphins and other #whales to a small space inevitably causes #stress in the animals. This negative effect is reinforced by the fact that dolphins used in swim programs have to be trained by the means of #FoodControl to endure the constant pressure of being treated as #pets. If they don’t perform, such as pulling people along through the water or “kissing” people, they don’t eat.
In seriousness, this is good news. Thanks to the Maori people and all Pacific Islander peoples who signed this declaration.
"There's an existing precedent for this, particularly in New Zealand, where that status has already been given to the Whanganui River; it has the same rights as a human, which means that if the river is harmed, legally, that's the same as harming a human. The same goes for a Spanish lagoon that's been granted personhood…"
Maori king declares whales are people in push for legal rights (www.thetimes.co.uk)
Whales will be recognised as legal persons under a declaration signed by New Zealand’s Maori king and native leaders across the Pacific....