City to co-sponsor Whale Day

Laguna Beach will co-sponsor a whale of an event May 23 at the Cobblestones at Main Beach.

The City Council voted unanimously to adopt a resolution opposing the resumption of commercial whaling and to support Save the Whale Day. The vote included approval of the use of amplified sound for the event, provided all city requirements are met.

“A small group of people would like to return to commercial whaling, which I think most of us object to and events like this will be held up and down the coast to make Washington, D.C., aware of the opposition,” said Councilwoman Verna Rollinger, who sponsored the agenda item.

Rollinger’s support was sought by the Surfrider Foundation, which applied to her for the use of Main Beach Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., using a public address system.

“The purpose of this gathering at Main Beach is to protest the International Whaling Commission proposal to remove the current moratorium on commercial whaling and allow the resumption of whaling,” Laguna Beach resident Charlotte Masarik said. “We wish to raise awareness of this issue and to gather signatures on a petition to the president asking him to keep his promise to oppose whaling and direct the U.S. delegation to the IWC to support the continuation of the moratorium.

“There will be 14 other demonstrations along the coast at the same time to show we are united in this.”

Masarik said a proposal announced by the United States on April 15 to legalize commercial whaling for 10 years left quotas up to the countries she alleged have already violated the moratorium, with no mechanism to review the quotas and without population data.

The council’s positive response in support of the event took less time than reading the flurry of e-mails generated by the use of the word “again” in information released to the public about the event.

Clean Water Now! founder Roger von Butow took up the cudgels on behalf of Whaleman Foundation founder Jeff Pantukhoff, long involved with the Save the Whales Again campaign, but not in the May 23 event.

Pantukhoff, who was leaving for Washington to meet on Monday with Nancy Sutley, President Obama’s chairwoman to the Council on the Environment on the whale issue, asked von Butow by e-mail to check with the event organizers and at least get them to change the name of the event.

Von Butow fired off a volley of e-mails to organizers, Rollinger and Coastal Commissioner Sara Wan, whose website included the word “again” in the title of the event. Calm was restored when Wan removed the word “again” on her website.

“I really appreciate the changes you made to your event website and want you to know that we fully support your events that are planned to simultaneously take place in 15 coastal counties on May 23,” Pantukhoff e-mailed the commissioner. “Thank you for your continued efforts on behalf of the whales.”

Visit www.votethecoast.org or www.wanconservancy.org.