Greenpeace activists blocked a shipment of endangered fin whale meat going from Iceland to Japan via Rotterdam in Holland and sent a request to the Dutch government as well.
On Friday morning, Greenpeace activists sacrificed their Easter holidays in order to help stop the killing and trade of endangered fin whales. Fewer than 50,000 fin whales are expected to exist in the North Atlantic Ocean and CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna) has put a ban on the international trade of fin whale meat. Iceland and Japan will not sign onto the treaty but the Netherlands has done so. Greenpeace wants the Netherlands to live up to its commitment to stop the killing of endangered whales by not allowing this meat to leave its port.
“Greenpeace activists have chained themselves to the mooring ropes of a ship carrying an illicit cargo of whale meat to prevent it leaving the port of Rotterdam bound for Japan,” Greenpeace wrote this weekend.