We have seen a lot of movement on the Visual Petition site.... at the time of the last newsletter we had just reached 500 petitions, and now we're up to 1606! Big thanks to everyone who has joined us! It's been great to see petitions come in from all over the world, from some previously unrepresented countries such as South Africa, Ireland, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic. We're hoping that now the petition can grow exponentially and be able to create the huge impact we need to stop whale and dolphin kills for good!

There are a lot of groups supporting whales and dolphins springing up on Facebook..  Amongst them is a Visual Petition Group where you can discuss issues and share information. It's a great way to spread the word and create awareness about this issue, so invite your friends to join a group and post the Visual Petition Flyer in as many places as you can.

Although it is hard not to get angry and upset about what is going on, lets all try to keep the focus on compassion for our friends in the ocean, and find ways to create and support industries which hold full respect and appreciation of cetaceans.

On Sunday the 18th November, 2000 people came together on Bondi Beach to create the shape of a 300 foot humpback whale in protest against Japan's imminent slaughter of humpbacks, minke and fin whales.

The Japanese whaling fleet set sail for the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary on the same day.

The Logie-winning Australian actor Isabel Lucas, professional surfer Dave Rastovich and his wife "Hannah Mermaid", helped Jeff Panakhoff from Save The Whales Again! to lead the event.

View Video Footage

This year, Japan has set out to resume its full-scale so-called "scientific whaling" program, targeting 850 Antarctic minke whales, 50 fin whales and for the first time, 50 humpback whales.Japan has already signalled its intention to pursue 'normalisation', which is code for resuming the commercial slaughter of whales.

Japan has called on Australia to help protect its whaling fleet from what it calls "environmental terrorism" from the Sea Shepherd who will attempt to stop the whale hunting. Japan's whaling fleet is preparing to depart for its annual "scientific" hunt and 50 humpback whales will be targeted for the first time this summer in the Southern Ocean.

Sea Shepherd's captain Paul Watson says his organisation is not responsible for the collisions with Japanese ships and has acted lawfully. "Japanese whaling is illegal. They're targeting dangerous species in a whale sanctuary in violation of a global moratorium on whaling," he said. "We have the law on our side."

What is very exciting is that Australia has voted in a new Labor government headed by Kevin Rudd, who has a much more environmental stance than the previous Howard government. Labor's stance is that as well as being an environmental necessity, there is also a solid economic reason to oppose whaling. Humpback whales are the mainstay of Australia's whale-watching industry - which injects $300 million indirectly into the national economy through tourism.

Labor announced a plan in the lead up to the election to send Australian Navy ships to intercept and board whaling vessels in the Southern Ocean to collect evidence which could be used in an international court case. Prime Minister Rudd said measures taken by the Howard Government over the years to stop the inhumane slaughter of whales had not worked and it was time to "step it up a bit". Go Kev!

Here are Labour's plans to counter whaling

There has been a bit of confusion about how to collect competition points, so here is the deal:
1) Make sure you're a member of the Visual petition site - you need your membership username to collect competition points.
2) Upload a petition photo.
3) When the photo has been successfully uploaded, you will see a box where you can enter your username. You will see verification that you have claimed your point after submitting your username.

Also, a request from Andy, our cherished petition administrator.. if you are able to, can you rotate the photos to be the right way up before uploading? Thanks!

Here's the competition rundown... Liz1982 has streamed to the front in Australia with 180 points, with nattydread75 very close behind with 166 points. quezarah has come from nowhere to top North America with 71 points, and newcomer kokizrole is way in front in Europe with 100 points. South America and Africa & Asia are still low in numbers, so if you know anyone in those zones, let them know there is a free trip to Chile up for grabs!

The top ten rankings for each surf zone are on the Competition Rankings Page. Remember, you need at least 100 points to be eligible to win the competition.. but is that really very hard?  Don't forget, the competition closes in May 2008, so for all of you that "haven't got around to it yet"... better got moving!!

For more information, go to the Competition Page

You may not know a lot of the artwork on the Download a Cetacean Image page is by Howie Cooke, a co-founder of Surfers for Cetaceans and Minds in the Water. Howie has been fighting for the protection of our ocean cetaceans for decades, and has erected his Whale Tipi at countless environmental meetings and protests over the years.

A lot of you will now have copies of his artwork, so please respect his selfless contribution and don't use his artwork for commercial purposes. If you want to let Howie know what you think of his amazing images, his email address is howie@surfersforcetaceans.com  

Steve Drews from the USA has sent us this amazing piece of work... what a statement! The future of whales and dolphins are literally in our hands, so it's great that all of you are putting your names and faces to this petition.

We'll be posting a "Photo of the Month" on each newsletter... So all you creative types out there, see how many ways you can get a person's face and a cetacean image onto a photo!