CETACEA AS A DEFINITION OF A WHALE AMBASSADOR
Cetacea Lab Starts a Campaign to Keep the Whales Safe from the LNG Tanker Route
Dateline: Gil Island, BC, November 5, 2021
Hartley Bay, BC, November 2021 – Cetacea Lab is starting a campaign ‘I Whale You’. ‘I Whale You’ will focus on spreading awareness about the liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker route led by Shell and how dangerous it is for the Whale habitat the route goes through. To begin with, people will be able to buy special merchandise that is available on the Cetacea Lab website under the section “Merchandise”. The merchandise will consist of CDs with recordings of Whale sounds, hoodies, plush toys, jewelry, pins, and facemasks. The received money will go to the Gitga’at First Nation, as the Cetacea Lab is located on their land, and they are working together with the Cetacea Lab to protect the Whales as well. Secondly, no matter if a person has bought something from the merchandise, they will be encouraged to use the hashtag #CetaceaIWhaleYou under their posts on social media. It can be a photo of a person wearing the merchandise, or it can be a reel using whale graphics. By holding this campaign online, we are enabling the word to be spread internationally rather than nationally only. In addition, with the current state in the world due to the Covid pandemic, it is also the safest way to do it. The ‘I Whale You’ campaign will start this June, and it shall end when the threat to the Whales will be gone.
The LNG tanker route is a threat to the Whales because the tankers create a noise underwater “that affects the sonar of the whales” says Helen Clifton the Matriarch of the Killerwhale Clan of the Gitga’at Nation. Furthermore, it can create “boating accidents [when] the bow of the boat [goes] straight over [the whale] and [that can seriously harm or directly kill a whale]” states Hermann Meuter, Cofounder of the Cetacea Lab. The LNG tanker route would go from Kitimat to Asia, and it would be passing through the whale channel where whales eat and sleep. Gitga’at Councilor Spencer Greening describes the main issue as “[the government making] decisions on land that doesn’t belong to them, lands that they have no spiritual connection to” and ‘I Whale You’ campaign is striving to prevent that from happening in the future.
Boilerplate: Cetacea Lab is located on Gil Island, BC that is a part of a Gitga’at territory. Since 2006 Cetacea Lab has been actively fighting for the safety of whales and can now confidently carry a ‘Whale Ambassador’ title. Cetacea Lab’s values are protection and love, and their ultimate goal is to “[ensure] that [the whale channel is protected] as a marine protected zone, and a critical habitat” says Janie Wray, Cofounder of the Cetacea Lab.
Contact Information:
Aleliia Ovcharenko (T00646719)
CMNS 3550
6048079241
ovcharenkoa19@mytru.ca