3/21 Honduras Children Welcom MV Moby Dick

[the.greenbase@green2.greenpeace.org]

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Original-TO:      World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
Original-Cc:      The Greenbase (Green2:Green2:Gnl:Main)
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                   GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE
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HONDURAS CHILDREN WELCOME THE MOBY DICK TO THE GULF OF FONSECA 
They request help in the fight against mangrove destruction  
 
March 21, 1996.  A choir of several hundred school children
welcomed captain Joel Stewart and the Moby Dick crew to
Honduras.  The children sang the national anthem of Honduras
and an original ecological song written by one of the local
teachers.
      Another member of the faculty requested, in the name of
the children, that Greenpeace help the local organizations in
the fight to protect the mangrove forests, which are currently
under the imminent threat of industrial shrimp farming
procedures and other unsustainable aquaculture and
agricultural practices.
     Also present at the welcoming ceremony were local
government and military authorities as well as several
community leaders.  The local catholic preacher read an
extract of psalm 104 which according  to him, embraces the
spirit of Greenpeace.
     One of the elder community leaders and cofounder of 
Coddeffagolf, the local NGO working with Greenpeace,
emphasized the  importance of saving the mangroves as a legacy
for future  generations.
     During the Moby Dick's stay in Gulf of Fonseca, the crew
and  Greenpeace Central America staff will participate in
several  activities organized by the local NGOs including this
years second  Meeting of the Trinational Civil Association for
the Defense of Gulf  of Fonseca and the filming of a video on
the problems currently  facing the region.
     In 1994, the MV Greenpeace visited this same region. 
That vist  was instrumental in the creation of the Trinational
Civil Organization which is made up of members from El
Salvador, Honduras  and Nicaragua.  The strengthening of this
organization is the key  for protecting the mangrove forests
from industrial shrimp farming.
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