June 5th: World Environment Day: Dead or Alive? The Suffering of the Oceans
Wädenswil (ots)
"Wanted! Seas and Oceans - Dead or alive?" This motto is aimed at raising awareness about the threat facing the world's oceans. ASMS OceanCare will submit an international petition following the World Environment Day in New York. The organisation calls for a campaign against underwater noise pollution.
Sustainability - the careful handling of our planet's natural resources - is a challenge of vital importance which spans the world's continents. This will be emphasised this Saturday, World Environment Day, through various activities, events and campaigns. Since 1972, the World Environment Day has taken place annually on June 5th. Today ca. 150 countries are involved. The goal is to inform as many people as possible and motivate them to participate.
Oceans are the best symbol of the importance of a respectful attitude towards our surroundings. That is why the motto of this year's Environment Day is "Wanted! Seas and Oceans - Dead or alive?". Are the seas and oceans already more dead today than alive? "The motto reminds us that we have control over how we want to treat our oceans", states Sigrid Lüber, President of the Swiss organisation "ASMS OceanCare".
"Do we want healthy oceans full of life, or do we want them polluted and dead?" Sigrid Lüber lists some of the most serious impacts: Overfishing and reckless exploitation of marine resources, resulting in millions of animals dying as "bycatch" annually. Pollution through toxins, solid waste such as plastic objects and over-fertilisation, which transform whole marine territories into dead zones. Or climate change.
Most of all, however, Sigrid Lüber is concerned about the rapid increase in underwater noise pollution: "This has little to do with noise from motors. Military experiments using high intensity, low frequency sonar systems pose a much more serious threat.". The enormous noise resulting from these human-generated low tones disturbs whales, dolphins and other marine life during orientation, communication and location of prey.
For this reason, ASMS OceanCare developed a petition together with partner organisations. One of the issues addressed is the breach of the Law of the Sea through sonar experiments. The petition therefore calls for these noise attacks to be stopped in general. Furthermore, international agreements should be developed which will regulate the treatment of such experiments. In addition, intended noise testing must be made public, and alternatives should be researched.
Nearly 50 European NGOs have signed the petition. Together with Marsha Green, an American from "Ocean Mammal Institute", Sigrid Lüber will submit the petition to over 80 European and American organisation representatives of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) in New York on the occasion of the World Environment Day. "All of us need to take care or our oceans", that is clear to Sigrid Lüber: "Even us Swiss, living in a country surrounded by land, influence what occurs in the oceans in various ways - and in far more ways than many think."
About ASMS OceanCare
ASMS OceanCare is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in Wädenswil/Switzerland. It was founded in 1989 and currently numbers some 32'000 members and donors. ASMS aims at achieving freedom, well being and survival for marine mammals worldwide. It has a strong commitment to realistic and cooperative initiatives. Efforts focus on building public awareness and offering credible resources for Governmental issues. On the basis of these principles, the association works at national and international level in the areas of whaling, industrial fishing, environmental changes, seal hunting and dolphin captivity.
Kontakt:
Vera Bürgi
ASMS OceanCare
Oberdorfstr. 16
Postfach 30
CH-8820 Wädenswil
Switzerland
Mobile +41/79/205'63'65
Phone +41/1/780'66'88
Fax +41/1/780'68'08
Internet: http://www.silentoceans.org
Internet: http://www.oceancare.org