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Commission Mulls Lifting Whaling Ban

Whales have been saved, IWC policymakers argue

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 29, 2010 3:44 AM CDT

(Newser) – Whale populations have rebounded so strongly since the 1986 global ban on commercial whaling that the International Whaling Commission is considering loosening it. The IWC is mulling a compromise proposal that would condone whaling by ban-defying nations Norway, Iceland, and Japan in return for a reduction in the number of whales killed.

The proposal has been slammed by conservationists who argue that climate change and human activity pose ongoing danger to whales, despite their healthier numbers. "Whales face more threats today than at any time in history," the global whale program director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare tells the Washington Post. "The last thing they need is a compromise agreement that seems to keep commercial whaling alive."

A rare North Atlantic right whale dives in Cape Cod Bay near Provincetown, Mass.
A rare North Atlantic right whale dives in Cape Cod Bay near Provincetown, Mass.   (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 14 comments
stephenma
May 19, 2010 4:21 PM CDT
Whales are facing the greatest threat today and we can do something about this. Please join in taking action in supporting & encouraging anti whaling nations in phasing out whaling. Banning all forms of whale hunting is true conservation!

Few days left to make our voices heard. Delegates from around the world will be joining to determine the future of the whales. A number of pro whaling nations are seeking to lift the ban and hunt openly, help save the whales !!!
http://WhalingNoMore.org/
mokotahi
Mar 30, 2010 7:19 AM CDT
I notice 5% of readers think this article is hilarious -we sure live in a sick world.
Sidneyholt is correct of course, down our way the poor old humbbacks that were only a year or two away from total decimation, are onlt slowly recovering. Yet Japan has 50 per year of their JarpaII research program.
sidneyholt
Mar 30, 2010 7:06 AM CDT
The opening of this message is wrong to start with. The whales might have "rebounded" but there is little evidence of it and IWC scientists have never said this. Some populations of humpbacks have increased, some have not. We do not know whether fins, blues or sei have increased. Minke's certainly have not because their exploitation has continued non-stop. Southern Hemisphere fins, humps, blues and sei were protected even before the moratorium because they were so depleted, close to extinction.The moratorium simply confirmed their protection for an indefinite period. The IWC scientists have spent so much time simply trying to work out how many minkes could be caught that they have not yet even analysed their existing survey data for fins, blues and sei in the Antarctic. And after 25 years of study they still don't agree on how many minkes there are in the S Hemisphere - might be 300,000, might be 900,000. They have rejected - by consensus - the old 700,000 number that the Japanese still keep quoting
Green • World

 
endangered species • whale • whaling • marine mammals • International Whaling Commission • blue whale

 
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