28 August 2007

The gigs up, there's no more need for whaling

The Green Party is welcoming the news that the whale meat industry is collapsing leading to Iceland cancelling future whale hunts.

Iceland's fisheries minister Einar K Guofinnsson has said the market for whale meat is no longer profitable and therefore will no longer issue whaling quotas. "This parallels what is happen with consumer demand for whale in Japan. We know that the industry is so bad in that country that whale meat, caught under the 'scientific whaling' guise, is being sold as dog meat.

This move by Iceland sends an important signal to the whaling industry in Japan, and their supporters here in New Zealand, that there is no need for anymore 'scientific whaling' as consumers and the community alike are rejecting whale meat and whaling. "New Zealand has strongly opposed the commercial hunting of whales and Japan's so-called 'scientific whaling' programme.

But the New Zealand Government should also look closer to home as it risks being accused of throwing stones in a glasshouse. Many of our marine animals, such as the Southern Right Whale, are at serious threat. The Government must put strong protection measures in place to protect them.

"Our own marine mammals are also under threat through the mining of the Great South Basin and seabed prospecting in the habitat of the Hector's and Maui dolphins. We need the strongest possible protections in order to retain these marine mammals - just as the Government has advocated for the protection of whales from foreign whalers," Mrs Turei says.

ENDS

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