IWC proposal endorses the killing of whales in one of their most critical feeding grounds – the Southern Ocean. in order to bring Japan, Norway and Iceland’s continued whaling under the IWC’s control, the Chair of the IWC has proposed giving these countries official commercial whaling quotas for the next 10 years. Rob Nicoll, WWF-Australia’s Antarctic and Southern Oceans Initiative Manager, said that the proposed quotas are not set using the IWC’s own scientific methods, but are a result of political bargaining which has little if anything to do with the whales themselves.
If approved the new proposal would legitimize commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, despite the IWC’s absolute ban on commercial whaling in this area since 1994. Nicoll said that some whales feed exclusively in the Southern Ocean – not eating at all during the winter months when they travel up to tropical waters.
According to Nicoll the new proposal would allow for the killing of 400 minke and 10 fin whales each year in the waters around Antarctica. 725,000 fin whales were killed in the Southern Hemisphere in the twentieth century. The decision to adopt the new proposal would be taken by the members of the IWC at its next annual meeting in Agadair, Morocco, June 21st – 25th.
