Support the creation of a Brazilian Right Whale Sanctuary!

The following alert is from José Truda Palazzo, Jr. Please support this important project! - GPF

---

On March 10 the Brazilian Right Whale Project delivered to the Cabinet of the Minister of the Environment of Brazil, José Sarney Filho, a proposal for the establishment of the Right Whale National Environmental Protection Area.- "APA DA BALEIA FRANCA" . This new sanctuary would encompass approximately 378,000 acres of coastal waters off Santa Catarina State in Southern Brazil, approximately south of 27 deg. S, and protect the main calving ground for surviving Southern Right Whales in Brazilian waters.

With the establishment of this sanctuary, we intend not only to ensure that this breeding population - the last right whale group to be commercially hunted in the planet, until 1973 - is properly protected, but also to promote the orderly development of whale watching as a direct, sustainable economic benefit to coastal communities in the region. With 17 years of continuous efforts in the area, the Brazilian Right Whale Project is very proud of its community involvement and intends to use the sanctuary regulations as an effective tool to protect whales and promote ecotourism as a socially important economic asset for the people.

While we have been assured of our government´s willingness to consider the proposal, our previous experience in helping to establish another four marine parks and reserves in Brazil demonstrates that public expressions of support, especially from the international community, can be of great help in encouraging quick action to have these protected areas created.

We would therefore like to count on you to spend three minutes of your time to e-mail the Brazilian Minister of the Environment, the Honorable José Sarney Filho, at sarneyfilho@mma.gov.br , with a very brief and positive message IN SUPPORT OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE "APA DA BALEIA FRANCA" - THE RIGHT WHALE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AREA. Please remember this is not a protest message - actually the Brazilian government´s stand on whale conservation has been very good - but a much-needed, positive encouragement note to request immediate action to get this new sanctuary in place.

We are of course able to provide further, detailed information and a site map for those interested.

We hope you will help us in this campaign. My twenty years of experience in this field has shown me how important these positive messages can be to my country´s authorities.

Many thanks for those of you who will take a small portion of your time to help establish this new sanctuary to benefit both whales, people and the coastal/marine environment. We´ll make sure that further developments on this matter reach everyone who´s interested in helping us protect the right whales and their environment in Southern Brazil.

Kind Regards,

José Truda Palazzo, Jr., President
Brazilian Right Whale Project/Projeto Baleia Franca - IWC/BRASIL
e-mail: Brazilian_wildlife@zaz.com.br




Cry Out in continued support!