Well over half a million people worldwide have signed a petition urging the island nation of St. Kitts and Newis to remove the flag of a cargo ship carrying Icelandic whale meat. The ship, called Winter bay, which was hired by Icelandic whaling company Hvalur hf, owned by businessman, Kristján Loftsson left for the North-East passage with 1,700 metric tonnes of fin whale meat destined for Japan in early June. The ship is currently in port in Norway, waiting for the right conditions to enter Arctic waters.
Hope to put pressure on the tourism industry
The petition was launched by the international online campaign network Avaaz, calling on the president of St. Kitts and Newis to help stop Icelandic whaling, which the network describes as a “barbaric operation”, by stopping the passage of the cargo ship Winter bay. The network hopes to put pressure on the island nation by exposing their role in the international trade in whale meat:
“Tourism is the main pillar of the country’s economy and we can put their reputation on the line by throwing them into our giant global spotlight”, Avaaz states.
A call to concerned global citizens
The petitoion appeals to the 41 million members of the Avaaz network as “concerned global citizens”, to support the call to the St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Timothy Harris to remove the nation’s flag from The Winter Bay.
Read more: On a secret mission transporting whale meat from Iceland to Japan … via South Africa
Avaaz has previously participated in successful campaigns to thwart the operations of Hvalur hf. In 2013 the organization launched a petition which garnered over one million signatures to urge European governments to block ships carrying whale products from docking in their ports. Following the petition the Dutch Government blocked Icelandic whale meat shipments from blocking in the Netherlands.
On Monday morning the petition, which can be found here, had been signed by over 590,000 people.
Well over half a million people worldwide have signed a petition urging the island nation of St. Kitts and Newis to remove the flag of a cargo ship carrying Icelandic whale meat. The ship, called Winter bay, which was hired by Icelandic whaling company Hvalur hf, owned by businessman, Kristján Loftsson left for the North-East passage with 1,700 metric tonnes of fin whale meat destined for Japan in early June. The ship is currently in port in Norway, waiting for the right conditions to enter Arctic waters.
Hope to put pressure on the tourism industry
The petition was launched by the international online campaign network Avaaz, calling on the president of St. Kitts and Newis to help stop Icelandic whaling, which the network describes as a “barbaric operation”, by stopping the passage of the cargo ship Winter bay. The network hopes to put pressure on the island nation by exposing their role in the international trade in whale meat:
“Tourism is the main pillar of the country’s economy and we can put their reputation on the line by throwing them into our giant global spotlight”, Avaaz states.
A call to concerned global citizens
The petitoion appeals to the 41 million members of the Avaaz network as “concerned global citizens”, to support the call to the St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Timothy Harris to remove the nation’s flag from The Winter Bay.
Read more: On a secret mission transporting whale meat from Iceland to Japan … via South Africa
Avaaz has previously participated in successful campaigns to thwart the operations of Hvalur hf. In 2013 the organization launched a petition which garnered over one million signatures to urge European governments to block ships carrying whale products from docking in their ports. Following the petition the Dutch Government blocked Icelandic whale meat shipments from blocking in the Netherlands.
On Monday morning the petition, which can be found here, had been signed by over 590,000 people.
