AWI uarterlWinter 1994 Volume 43 Q Number 1 magnificent humpback whale was captured on film by R. Cover : AWI • Shelton "Doc" White, who comes from a long line of seafarers and rtrl merchant seamen. He continues the tradition of Captain John White, an early New Q WInr l 4Y br I World explorer commissioned by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1587. In 1968, Doc was commissioned in the US Navy and was awarded two Bronze Stars, a Purple Heart, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He has devoted himself to diving, professional underwater photography and photographic support, scientific research support, and seamanship. Directors Madeleine Bemelmans Jean Wallace Douglas David 0. Hill Freeborn G. Jewett, Jr. Christine Stevens Doc White/Images Unlimited Roger L. Stevens Aileen Train Investigation Reveals Continued Trade in Tiger Parts Cynthia Wilson Startling evidence from a recent undercover investigation on the tiger bone trade in Officers China was released this month by the Tiger Trust. Perhaps the most threatened of all Christine Stevens, President tiger sub-species is the great Amur or "Siberian" tiger, a national treasure to most Cynthia Wilson, Vice President Russians and revered by Russian indigenous groups who call it "Amba" or "Great Freeborn G. Jewett, Jr., Secretary Sovereign." Michael Day, President of Tiger Trust, along with Dr. Bill Clark and Roger L. Stevens, Treasurer Investigator, Steven Galster went to Russia in November and December to work with the Russian government to start up a new, anti-poaching program designed to halt the Scientific Committee rapid decline of the Siberian tiger. Neighboring China has claimed to the United Marjorie Anchel, Ph.D. States and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) that Gerard Bertrand, Ph.D. tiger bones are no longer being purchased, processed, or sold by Chinese companies. Bennett Derby, M.D. Suspicious of these reports Galster decided to stay behind in Russia to research the F. Barbara Orlans, Ph.D. underground tiger bone trade and to determine its end point. Over the course of 4 Roger Payne, Ph.D. months, Galster, acting as a businessman, met poachers, middlemen, and eventually Samuel Peacock, M.D. followed the trail to the main market, China. Fellow investigator, Rebecca Chen, John Walsh, M.D. joined Galster and traveled to China, where state medicine company officials International Committee revealed their operations. Once inside the executive conference rooms and factories Aline de Aluja, D.M.V. - Mexico of the state companies, Galster and Chen turned on their hidden cameras and T.G. Antikas, D.M.V. - Greece recorded the truth: tiger bone products still being manufactured and sold internation- Ambassador Tabarak Husain - Bangladesh ally by one of China's largest state medicine companies. Angela King - United Kingdom This evidence was presented in Geneva on March 21, 1994 at the CITES Simon Muchiru - Kenya Standing Committee meeting, but unfortunately China and its pro-trade allies dismissed it and killed all attempts David Ricardo - Canada Godofredo Stutzin - Chile to table a resolution criticizing Mrs. Fumihiko Togo - Japan China. This same evidence, which Klaus Vestergaard, Ph.D. - Denmark then appeared on NBC news on March 29, is being shared with Alexey Yablokov - Russia the US government, and it is Staff hoped that the Clinton adminis- Jennifer Coates, Publications Coordinator tration will treat it more seriously. John Gleiber, Assistant to the Officers In the meantime, The Tiger Trust Diane Halverson, Farm Animal Consultant is heading back to Russia to help Lynne Hutchison, Whale Campaign Coordinator the Russians launch their new Cathy Liss, Executive Director anti-poaching program, code- Nell Naughton, Mail Order Secretary named "Operation Amba." Those Greta Nilsson, Wildlife Consultant who wish to help can contact Jennifer Pike, Administrative Assistant Mike or So he Day at The Tiger Adam Roberts, Research Associate " t Trust, New Market, Suffolk, Rick Spill, Marine Mammal Research Analyst Siberian Tiger Threatened with Extinction CB8 8TN England. 