Via Oceana:

10 days to stop the seal hunt

The Canadian government will authorize hundreds of thousands of seals to be killed this year as part of its annual commercial hunt. Ninety-five percent of these pups are between two weeks and three months old. They are shot or clubbed and then skinned for their pelts.

Canadian officials justify the hunt by saying that the seals are responsible for declining fish populations. But the real reason for the fish shortage is poor management and massive overfishing. Seal populations are also falling fast with more than half a million decrease over the last few years.

Help put an end to the seal hunt once and for all by contacting Canada’s Prime Minister today!

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts oceana seals seal hunt canada seal skin pelt

Via Oceana:

Protect Krill - the Heart of the Pacific Food Web!

Krill may be little, ranging from one to 14 centimeters in length, but their role in balancing the ocean’s ecosystem is larger than life. Without them, many fish, seabirds and whales that depend on these small shrimp-like crustaceans for their survival become susceptible to starvation.

Last year, the Pacific Fishery Management Council unanimously recommended a ban on all krill fishing in U.S. Pacific waters. Unfortunately this landmark decision was only a recommendation, not actual legal protection. The Council’s recommendation was sent to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which will decide in April whether or not to make it law and protect krill in all U.S. Pacific waters.

Help support a healthy Pacific by telling the federal government to ban fishing for krill today.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist oceana fishing krill conservation overfishing Pacific

Via Oceana:

And then there were 5; Another plant goes mercury free!

Today I have great news for our oceans, seafood lovers and especially Louisiana residents. After receiving more than 100 phone calls, and thousands of postcards and e-mails, the Pioneer chlorine plant outside Baton Rouge announced yesterday that it will switch to mercury-free technology! Help us celebrate this victory by stepping up our efforts to get other plants to follow suit.

Oceana has been working to convince Pioneer and other chlorine companies to go mercury free since early 2005. Of the nine chlorine plants that were using outdated technology when we started the campaign, Pioneer is the fourth to stop.

Of the remaining companies, one stands out as the dirtiest of the bunch. Olin is the only company still running two plants using outdated mercury technology- in Georgia and Tennessee. It also holds the record for the chlorine company that has emitted the most mercury over the last twenty years.

Send an e-mail to the CEO of Olin and the other three remaining companies telling them to go mercury-free.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts oceana mercury chlorine plants Pioneer Olin

UPDATE, 1/24/07, via Oceana:

We recently asked for your help to convince online mega-retailer, Amazon, to remove canned shark fin soup from its virtual shelves. Within hours, 14,000 of you had contacted Amazon about this issue and in response, Amazon discontinued the sale of Roland’s shark fin soup.

While the Amazon effort focused on shark finning–cutting off the shark’s fins while it is still alive, and then tossing the body back into to the sea–sharks are also at risk from other fishing practices. Tens of millions of sharks are accidentally caught each year as victims of dirty fishing or bycatch. Despite the mounting evidence of shark overfishing and depletion, few countries restrict shark fishing or bycatch.

We’re working to get the EU to implement fishing laws to protect sharks. Europe is home to some of the world’s largest fishing fleets and its powerful fisheries officials influence international fishing restrictions in many regions of the globe. As a result, poor European shark policies pose threats to sharks not only in European waters but in other parts of the world as well.

Thanks again for taking the time to contact Amazon and being part of Oceana’s first 2007 victory.

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Via Oceana:

Amazon: Drop Shark Fin Soup!

Online megastore, Amazon, sells everything from books to electronics to home decor. But there’s no room in its product line for shark fin soup.

This so-called delicacy exploits a population that is already threatened with extinction. Shark finning involves cutting off the shark’s fins while it is still alive, and then tossing the body back into to the sea, dead or dying. Up to 73 million sharks are killed every year to support the international shark fin market.

Amazon has already discontinued one brand of shark fin soup thanks to consumer response. Now we need to get ALL shark fin products removed from its virtual shelves.

Take action today!

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist animals animal+rights animal+welfare action+alerts oceana shark+fin+soup amazon amazon.com sharks