A staggering 6.4 million tonnes of marine litter is dumped in the ocean every year, it may fragment but does not biodegrade, persisting for hundreds or thousands of years. Single use plastic bags are a significant component of marine debris – more than eight billion plastic bags end up as litter across the EU each year
A report exposing Japanese retail giant Rakuten as the world’s biggest online marketplace for elephant ivory and whale meat products. Blood e-Commerce reveals the company’s Japanese website carries more than 28,000 ads for elephant ivory products and some 1,200 whale meat products ads
More than a million whales, dolphins and porpoises have been slaughtered off Japan in the past 70 years and new analysis indicates these unsustainable hunts are on track to wipe out key species in Japan’s coastal waters
A briefing calling on internet giant Google to remove thousands of ads from its Japanese Shopping site, promoting products from endangered whale and elephant species. Investigations found more than 1,400 ads promoting whale products and as many as 10,000 ads promoting ivory products on Google Japan’s Shopping site
A briefing to the 64th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission, in Panama, on the impacts of marine debris on cetaceans. Marine debris has the potential to affect all trophic levels and the entire food chain, from planktonic microorganisms through to marine megafauna including cetaceans
Hundreds of whale products are being offered for sale on the Japanese website of internet search engine company Yahoo!. Killing for Commerce details how Yahoo! Japan facilitates the sale of whale meat in Japan and how US parent company Yahoo! profits from the sales of products made from endangered whales