1.

Currently there are sanctions against whaling, Watters 97 The United States enforces the international agreements through three primary statutes: the Pelly Amendment, the Packwood Amendment and the Marine
Mammal Protection Act. The Pelly Amendment, passed in 1971, directs the Secretary of Commerce to "certify" any nation whose activities diminish the effect of an international fishery conservation program. Once the Secretary certifies a nation, the President may impose sanctions on that nation. The Packwood Amendment, passed in 1979, modifies the Pelly Amendment by

requiring mandatory sanctions for certified nations. Finally, the Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972) prohibits the sale, manufacture, and import of all goods containing marine mammal products. This ban has greatly reduced the market for products made from whales. Through the use of these unilateral sanctions, the United States has strengthened the conservationist policies of the IWC. In fact, the effectiveness of the IWC in recent years is based largely on the use of economic sanctions by the United States. The United States has also had a strong influence on the IWC in other ways. For
instance, the current moratorium on commercial whaling was adopted after only three years of pressure by the United States and other anti-whaling nations.

2. These sanctions have empirically stopped whaling when used

3. Lack of sanctions would kill thousands of whales , Hoyt 95

the resumption of commercial whaling around the world could lead to a freefor-all, unregulated hunt similar to that which brought so many whale populations to the edge of extinction prior to the moratorium. Norway continues to pressure the international community to resume commercial
Why does he IWC continue to condemn commercial whaling? One reason is that whaling and open the trade of whale meat. Specifically, Norway has announce that at the CITES (Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species) convention in April 200 it will attempt to downlist the whale population it is currently hunting, the Northeast Atlantic minke whale. Downlisting this population would remove restrictions on export and allow Norway to reopen the commercial whale meat trade with Japan.Were

the international community to give way to pressure from Norway, a legal global market would instantly open up and thousands of whales would be killed as a result. If more countries take up commercial whaling, monitoring or controlling the number of whales killed could prove impossible.
Even now, with no legal international market, pirate whales have been found to supply the lucrative Japanese market with whale meat from endangered species such as humpback whales. Whale meat from Norway being smuggled to Japan has been seized in both countries.

4. Whales are ecologically special, Barstow 89

are at the top of the vast food chain chain of the sea. Baleen whales consume the largest amount of zooplankton, and the killer whales Orcinus orca) is the worlds greatest non-human predator. Whales affect the ocean ecosystem in a uniquely global manner, and
any explotation of other marine resources, whether krill or fish, must uniquely take into account cetaceans.

Human life depends upon proper balance in the amount of oxygen in earths atmosphere produced from the plankton that is kept in check most cirtically by whale consumption. 5. Extinction, Earle 4 Earle: The ocean is our lifesupport system. Its the source of most of the oxygen in the atmosphere. With every breath we take, we should be grateful that there is an
ocean out there. For every drop of water that we consume, we should be grateful that there is an ocean out there, because

97% of Earths water is in the ocean. What falls on the land and sea as rain, and sleet and snow, ultimately originates, largely, out there in the sea. So, if we want to take care of ourselves, we need to start by taking care of the ocean.Salazar: Youve spent a great deal of your life studying
the oceans. What are some of the changes youve seen in that time? Earle: In my lifetime, since the time that I was a little girl living along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, I personally have witnessed the decline of coral reefs, of sea grass meadows, of the kinds of systems that really lend a good health to the ocean. Ive also seen the disappearance of many things that once were common things such as nassau groupers, pink conch, and a lot of small creatures that once abounded in near shore waters that are simply

gone. These are not signs of good health. In fact, weve seen in 50 years, the loss or serious decline of half the coral reefs around the world. Weve seen the loss of 90% of the big fish theyre simply gone in 50 years, as a direct consequence of both how many were taking, and the destructive techniques that disrupt the places that fish require to recover. Not just fish, but shrimp and lobster and the whole suite of organisms that we tend to like to eat. Now, that doesnt mean that we cant figure out ways to basically have our fish and eat them too. But were not doing it now. We need to be much more assertive about protecting broad areas of the ocean that fish and other marine life require, that the ocean itself requires in order to maintain integrity, the health of the systems.

Right now, most of the ocean is up

for grabs. Its being overfished, its being overpolluted, and the consequences are not just a matter of concern if you care about dolphins and whales and things. But, it should be a fundamental concern to everybody on the planet, no matter where they live, because the ocean is the cornerstone of what makes this blue planet function as it does. Anyone who looks over the shoulders of
astronauts considers the world from afar, Those images from space show that this planet is mostly ocean.

Without oceans, consider what we would have instead, a planet much like Mars, where people may someday set up housekeeping, but not six billion of us, and not anytime soon. Water is fundamentally the cornerstone, the key. But its life in the ocean that drives the way the world works. It generates the oxygen, absorbs carbon dioxide that shapes the chemistry of the planet itself. Without life in the ocean, Earth would still be a fairly barren place. There was
plenty of life a billion years ago, entirely microbial. Its only in the last half billion years or so that Earth has become hospitable to the likes of us, when enough oxygen was generated to make the

For these reasons, sanctions must be kept as a tool.

6. Without whales phytoplankton would cause eutrophication in the water, removing any oxygen from it, and killing themselves in the process. This is bad, because oxygen produced by phytoplankton compromises about 80% of earths total oxygen-their survial is key to all planetary life. Hall 03 It is estimated that between 70% and 80% of the oxygen in the atmosphere is produced by marine plants. Nearly all marine plants are single celled, photosynthetic algae. Yup, thats right, good ol
scum on the pond..green gakslip slimein away. Even marine seaweed is many times colonial algae. They are a bunch of single cells trying to look like a big plant (see seaweed photo), but they are really individuals.We need marine algae a whole lot more than they need us. Think about it70% to 80% of all the oxygen we breathe comes from algae! Without them we would really be sucking wind, but not for long! At this point you may be saying, Yo! What about the trees and other land plants? Well,

and other land plants are very important, no doubt about. But pure survival, we couldnt make it would algae.
trees