[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 46 (Wednesday, April 12, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H2171-H2172]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      SAY NO TO COMMERCIAL WHALING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Metcalf) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. METCALF. Mr. Speaker, 2 days ago a mighty 35-foot long gray whale 
washed up on the beach in front of my home on Whidbey Island in 
Washington State. As a vociferous opponent of killing whales or the 
expansion of whaling worldwide, and as a lifelong advocate for the 
environmental health of Puget Sound, this recent event has been the 
cause of some amount of discussion and publicity in the region 
surrounding my district. Out of the 1,000 miles of coastline in 
Washington State, it was certainly an interesting coincidence that the 
body lodged right on the beach in front of my house.
  The death of this gray whale should call our attention to those who 
would like to reverse the will expressed in Congress and by an 
overwhelming majority of the American people who oppose allowing the 
hunting of whales, particularly for commercial purposes.
  As I have been predicting from the well of this House and across 
America for several years, the push for resumption of worldwide 
commercial whaling is on in earnest. And it is not about heritage, it 
is all about money. We have heard that a gray whale can be sold in 
Japan for $1 million.
  Those who want to end the ban on commercial whaling have been using 
the pretext of restoring whaling rights to indigenous people to expand 
the scope of whaling worldwide. But if we allow people to use the 
excuse of historic whale hunting for resumption of whale hunting 
worldwide, you have got to remember many nations, most nations with 
coastlines, hunted whales. Japan and Norway definitely would have, as 
good as anybody, an historic whale hunting opportunity. Japan and 
Norway are the most notorious now for going ahead and hunting whales.
  Newsweek Magazine reported, April 17, information I have already 
given this body that Japan has been quietly packing the International 
Whaling Commission with small nations willing to do their bidding, 
willing to vote for the resumption of commercial whaling.
  Mr. Speaker, we are dangerously close to a renewal of the barbaric 
practice of commercial whaling. To millions of Americans, including 
myself, this is totally unacceptable. When the Clinton-Gore 
administration last year financed the Makah tribal whale hunt and 
colluded with the pro-whaling nations of the International Whaling 
Commission, our Nation's government lost its moral authority to lead 
the fight against killing whales for profit.

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  This was truly a tragedy. Whales were hunted almost to extinction in 
the late 1800s.
  Mr. Speaker, we must not allow the clock to be turned back to past 
days of barbarism. Republicans and Democrats in this body must stand 
with the American people and stop this conspiracy against these 
magnificent creatures. We must not return to commercial whaling.

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