ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada (5 June 2001) -- As the world's pro- and anti-whaling factions prepare to square off, Caribbean government officials who have allegedly been bribed by Japan to oppose an international whale sanctuary are coming out of the closet, many driving brand new Japan-made SUVs. Grenada's Fisheries Minister, Claris Charles, has suddenly announced that he just can't understand why a proposed whale sanctuary is on the agenda of next month's meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in London. "When I go there, I will have to find out in the first place how the issue of the whale sanctuary has become an agenda item," Charles told CDNN. "How does a whale sanctuary come under the jurisdiction of the IWC? It does not. A whale sanctuary has nothing to do with commercial whaling." While Mr. Charles and other Caribbean government officials are in London trying to figure out the relationship between the IWC and whale sanctuary proposals, many hope that they can shed light on the relationship between small Caribbean nations with a history of government corruption, Japanese financial "aid" to those same nations, and a proposed whale sanctuary halfway around the world in the South Pacific off Antarctica. | | Japanese scientists are testing the theory that whales can be brutually slaughtered and sold to restaurants, grocery stores and schools. ECO ALERT On July 5, 2000, CDNN issued an Eco Alert advising dive travelers and tourists to support commercial and tourism boycotts of Grenada and other countries that have sold their votes to defeat the international proposal to establish a whale sanctuary in the South Pacific, an area halfway around the world from the Caribbean. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
