Customs and marine mammals

Travelling through Boston airport I was glad to see that the US Customs were keen on getting the message out to travellers that marine mammals and the products made from marine mammals should not be transported out of or into the USA.

The message seeks to reinforce that the US Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), ‘prohibits the hunting, killing, capture, and/or harassment of marine mammals and enacts a moratorium on teh import, export and sale of marine mammal parts and products’.

Furthermore, I was pleased to see that seals and so-called health pills made from seals, were also included. WDC has been pointimng out for some time that the commercial whalers have been trying to ensourage such products and that the merging of aboriginal subsistence whaling and commercial whaling is of increasing concern and as we have campaigned on over the last few years

Again, good on the US customs guys to make sure this message is front and centre. Pity we dont see something similar before people fly out of Europe to Iceland, Greenland or Norway.