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USA and New Zealand pushing to reward whaling outlaws

Monday 21st June heralds the start of one of the most significant and potentially controversial weeks that conservationists may see for some time to come, when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) votes on the fate of the 24 year ban on commercial whaling in Agadir, Morocco.

Conservationists are particularly concerned about the USA and New Zealand who actively promote the legitimization of commercial whaling. Their efforts serve only the interests of the three current whaling nations - Iceland, Norway and Japan - nations who, during the last 24 years, have done everything possible to destroy what is one of the biggest successes of the conservation movement - the international ban on commercial whaling.

WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, calls on countries to learn from history: "The facts speak for themselves. Governments should not suspend the ban on commercial whaling, but instead put pressure on the countries which operate openly in contempt of international decisions. The Moratorium has been a success story that needs to reach its final goal: the permanent end of commercial whaling globally", says Nicolas Entrup, WDCS spokesperson in Agadir, Morocco.

A brief overview on Whaling figures:

Total catches 1960 - 1969:   591.066 (an average of 59.107 per year)
Total catches 1970 - 1979:   316.211 (an average of 31.621 per year)
Total catches 1980 - 1986 (the year the Moratorium entered into force):   60.047 (an average of 8.578)
Total catches 1987 - 2009:   37.610 (an average of 1.635 per year)

"Commercial whaling brought many whale species to the brink of extinction and eliminated many whale populations forever. The Moratorium was a last ditch reaction to ensure we did not lose many populations and species forever and meant many countries permanently ceased commercial whaling. It would be a fundamental mistake now to reward those three whaling nations who have continued to ignore the international consensus on commercial whaling and are opposed by millions of people around the world", says Entrup of WDCS.

While the USA and New Zealand seek to serve the interests of the whalers, Australia and the block of Latin American countries are to be congratulated for standing strong in their rejection of the current proposal. The world now watches in anticipation regarding exactly how the European Union positions itself. After months of international negotiations, the European Union agreed to reject the current proposal at a meeting in Brussels last Friday and defined their principles for further negotiations. The good news, for conservationists, is that EU countries that lobbied for supporting commercial whaling quotas being given, such as Sweden and Denmark, will now be bound by that decision.

"This week the world will get to know what their governments mean when they talk of whale conservation. They will see once and for all which countries are willing to stand by their principles and which are not", WDCS concludes.

You can access fully animated graphs showing whaling numbers and the implications of the DEAL, here http://www.wdcs.co.uk/whaling_graphs/main.swf

Watch our latest video blog from the IWC.

Contact details:

Laura Döhring, WDCS Press in Agadir, T. + 212 641 534 095, E-Mail. [email protected]

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