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[created on 18/06/2010]
For the first time in almost 25 years, commercial whaling could be allowed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in the precious Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. IWC members will vote on a proposal to give whaling countries commercial whaling quotas including a commercial hunt in the Southern Ocean at their annual meeting in Agadir, Morocco from the 21-25th of June.
Commercial whaling has been banned by the IWC's moratorium on commercial whaling since 1986. Since then all but 3 IWC member nations have stopped whaling. Norway and Iceland continue to whale by objecting to the moratorium, and Japan continues to whale under the loophole of "scientific whaling".
The Chair of the IWC has made this proposal in an attempt to bring this whaling under control and to break the deadlock between pro-whaling and pro-conservation nations.
Rampant commercial whaling in the twentieth century brought most great whale species in the Southern Ocean to the brink of extinction. The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was established in 1994 and recognised the importance of protecting whales in this special place.
For whales such as the Blue, Humpback, Fin and Minke whales, the Southern Ocean is their main feeding ground where they prepare to swim to warmer waters to breed and calve. Allowing commercial whaling in an area where whales are so vulnerable would go against all logic.
Whilst whaling in the Southern Ocean has been halted by all but one government for more than two decades, whale populations have failed to recover as rapidly as hoped, and exist today at extremely depleted levels. In addition, Southern Ocean whales are now subject to a new and varied range of threats, most notably the predicted profound impacts of climate change on this fragile region.
WWF believes that it should be a fundamental and unquestionable responsibility of the IWC to eliminate all whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. This includes the lethal take of whales under 'scientific permit', and rejection of any proposal in the IWC that sets commercial whaling quotas in this area.
[created on 18/06/2010]
For the first time in almost 25 years, commercial whaling could be allowed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in the precious Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. IWC members will vote on a proposal to give whaling countries commercial whaling quotas including a commercial hunt in the Southern Ocean at their annual meeting in Agadir, Morocco from the 21-25th of June.
Commercial whaling has been banned by the IWC's moratorium on commercial whaling since 1986. Since then all but 3 IWC member nations have stopped whaling. Norway and Iceland continue to whale by objecting to the moratorium, and Japan continues to whale under the loophole of "scientific whaling".
The Chair of the IWC has made this proposal in an attempt to bring this whaling under control and to break the deadlock between pro-whaling and pro-conservation nations.
Rampant commercial whaling in the twentieth century brought most great whale species in the Southern Ocean to the brink of extinction. The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was established in 1994 and recognised the importance of protecting whales in this special place.
For whales such as the Blue, Humpback, Fin and Minke whales, the Southern Ocean is their main feeding ground where they prepare to swim to warmer waters to breed and calve. Allowing commercial whaling in an area where whales are so vulnerable would go against all logic.
Whilst whaling in the Southern Ocean has been halted by all but one government for more than two decades, whale populations have failed to recover as rapidly as hoped, and exist today at extremely depleted levels. In addition, Southern Ocean whales are now subject to a new and varied range of threats, most notably the predicted profound impacts of climate change on this fragile region.
WWF believes that it should be a fundamental and unquestionable responsibility of the IWC to eliminate all whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. This includes the lethal take of whales under 'scientific permit', and rejection of any proposal in the IWC that sets commercial whaling quotas in this area.