0Y, E AIMA WEAE ISIUE QUAEY .O. O 60 WASIGO, C 2000 WIE 4 O. 4 O. CONTENTS Mrn Ml Srt Slhtr f l Whl Expd 4 d ndrn l n rttn fr Spttd lphn 4 US Sntf nl S M t d t b Ud 5 hrn Ordrd t ll Gll t 5 n rt Whln 5 6 h Whl rttn f 04 Attptd Sln f rn Whl Mt 7 Envrnntl hrt t Whl 7 rt Mtth l nd b USA 8 rn C Unnl vrd b vd Spr Crt Dogs Stbn nll Ot f n 8 tn t t th n "h Chn Yr f th " 8 Mv Mt Sl n Kr 9 rppn A victim of the Korean dog meat trade stares anxiously through tnr Cn d Injr t rppd Ct 0 the cage bars. rnd f rbrr 11 ttl Grl rppd b Stl 11 ttn lvrd 11 v The Biophilia Hypothesis 2 Enfrnt Clfrn r Sht fr th Gll lddr rd 2 Endnrd Sp rd n Chn nd n 15 Wld rd Cnrvtn At ltn 15 Ar Afr nd rd Iprtr Chrd fr Inhn rnprt drl d rtt Arl Shp 15 brtr Anl I Offl Wnt hnd f Sntt t ll th bl On March 23, 1994, the Vermont legislature gave final h "Cr pl" Abt Anl 13 approval to a bill requiring that milk and other dairy Lab Animal S 6 products produced using recombinant bovine somatotropin prt fr th ld (rBST) carry labels to say so. Vermont becomes the first r fr vr n Snl 4 state in the nation to pass a law giving consumers the right to know if dairy products contain rBST. Only federal legis- r Anl lation will protect all consumers (see page 20 for the Crprt Grd rt lpl r C 20 complete story). Sece Sauge o ue Waes Eose Professor Alexey V. Yablokov is a greatly valued member of AWI' s 13, 1994), the international scientific journal. He reports on the Scientific Committee. He is now Special Advisor to the President of secret, massive slaughter of blue whales, the largest animal that has Russia for Ecology and Health, where he works from his office in the ever lived. The letter is reproduced below. It will be of especial Kremlin. His great ability as an honest and highly reliable scientist concern to all Commissioners of the International Whaling Com- with a comprehensive grasp of the history and politics of his country, mission (IWC) when considering the proposal by whaling countries makes his outspoken assessments of inestimable value. to adopt the Revised Management Procedure (RMP) because the His humane approach to the conservation and protection of RMP requires accurate knowledge of historical catch data. It cannot whales was vividly illustrated in a recent letter to Nature (January withstand the revelation of massive falsehoods. aiiy o Waig aa Sir: For many years, scientists have been arguing about the validity of It was also known that in the 1960s a Soviet factory ship catch data from commercial whaling operations. Some parts of illegally operated for a couple of weeks in the Okhotsk Sea and previously secret records from Soviet whaling in the Antarctic caught several hundred right whales. It was also well known in the were recently made public during the plenary session of the Soviet Union that blue whales continued to be killed after they Conservation Status of Marine Mammals at the Society of Marine were protected by the IWC 2 . Mammalogy's Tenth Biennial Conference in Galveston, Texas, During the Galveston conference, I pointed out in my talk on 12 November 1993. Actual Soviet catch data on right, hump- about the IWC that data problems exist with catch records from back and blue whales from the 1960s were reported. These data other countries as well. Kasuya 3 and others have reported that were from one of the four factory ships that operated in the catches of sperm whales were under-reported by both number and Southern Hemisphere after the Second World War. The catches sex in Japanese land-based sperm whaling operations. for right, humpback and blue whales were reported as 717; 7,207 In these circumstances, it has been impossible to conduct a and 1,433 respectively. These numbers are much higher than were meaningful comprehensive review of the impact of all past previously reported to the International Whaling Commission commercial whaling operations. In order better to understand (IWC). The catches for humpback and blue whales were origi- how various species of whales have been over-exploited, it would nally reported as 152 and 156 respectively. be highly desirable to investigate all whaling records now avail- Right whales have been protected under IWC regulations and able. Such a review would also help us to understand the potential some earlier agreements, since the 1930s. However, Best' in 1988 for recovery of all depleted whale populations. reviewed three episodes of illegal exploitation by Soviet whaling Alexey V. Yablokov fleets operating around Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic. Special Adviser to the President of These catches have been confirmed by the data presented at Russia for Ecology and Health Galveston. Kremlin, Moscow, Russia There have been constant rumours about illegal large-scale Soviet whaling operations not only in the Antarctic and South 'Best, P. B. Biol. Conserv., 46, 23-5 I (1988). Atlantic, but also in the South and North Pacific. When I studied 2Zemsky, V. A. & Sazhinov, E. G. In Marine Mammals: Collected cetacean morphology at the land whaling station on Paramuschir Papers (ed. Arsen'ev V. A.) 53-70. (All-Union Research Institute of Island (in the Northern Kurile Islands) at the end of the 1950s, I Marine Fisheries and Oceanography, VNIRO, Moscow, 1982) (in Rus- received anatomical materials not only from humpback but also sian with English summary).