Why We Are Passionate About Saving the Whale

Over the last few weeks, a certain 'T. Leonard' has been writing to a local newspaper demanding that the Irish government follow the example of Iceland & Japan and turn the Irish fishing fleet over to whaling as a salvation to our economic woes. As far as he was concerned, the Save-the-Whale activists are nothing but a bunch of sentimental hippies out of touch with reality.
Not being a hippie, a sentimentalist or someone that lives in a fool's paradise, I decided to reply to him using arguments based on science and economics. Thankfully, today's Galway Advertiser published my letter which I include below with some of my youngest son's artwork of whales & dolphins.

Dear Sir,

In his letters, T. Leonard wonders why people are so obsessed with protecting whales. It is because these creatures are in so many ways the pinnacle of life on Earth.

Cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) include the largest (blue whale) animal that ever existed, with a heart the size of a motorcar; the longest migration (humpback) and the deepest swim (sperm) of any mammal; the beautiful ‘songs’ or vocalisation of whales have inspired music, literature and science; dolphin sonar is more advanced than human technology and can even be understood by other species.

Letterfrack Youth Playing Music Inspired by Marine Life

They have been on the planet for 55million years. Yet in just over a century, many of the largest whales were driven close to extinction by the destructive technology of commercial whaling. Blue whales decreased from 300,000 to less than 1,000. The Atlantic Gray Whale actually did disappear.

Thankfully, concerned campaigners persuaded most states to end the bloodshed. But survival has not yet been guaranteed as whales only give birth to a single calf once every 2 or 3 years. In spite of a ban on the hunting of blue whales since 1966, there are still possibly only 5,000 in existence.

Yet the killing goes on. Japan annually slaughters tens of thousands of dolphins, and at least 1,000 whales supposedly for ‘scientific research’. The 2.5metre Baiji dolphin entered the Yangtze River 20 million years. But it was recently declared extinct after being wiped out in a in a few short years by rapid built development, pollution, overfishing and shipping. The UN declared much of China’s longest river a ‘dead zone’, as it now lacks sufficient oxygen to support fish. The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will have a catastrophic impact on local Cetacean species.

T. Leonard says whaling should only be viewed as a ‘business’. If so, then it is an unnecessary, unwanted and unsustainable enterprise. There are alternatives to products once made from whales, and whale watching represents a growing profitable industry worldwide.

Furthermore, as someone that lived in Iceland, I know that there is no popular demand there for whale meat. Likewise in Japan, where public apathy and ever-growing stockpiles of frozen whale meat led to the government introducing it into school menus in order to force demand. Japanese scientists have warned though of the risks to human health due to the high levels of mercury in whale meat, brought about by humanity’s dumping of toxic waste into the oceans.

Japan has been accused of bribing countries to overturn the ban on commercial whaling at the International Whaling Commission even by governments that received its financial aid.

The 10,000 scientists of the World Conversation Union believe 40% of all species are now threatened by extinction due to habitat loss, mono-agriculture and human-induced climate change. Protecting large majestic endangered mammals positioned at the top of the food-chain such as whales, tigers and polar bears symbolises humankind’s attempts to finally reverse millennia of destructive behaviour on the very thin fragile surface membrane of Planet Earth that supports life. If we fail, then mankind’s own existence is threatened as all species are interdependent.

T Leonard gives the impression eco-campaigners do nothing themselves to clean up the huge amounts of waste dumps whose existence they exposed in the Pacific and elsewhere. Not so. In fact he is welcomed to join the hundreds of Galwegians that regularly clean up the ever-increasing rubbish that destroys the beaches, waterways, forests and parks that is home to wildlife and a prime leisure environment for humans. The next monthly community clean-up takes place along Salthill’s beaches on Saturday September 18^th, starting at 12.00pm from Atlantaquaria.

Yours sincerely,

Brendan Smith

Sandyvale Lawn

Galway

City Hall Needs to Formally Abandon Forest Road Plan

Winter Wonderland in Terryland Forest Park

My favourite local community environmental group, the Friends of the Forest, has called on Galway City Council to learn from the lessons of the recent flooding experienced in county Galway by publicly abandoning the controversial proposal to build a road through the low-lying Terryland Forest Park and to finally publish the long-overdue Headford Road Framework Plan with its accompanying 2008 public consultations findings.

