Category: Environmental
Area of Effect: All Business
DEFINES:
'Scientific purposes' as purposes which are solely for the advancement of scientific knowledge and understanding, such as examining the contents of the stomach, for more information as what the whale's preferred diet is, or for the display of the whale's skeleton as in a museum.
RECOGNIZING:
1) Whales and dolphins are among the most intelligent species on many planets, are self-aware, and are capable of activity above and beyond simple survival.
2) In many cases, populations of almost every known species of whales and dolphins are on the decline.
3) Dolphin meat usually contains hundreds of times more mercury than is safe to eat.
APPALLED:
1) Irresponsible fishing practices across the oceans are largely responsible for this decline.
2) Many whales and dolphins are inadvertently killed by fisherman who intended to catch other fish.
3) Current methods of whaling, namely harpooning, are brutal, slow, and inhumane.
4) Many nations will not, on their own, drop the numbers of whales and dolphins currently being slaughtered, or change their current method of killing.
HEREBY:
- Restricts the number of whales that can be hunted annually by each WA nation based on its population. For every 500,000 residents in a nation, that nation may hunt 1 whale.
- Each nation may set its own annual limit of whales and dolphins to be captured for scientific purposes, which are not included in its total that it is allowed to hunt, as long as the total amount does not exceed 25 individual animals. At least half the whales and dolphins captured for scientific purposes must be released within a period of one month in physical and mental condition comparable to the time they were captured.
..........~Non industrial, indigenous, tribal, and/or aboriginal tribes living within WA nations who kill relatively small numbers of whales for survival purposes are exempt ..........from this restriction, and their hunting is not included in the nation's total, though the WA nation itself is subject to the restriction.
- Urges WA member nations to strengthen their own laws concerning the accidental killing of whales and dolphins while fishing.
- Also urges nations to pass other regulations protecting the welfare of marine mammals at sea.
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Due to people telling me to write something more blanket:
WA Endangered Species Protection Act:
Category: Environmental
Area of Effect: All Business
RECOGNIZING:
1) That in the ever-expanding industrial world, it is virtually impossible to avoid endangering the welfare of certain entire animal species.
2) That in the past, industry has callously driven hundreds of animal species to extinction.
3) The welfare of human populations on many planets is directly dependent on the health of their planets' ecosystem.
4) Without legislation, many more species will be driven to extinction.
APPALLED:
1) That certain nations and businesses knowingly destroy entire ecosystems and endanger species, even driving some to extinction.
2) In many cases, conservation efforts are non-existent, extremely badly organized, or otherwise ineffective.
HEREBY:
- Requires nations to restrict encroachments onto habitats of endangered animals, pollution levels in and around the habitats of endangered species, and hunting of endangered animals based on WA Endangered Species Committee determinations (Described later).
- Forms the WA Endangered Species Committee (WAESC) with the following and responsibilities:
1) The WAESC is responsible for determining reasonable numbers at which each species will be considered endangered.
2) The WAESC is responsible for accurately monitoring species’ numbers.
3) Should a species become endangered, or exhibit repeated numeric decline, the WAESC is responsible for creation of and direction of conservation efforts.
4) Should a species become endangered, the WAESC is responsible for protecting the species' remaining habitat through halting business or residential encroachment into the species' habitat, and by reducing the amount of pollution in the species' habitat. The WAESC may also severely restrict the hunting of endangered species.
5) Should a species come so near extinction that saving them in the wild is not feasible, the WAESC is responsible for capturing remaining members of the species, and attempting to repopulate the species enough to be released back into the wild.
- Should the WAESC restrict hunting of an endangered animal that a non-industrial tribe, or non-industrial aboriginal group relies upon for survival, the WAESC must ensure that the group is not destroyed or threatened by the restrictions it imposes.
- The WAESC may determine not to protect a species that is becoming endangered if that species is determined to be a threat to public health due to its parasitism or infectiousness (such as a bacteria, virus, or other parasite).
- If the WAESC restricts the usage of privately owned land, and this causes the property to lose value, then the WAESC must justly compensate for the landowner's loss, as well as any other reasonable losses incurred by its land use restriction.
- Urges nations to pass other pieces of legislation for protection of certain species within their own borders.
, that's fine, you can just vote against it.
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