Japonese Whaling - Origami for the Whales

Origami for the whales - Send a virtual origami whale to the Japonese government to stop Whaling:
http://www.send-a-whale.com/sendawhale/landing.php

Background information from the Greenpeace webpage "Defending our Oceans":
Japan is one of the countries still hunting whales. The Fisheries Agency of Japan's whaling fleet sails thousands of miles every year to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to hunt for a self-determined quota of hundreds of whales, claimed to be for scientific research.

In May 2008, Greenpeace uncovered a scandal; prime cuts of whale meat were being smuggled ashore by the crew of the Japanese whaling factory ship, Nisshin Maru, for illegal trade and personal gain, at the Japanese taxpayer's expense. The story drew massive media coverage in Japan, and the ire of many Japanese people, incensed at the corruption at the heart of the whaling industry. Our work resulted in an investigation of the whaling industry by Tokyo's public prosecutor, and a massive blow to the credibility of Japan's whaling programme.

A month a later, however Japanese police arrested two Greenpeace activists who had exposed the smuggling, while the public prosecutor suddenly dropped the investigation into the whale meat smuggling. This prompted protests outside Japanese embassies worldwide, and 250,000 people sent emails to the Japanese government demanding for the activists be released. They were held for 23 before being charged, but were freed on Bail in mid-July 2008.

From the Greenpeace Webpage:

The Southern Ocean Whales Sanctuary

"While it seems absurd that Japan would send a whaling fleet to the ends of the Earth to catch whales, the motives of the officials behind the hunt appear to be crystal clear. With three-quarters of the world's remaining whale populations found in the southern hemisphere, the whaling industry would need access to them to return to full scale commercial whaling. This is why Greenpeace campaigned strongly for the creation of a Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary - and why we're still pressing for it to become a real sanctuary by getting Japan to end its annual commercial whaling hunt there. Protecting the Southern Ocean is the key to stopping commercial whaling around the world.

When the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was announced in 1994, it was countered by an increase of 100 whales taken by Japan's whaling fleet. At the June 2005 International Whaling Commission meeting, the Japanese government controversially announced plans to add endangered Antarctic fin and threatened humpback whales to its annual shopping list, and doubled its quota for minke whales.

However, in the face of public outcry and diplomatic pressure from around the world - from the United States and Australia in particular - in December 2007, Japan announced a temporary back-down on its plans to kill 50 humpbacks in the 2007-2008 season.

In April 2008, the factory ship Nisshin Maru arrived home having killed 551 whales. While this was much less than planned, it was 100 more than three years ago. The whalers blamed environmental groups for their low catch. Embattled at home by politics and the recent whale meat scandal, and at sea by protests, the whalers are clearly in an unhappy situation. This pressure must continue if Japan is to fully remove its whaling fleet from the Southern Ocean."