Plan To Overturn Whaling Ban Unveiled

Plan to overturn whaling ban unveiled

(Sydney, Australia – 23 April 2010) – The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW – www.ifaw.org) announced that the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has released a new plan to legalize commercial whaling.

The proposal, if adopted, would overturn the 1986 ban on commercial whaling by authorizing whaling by Norway, Iceland, and Japan. It would also legalize Japan’s whaling in an internationally recognized whale sanctuary around Antarctica, grant new rights to Japan, Iceland, and Norway to kill whales for commercial purposes, and ignore established IWC scientific procedures for estimating sustainable whaling limits.

The plan, released today by the IWC Secretariat based in Cambridge, United Kingdom, is to be considered and acted on in June at the IWC’s annual meeting in Agadir, Morocco.

“This plan is a whaler’s wish list,” said Patrick Ramage, IFAW’s Whale Program Director. “It throws a lifeline to a dying industry when endangered whale populations face more threats than ever before. This would be a breathtaking reversal of decades of conservation progress at the IWC.”

The IWC, which is comprised of 88-member governments, is the global body responsible for conservation of our planet's great whales. Three member countries – Japan, Norway, and Iceland – have continued to hunt whales, ignoring the worldwide commercial whaling ban. The proposed plan proposes annual whale-hunting quotas for these countries under the discretion of the IWC.

The current proposal would also:

* Overturn the global ban on commercial whaling and allow hunting in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary around Antarctica.

* Approve the killing of whales for commercial purposes by Japan around Antarctica and in the North Pacific.

* Add new rights for Japan to hunt whales in its coastal waters.

* Allow continuing whaling by Iceland and Norway in violation of long-agreed scientific procedures and the global whaling ban.

Erica Martin, Director IFAW Asia Pacific, said: “Australia offered a proposal which saw a phase out of whaling down to zero – the only number that should be considered in the 21st Century.”

“This package, in contrast, rewards Japan, Iceland and Norway for decades of whaling in defiance of international law.”

“We trust Australia will maintain its courageous stand and continue to fight against this proposal. And we encourage New Zealanders and Americans to raise their voices in anger that their governments would push forward this dangerous deal that will see a return to commercial whaling.”

“Any nation that claims to be in favour of whale conservation cannot accept this package. It can and must be rejected,” Erica Martin said.

ENDS

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