Japan

(Dive Travel Business News -  March 18, 2011) -- Two resorts on Hawaii’s Big Island -- the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai and the Kona Village Resort  -- remain closed in order to undertake repairs and clean-up caused by the  tsunami in Japan on March 11, 2011, which reached the shores of Hawaii. Both properties are located on the Big Island’s Kona Coast.

The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai is closed until April 30 due to damage from the recent earthquake-generated tsunami. The Resort sustained damage from the storm surge, which brought water, sand and debris onto the grounds. Clean-up and repair efforts have already begun. All guests with reservations prior to April 30 are being contacted by the hotel reservations team to make alternate arrangements. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - April 27, 2010) -- HUFFINGTON POST --

A Sea of Deceit and Capitulation

by Edward Dorson
April 25, 2010

The trajectory of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), meeting in Morocco this June, is on a disastrous course for the world's whales. A new proposal to resume commercial whaling will be presented at the IWC summit. Simply put, it's an awful deal. In order to foresee the fate of the whales with this proposal on the table, look no further than how all the marine species fared at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) last month, where each and every proposed aquatic species was denied protection. This was a Japanese orchestrated "victory," and the same bullying, vote swapping and "influencing" that Japan deployed at CITES to prevent marine protection is also entrenched to dictate the fate of the whales at the IWC. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - April 24, 2010) - The International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986. A new whaling "peace plan" proposal on the table by the IWC serves to mollify the three countries who are currently whaling in blatant disregard for the worldwide whaling moratorium. The whaling proposal, if ratified at an upcoming meeting of the IWC in June, will save commercial whaling from the brink of extinction, but not the whales.

A philosophical shift has taken place since 1946 when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was formed to coordinate the different national whaling industries. Since the first post-war wage-earners with disposable income had the awesome thrill of seeing a whale up close - whether snorkeling, diving,  whale-watching or on TV - many of the world's citizens learned that a whale's life has more value alive than dead.  read more »