We have been lobbying for the publication of the Headford Road Framework Plan since the spring of 2008 when we presented a petition with over 10,000 names against the recommendations of city officials to construct a major link road through the Terryland Forest Park with a corresponding widening of the Dyke Road that would signal the destruction of one of the city’s last great natural heritage areas. Yet nearly two years on we are astonished that this report, carried out with significant taxpayers monies, has still not been released.

We agreed wholeheartedly with the original brief given to the consultants to provide a blueprint for the sustainable retail and public space development of a major 76 acres area of the city that urgently requires urban regeneration due to the presence of prominent derelict sites, a series of unaesthetic buildings, under-utilised parklands, and a anti-pedestrian/anti-cycling transport artery dominated by car traffic.

But it would be a travesty of the public consultation process as well as undermining the concept of local democracy if officials publish the report with the new road element still included as was alluded to last autumn. For, based on the size of our petition and the content of the majority of the submissions made to the report in 2008, it is obvious that the local population are against this road construction. It also goes against the council’s own policies on ecological corridors and protection of natural heritage areas and will only worsen the traffic situation by encouraging even more cars into an already congested city centre.

Furthermore, the recent disastrous flooding experienced in Galway county provides ample evidence of the inherent dangers of building houses and roads in floodplains. In response to the flooding of the summer of 2008, the Minister of the Environment John Gormley instructed local authorities in Ireland that no significant developments should be undertaken in floodplains.

This proposed road is situated in the Terryland River valley, in a wetland area and lies below the level of the River Corrib which is only held back by the presence of man-made barriers along the Dyke Road. With rising water levels a symptom of global climate change, it would be irresponsible to proceed with this construction.

In fact the locality’s wetlands should be enhanced as they act as Nature’s sponge by absorbing floodwaters thereby providing a natural defence for the city’s populated areas.

We are calling on the council to now provide a map of the city’s floodplains so that we can plan for the inevitable future floodings.

In the meantime, our group will continue to campaign for greater protection of our natural heritage areas, their increased use as outdoor classrooms, the return of community tree planting and monthly clean-ups of forests through the excellent Gaillimh Suas Glan initiative.

Time for Minister for the Environment To Introduce Refundable Charge on Drink Cans & Bottles

The recent ‘Gaillimh Suas Glan’ initiative coordinated by Galway City Council's Environmental Officer (Sharon Carrol) and City Parks , in conjunction with our group, the ‘Friends of the Forest’ was a very good example of the benefits of council-public co-operation. We are delighted with the response of Galway residents to the first monthly clean-up of the city’s green spaces that proved such a fine . Over a two hour period on a Sunday in November, thousands of pieces of litter were gathered from one section of the Terryland Forest Park. Beverage cans represented the largest class of items collected at 35% followed by drink bottles at 32%.
We are concerned though that legislation has not been introduced by the Minister of the Environment for a refundable levy on beverage cans and bottles. For there is a growing incidence of litter, particularly discarded drink containers, being dumped in our green areas that if left unabated will lead to an environmental disaster. Not only is this type of refuse undermining the beauty of our natural landscapes but it is also leading to a serious contamination of our waterways and the destruction of wildlife habitats.
Since July 2007 local community activists have been lobbying the Minister to introduce this levy. This policy has had considerable success elsewhere in Europe particularly in the Scandinavian countries. 90% of beer and soft drinks containers are returned in Sweden while the market share of non-returnable bottles in Finland is deliberately kept small at 5%. Furthermore, such a monetary pay-back scheme existed in Ireland until a few decades ago.
It is a win-win system for all concerned – local communities, local authorities, the environment, waste management and of course wildlife.The monies saved could be used to encourage greater public use of wonderful green spaces by funding the provision of park wardens, regular outdoor family events and park facilities such as picnic areas, community gardens and eco-learning centres.
But as of yet we have had no positive response from Minister John Gormley. His department recently informed us that the long overdue consultancy report on waste management is expected before Christmas. We earnestly hope that a Minister for the Environment, who is also leader of the Green Party, will take onboard a grassroots initiative that if implemented will help dramatically reduce litter pollution in Ireland.
Sadly it has been government’s own policies that have contributed to the polluting of our countryside, an associated rise in anti-social behaviour and an extra burden on our health services. Over the last decade, the unprecedented growth in off-licences selling cheap alcohol has led to an epidemic in under-age outdoor binge drinking that has undermined community spirit, destroyed peoples’ lives and polluted parks. It is time that the government introduced laws that will clean up the mess created by their own policies.