2009-02-03

WDCS Calls For Rejection Of Whaling Compromise

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) is calling on all conservation-minded governments to reject the proposal that has been released by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), given that the document will effectively lift the ban on commercial whaling.

In exchange for voluntarily lowering the number of whales it kills each year in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary (no binding agreements are considered), Japan – who has already said they would not accept any proposal -- would be allowed to conduct commercial whaling in its own North Pacific waters for the first time in decades and despite the moratorium on commercial whaling. The deal has been shepherded through a series of closed door meetings by Dr. William Hogarth, the US Commissioner to the IWC, who also serves as the commission’s Chair. 

It is suggested that Hogarth, a holdover from the Bush Administration, who has spent the last two years trying to develop this compromise, hopes to ensure that the plan is passed by the IWC before his tenure as Chair ends after the next meeting, to be held in Madeira, Portugal in June of 2009.

Kate O’Connell of WDCS stated, “The Hogarth plan makes the situation for whales worse, not better. Not only does it give away the moratorium – one of the greatest conservation victories of all time -- but one of the minke whale stocks in Japan’s harpoon sights in the North Pacific is endangered.  In addition, scientific whaling would be allowed to continue, even if somewhat curtailed in the short term. And the proposal completely fails to take into account the whaling activities of Norway and Iceland, who in 2009 could well cause the deaths of more than a thousand fin and minke whales and are fully intent on full scale international trade in whale meat.”

Working together with other conservation groups, WDCS has contacted the new Obama Administration to ask that any US support for the deal be withdrawn.  WDCS is also urging that governments ensure that the commercial whaling moratorium and the ban on trade in whale products remain intact, and that there is stronger enforcement of current international regulations on whaling.

“For years, we have seen nothing but bad faith from the whaling nations.  Since the commercial whaling ban took effect in 1986, more than 31,000 whales have died in commercial hunts, whether through whaling under objection, or whaling under scientific permit.  The whalers have never once played by the rules, yet they are being rewarded and given the go-ahead, while pressing conservation and welfare issues are put to the side.  The Bush/Hogarth plan is a serious step backwards for whale protection.”

Please help persuade the USA to change its position on support for a compromise on whaling by sending an email to President Obama calling for a change of policy

You can see the full letter to President Obama from WDCS and other US based groups here