Thousands protest wildlife sale ‘Hands off our endangered marine animals’ Pressure is building on the government to reject the proposed sale of endangered marine animals to Chinese zoos. JANA-MARI SMITHPressure is mounting on the Namibian government after more than 11 890 people across the globe signed a petition protesting the sale of live marine mammals to China.
An online petition, which by yesterday had attracted 9 629 signatures, and a local petition with 2265 signatures, were handed to fisheries officials on Friday following a peaceful march in Walvis Bay, attended by 100 people.
In addition to the petitions the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources has been bombarded by hundreds of protest letters over the past month, from Namibia and abroad, underlining the devastating impact granting the permit could have on Namibia’s marine ecosystem as well as its reputation as a leader in conservation.
Numerous international news organisations have covered the proposal by a Chinese company to capture and export endangered marine species, including dolphins and African penguins, for breeding purposes and for Chinese marine zoos.
Among many other issues, the facts that the Chinese proposal’s scientific claims are false or questionable and that the request demands a higher number of endangered species than actually exist along the coast, have attracted widespread criticism.
In a letter addressed to minister of fisheries and marine resources Bernhardt Esau, attached to the petitions, the Earth Organisation Namibia said the Chinese proposal had raised alarm bells in Namibia and internationally.
The letter also points out that all the company applied for are protected under international trade agreements and are listed as endangered.
Moreover, Namibia cannot independently make a decision on whether to sell the marine animals.
“These marine wildlife are shared migratory species and do not belong to Namibia alone.”
Moreover, the letter points out that many of the species are either in decline, rare or endangered.
Removing them from the ecosystem would be in conflict with the Namibian constitution, the authors argue.
The constitution states that “all wildlife must be maintained on a sustainable basis for present and future generations as an inheritance to our children”.
Following the march on Friday, participants under the banner ‘Namibians Against Plundering of Our Seas’ presented the more than 210 pages of signatures to Steven Ambambi, a senior fisheries official.
The group’s slogan is: ‘Our Silence – Our consent’.
Ambambi promised to forward the petitions to the minister of environment and tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, as well as fisheries minister Esau.
On Friday, when the signatures numbered 9 070, an overview showed that more than 2 100 signatures originated in France, followed by 1 458 in Namibia and 1 199 from South Africa.
Close to 1 000 signatories were from Germany, followed by the USA with 659 signatures and the UK with 548 signatures.
Citizens from Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong also signed the petition. The petition has also made the rounds in New Caledonia, Mexico, Israel and Romania.
Apart from South Africa, the only other African country represented was Angola, with two signatures.
According to recent news reports, the demand for captive animals has exploded in China despite increasing recognition internationally of the harm wild animals suffer in captivity.
The country reportedly has 39 marine parks and 14 more are under construction.